SPOTTED HY.ENA 449 



the civet has a grey ground-colour, marked with irregularly disposed 

 blackish stripes and spots, and the aforesaid gorget on the throat ; 

 the tail, which is darker than the body, being ornamented with rings, 

 becoming gradually fainter in tint towards the tip. In habits 

 civets are almost wholly nocturnal, and spend most of their time 

 lurking in covert, from which they issue forth to prey upon 

 domesticated poultry, guinea-fowls, bustards, and other game-birds, 

 as well as lizards, frogs, eggs, mice, rats, etc. ; while they will also 

 devour fruits, or even roots. 



THE SPOTTED HYAENA 



{Hjcena crocutd) 



Wolf OR Tiger- Wolf, Cape Dutch ; Impisi, ZuLU, SWAZI, AND 

 Matonga ; Phiri, Bechuana ; Kwiri, Basuto ; Fisi, Man- 

 GANJA ; Kusupa, Alomwi and Marua ; Waraba, SOMALI. 



(Plate xv, fig. 5) 



Although representing a family {Hycenidce) by themselves, hyaenas 

 belong to the same group of Carnivora as cats and civets, from both 

 of which they are readily distinguished by their ungainly external 

 appearance, and the form and structure of the skull and teeth. All 

 the feet are four-toed and digitigrade, with the stout claws incapable 

 of retraction. The tail is of moderate length and bushy, and the fur 

 coarse, shaggy, and more or less distinctly marked with either spots 

 or stripes. A hyaena's skull is easily recognised by the enormous 

 vertical crest of bone on the hind half of its upper surface, which 

 affords adequate support for the powerful muscles of the jaws. The 

 cheek-teeth in front of the carnassials are of stout, conical form, well 

 adapted for bone-cracking ; while the carnassials themselves are very 

 similar to those of the cats, the upper one alone having a small molar 

 behind it, or rather on its inner side, as in that family. All the three 

 living species of hyaena are found in the African continent, to which 

 two of them are restricted. 



The spotted hyaena is the largest of the three living species, and 

 is such a different-looking animal from the striped hyaena, which is the 

 typical representative of the group, that it is sometimes referred to 

 a genus by itself. Perhaps the most important characteristic of this 

 species is to be found in the structure of the lower carnassial tooth, 

 which consists solely of a two-lobed cutting blade, like the corre- 



2 G 



