Spotted Hysena 



59: 



Nose to root of tail in a 

 straight line. 



Length 



Extreme length 



height. 



Girth 



"t skull. 



Width 



of skull. 



Weight 



4 ft. 9i in. 



.ft.,:, 



6 ft. 3 in. 



3 ft- 



39i in- 



1 2i in. 



7i in. 



2 lbs. 8 oz. 



The voice of this creature is extraordinary, and the sounds it produces 

 are legion : there is the weird " who-oop ! " commonly heard ; the snarling 

 whine of baffled annoyance ; the hideous laughing cackle round a carcase, 

 and the loud fierce growl when wounded, or when discovered in a trap. I 

 have heard them also endeavour, not unsuccessfully, to imitate a lion, but 

 the result was ludicrous. Their organs of scent and hearing are highly 

 developed. 



They are distributed throughout the whole of the South-East African 

 " low country," but were formerly common on the plateaux, at an elevation 

 of 5000 feet. 1 They are nocturnal in their habits, leaving their lairs when 

 the shades of evening close in, and retiring thereto at high dawn. They 

 seldom leave beaten tracks, game, or foot-paths, and will travel to and fro 

 along the same one night after night. Their lairs are made in a thorn 

 thicket, under a steep bank, or in deep grassy hollows ; sometimes in holes in 

 rocks. Very seldom they take to a burrow, but the female, when parturient, 

 always retires to such a spot. Hyamas are gregarious, and troops of six or 

 eight are common. I have seen nineteen together. I have never observed 

 that these animals seize and kill wild game, though natives say they 

 sometimes do ; at all events they kill goats, donkeys, and even cattle. I 

 have myself lost several donkeys by them (they were all seized by the flank 

 and disembowelled), and a cow of mine was attacked in a kraal and her 

 udder torn off. I have seen native cattle similarly maimed. Usually, 

 however, they confine their attention to wounded animals, or carcases 

 which lions have secured ; in the latter case, as related in my lion article, 



■ South Africa. — Ed. 



