494 THE CARNIVORES 



The spotted hyaena occurs throughout Africa south of the Sahara, ranging on 

 the eastern side of the continent into Abyssinia and Nubia. At one time it was 

 very abundant in the Cape Colony, and Sir Samuel Baker bears testimony as to its 

 numbers on the Upper Nile in the neighborhood of Kassala, while Mr. H. H. John- 

 ston attests its common occurrence on the plains around Kilima-njaro. Formerly, 

 however, the geographical range of this hyaena was far more extensive than it is at 

 present, as is proved by the vast quantities of its remains found in the caves of 

 various parts of Europe, from Gibraltar in the south to Yorkshire in the north. It 

 was formerly considered, that the so-called "cave-hyaena" indicated a distinct 

 species from the living one ; but zoologists are now generally in accord in re- 

 garding the two as specifically identical, although the fossil European hyaenas were 

 generally of larger dimensions than the existing African form. Moreover, a single 

 lower flesh-tooth obtained from a cavern in Madras points to the conclusion that the 

 range of this species at one time also embraced the southern part of India. 



When the spotted hyaena was an inhabitant of the vales of Yorkshire and of 

 the Mendip hills the climate of Britain must have been very different from what it 

 is now, it being impossible to believe that an animal now restricted to Africa could 

 have withstood the rigors of the present winters. That the British spotted hyaenas 

 of the cave period were not mere summer stragglers from the south is amply shown 

 by the quantities of their remains which are found in some of the caves. Such 

 caverns were veritable hyaena dens, where the animals must have lived from year's 

 end to year's end, and from generation to generation. 



The spotted hyaena is a far fiercer and more aggressive animal than his Indian 

 relative. During the Abyssinian campaign, Mr. Blanford states that these animals 

 constantly came among the tents at night, and would at times attack the mules, 

 ponies, cattle, and goats tethered near the camp. In that part of the country the 

 hyaenas are stated to be as common in the highlands as in the lowlands ; although, 

 as already mentioned, this does not appear to be the case in the Kilima-njaro dis- 

 trict, where Mr. Johnston observes that not only do they steal sheep and calves 

 from the herds, but they even carry off children, and often attack wounded and 

 weakly men. "I once," continues Mr. Johnston, "sent a sick man back to the 

 coast a short distance by himself, and he was severely bitten at night by the 

 hyaenas. He succeeded, however, in beating them off, and recovered from his 

 wounds." 



Sir Samuel Baker describes the midnight visit of a hyaena to his tent, when on 

 the Upper Nile, in the following words: "I was asleep in my tent, when I was 

 suddenly awakened by a slight pull at my sleeve, which was the signal always 

 given by my wife if anything was wrong. . . . She now whispered that a 

 hyaena had been within the tent, but that it had just bolted out, as these animals 

 are so wary that they detect the slightest movement or noise. As a rule, I never 

 shoot at hyaenas, but, as I feared it might eat our saddles, I lay in bed with the 

 rifle to my shoulder, pointed toward the tent door through which the moon was 

 shining brightly. In a few minutes a gray-looking object stood like an apparition 

 at the entrance, peering into the tent to see if all were right before it entered. I 

 touched the trigger, and the hyaena fell dead." 



