NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 
So cunning and suspicious is the Spotted Hyena, 
that it is usually of little use to set spring guns and 
traps to destroy it. Poisoning meat with strychnine 
and leaving it in their haunts is the most effectual 
way of killing them. When hyenas are in the neigh- 
bourhood of a stock breeder, he always poisons the 
carcases of any of his stock which might die of 
disease, and has the carcase deposited at some 
considerable distance, where hyenas and other 
troublesome carnivorous animals, scenting it, come 
and feast upon it. 
There is a widespread belief in South Africa and 
elsewhere that the Spotted Hyena is hermaphro- 
dite. This, however, is not so. The belief has 
arisen owing to. the external appearance of the 
reproductive organs of the two sexes being very 
similar, and without dissection it is difficult for a 
novice to distinguish the sexes. 
It is indeed fortunate for the natives of Africa 
that this hyena is of so cowardly a nature, for its 
bodily strength is so great that it can carry off a 
full-grown man’s body, or that of an adult ass. 
The tremendously powerful teeth and jaws are 
greatly assisted by the large muscles of the neck 
and shoulders. 
This animal when captured young can be rendered 
as tame as any domestic dog, and makes an affec- 
tionate pet, responding freely to caresses. It never 
loses its nervousness, and any unusual noise or the 
sight of a strange dog will cause it to bolt away and 
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