THE RACOON 237 



the hyenas, wliereof there aie three species — one common 

 to Northern Africa and Southern Asia, and the other 

 two confined to Africa south of the Sahara. No pre- 

 daceous animals have teeth so powerfully formed for 

 crushing bones as have the hyenas and they will eat up 

 such as have had the flesh picked off by vultures and 

 jackals. But although the main food of the hyena 

 consists of the bodies of animals which it finds already 

 killed, it will occasionally carry ofi:' to its den living sheep, 

 or goats or dogs, and there devour them. Mr. Blanford 

 tells us that in India the hyena is universally despised 

 for its cowardice, and that in spite of its powerful teeth 

 it rarely attempts to defend itself. It is occasionally 

 ridden down and speared, but unless the ground is 

 peculiarly favourable for horses, it will give a good run 

 before being killed, not on account of its speed, for it is 

 easily caught by a good horse, but from the w^ay it turns 

 and doubles. An instance is related in which a hyena, 

 after being slightly wounded by a sjDear, was pursued by 

 a game old Arab horse who had lost his rider, and who 

 attempted to seize the hyena with his teeth and to strike 

 him with his fore foot, an attack which the hunted 

 animal only acknowledged by tucking its tail tightly 

 between its legs. Hyenas are easily tamed if captured 

 young, and become very docile and greatly attached 

 to their masters. In ancient times hyenas were com- 

 mon not only on the continent of Europe but also in 

 England. 



The binturong has already shown us how the teeth of 

 one species of a group may vary by defect from those of 

 its congeners. This fact is made yet more evident by a 

 South African animal named aard (or earth) wolf by the 

 Dutch colonists. Save for its greater slenderness, this 

 animal has the general form of a hyena, with very erect 



