7 2 



THE MAMMALS OF ETHIOPIAN AFRICA 



from which it is further distinguished by the greater relative length of its hind- 

 legs, as well as by its shorter tail, smaller and more rounded ears, the absence of 

 a mane and its peculiar coloration. At the present day it is an exclusively 

 African species, of which several local races are now recognised by naturalists. 

 The general colour is yellowish brown marked with large brown spots. 

 The spotted hyaena is much fiercer and more prone to attack living animals than 

 the striped species. During the Abyssinian war it was constantly prowling among 

 the tents and attacking mules, ponies, cattle, and goats ; and in the Kilimanjaro 

 district it has the reputation not only of carrying off sheep and calves, but even 



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SPOTTED HT.ENA. 



children, and also of attacking wounded or exhausted coolies. Some of these 

 hyaenas are indeed sufficiently courageous to enter tents at night, although they 

 retreat at the slightest suspicion of danger, when they are as cowardly as they are 

 bold at other times. In south-east Africa the species is reported to be more common 

 at the present day than in former days, when it depended for food chie% upon 

 prey abandoned by lions, whereas it can now obtain the carcases of wounded 

 animals which perish in the jungle. 

 Dogs, Jackals, No true wolf is known in Africa south of the Sahara, the 



andFennecs. C uberow, or so-called Abyssinian wolf (Canis simensis), being, 

 according to recent accounts, much more like a large fox, both in habits and 



