u6 EASTERN ETHIOPIA ix 



of its sounds ; the snarling, hideous, laughing noise it 

 utters round a carcase is only made when they are 

 annoyed or excited. The natives believe that animals 

 and birds talk to one another like human beings. The 

 noise the hyaena makes when he finds a corpse is 

 supposed to be " I have found." Hollis in his account 

 of the Nandi gives numerous examples. The senses of 

 sight and smell are very acute in hyaenas. These 

 animals are gregarious and troops of eight or more are 

 common ; although they rarely seize wild game they 

 kill donkeys, goats, and even cattle, and they will 



Skull of n Hyiena (Hyivna crociita), showing the sectorial or 

 carnassial tooth. The well-marked ridges afford attach- 

 ment for the powerful muscles of mastication. (Museum 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. ) 



attack wounded game. Hyaenas eat every portion of a 

 wounded carcase, skin, flesh, and bones, their powerful 

 jaws enabling them to crack every bone. A hyaena's 

 skull is easily recognised by the big vertical crest which 

 affords attachment to the powerful muscles which close 

 the jaws. The large upper premolar tooth, which over- 

 laps the lower premolar and forms a powerful pair of 

 shears for cracking bones and biting off pieces of flesh, 

 is known as the sectorial or carnassial tooth. 



The hyaena is a great coward, but hunger makes 

 most animals venturesome, so with the hyaena ; when 



