ii6 



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 lielieve that animals 

 and l)irds talk to one another like human l)eings. The 

 noise the hycena makes when he finds a corj^se is 

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

 of the Nandi gives numerous examples. The senses of 

 sight and smell are very acute in hyrenas. 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 a Hyaena (Hi/mia crocnta), showing the sectorial or 

 caniassial tooth. Tlie well-marked lidges aiford attach- 

 ment for the powerful iTiii.scles of mastication. (Museum 

 of the Koyal College of Surgeons, London.) 



attack wounded game. Hypenas eat every portion of a 

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

 jaws enabling them to crack every bone. A hysena'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 liyiBna is a great coward, but hunger makes 

 most animals venturesome, so with, the hya3na ; when 



