^^v 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



155 



accordingly there is only one molar; all the 

 others are premolars. 



The milk dentition is not less remarkable. 

 Besides the incisors and the canines there are 

 in the upper jaw four premolars, a small front 

 one which is never changed, a two-lobed one 

 with two roots, which disappears and is 

 succeeded by a conical tooth, a third, forming 

 the carnassial, with three lobes and a heel, 

 which is ultimately replaced by the third 

 conical tooth of the permanent dentition, and 

 a fourth small one, the place of which is 

 .ultimately taken by the permanent carnassial. 

 In the lower jaw are four premolars, the first 

 of which is small and is never replaced after 

 it has been shed, while the other three are 

 replaced, a carnassial being at the same time 

 added in the permanent dentition. Milk 



dentition : 



tition : 



3 • I • 4 "o 

 3 • I • 4 -o 



I '4 • I 



= 32. Permanent den- 



= 34. This is one of the 

 3 I • 3 • I -"^ 



rare cases in which the permanent dentition 



exhibits great changes in form as compared 



with the milk dentition, yet with only a slight 



increase in the number of the teeth. 



The structure of the skull and the nature 

 of the dentition indicate strength of jaw, and 

 the hyaena manifests this strength at every 

 meal. It crunches into fragments bones 

 which resist the jaws of the lion, and seems to 

 swallow the splinters with a peculiar relish. 

 In old hyaenas the teeth are generally found 

 to be much worn away, and often to such a 

 degree that the crowns have almost dis- 

 appeared, and the cavities of the teeth are 

 exposed. 



All hyaenas are nocturnal animals, which 

 pass the day in solitude in caves and grottoes, 

 which they quit at night in order to hunt 

 their prey in bands. They call one another 

 together by making a diabolical concert which 

 lasts till they find some booty, which they 

 then proceed to devour in perfect silence, 

 though frequently not without some savage 

 quarrelling and fighting. 



The hyaena is specially a carrion -eater. 

 With an apparently limping and waggling 

 gait it trots about in search of food, and 

 cannot long keep up a more rapid rate of 

 progression. It is far from having the keen- 

 ness of sense which distinguishes the Canidae. 

 The Arabs even maintain that the hyaena 

 finds little success in its search for food unless 

 it is led by the jackal. And it is indeed a 

 fact that in Algeria at least the jackal is 

 always heard first at the beginning of the 

 night, and that it is not till later that the voice 

 of the hyaena is joined to the miserable yelp- 

 ing of his cousin, and that jackals are always 

 certain to be seen when hyaenas announce 

 their presence. Yet this comradeship is not 

 carried so far on the side of the hyaena that 

 it would allow the jackal to share in its feasts. 

 As long as it is unsatisfied it drives away 

 the jackal by force, and the latter is compelled, 

 in spite of its pitiful howling, to wait till it can 

 pick up the crumbs from its master's table. 



Voracious and cowardly the hyaena roams 

 round the villages of the settled population 

 and the camps of the nomads, and follows 

 the caravans in order to make its disgusting 

 meals on animals that have died from thirst 

 and exhaustion. Nothing is more repulsive 

 than such a meal. The stench of the carrion 

 attracts the hyaena by night as it does the 

 vulture by day; and the first thing which the 

 former does on finding a carcass is to tear 

 open the abdomen and wallow with its head 

 and fore-feet in the putrefying entrails. It 

 pays no respect to graveyards, but digs up 

 dead bodies if the grave is not too deep. 



The cowardliness of the hyaena has become 

 proverbial among the natives. According to 

 their account these disgusting brutes never 

 attack animals which can make a serious 

 resistance. The large Canids regularly 

 make them take to flight, and the larger 

 antelopes, horses, oxen, boars, and even 

 asses defend themselves against them with 

 success. If we only considered the terrible 

 weapons found in its jaws, which are only 



