THE STRIPED AND SPOTTED HYAENAS. 17 



THE STRIPED AND SPOTTED HYiENAS, 



IN THE ROYAL MENAGERY AT THE TOWER OF LONDON. 



There are few animals against which a stronger prejudice exists than against the Hysena, for with it 

 is associated the idea of the most revolting habits, the most untameable ferocity, and a truly 

 repellent aspect, indicating peculiar gloominess and malignity of disposition. In its natural habits 

 the striped Hyaena is an obscene and filthy animal; the graves of the dead are not secure from its 

 rapacity, tearing from them their putrid masses, with which to satiate its disgusting appetite. It 

 prowls about in the night to feed on the remains of dead animals, or on whatever living prey it can seize. 

 The towns of Abyssinia swarm with them from evening till the dawn of day, in search of the different 

 pieces of slaughtered carcasses, which the unfeeling natives are accustomed to expose in the streets 

 •without burial. 



In size, the Hysena resembles the wolf, but its body is more elevated in the front than behind, 

 owing to its hinder legs being generally bent in a crouching posture. Its colour is of a pale- 

 greyish brown, and marked by several irregular distant transverse blackish stripes, or bands, peculiarly 

 distinct in the lower part, and becoming oblique towards the shoulders and haunches. The hair 

 of its neck is erect, and is continued in a bristly mane along the back ; the muzzle, the front of the 

 neck, and the outsides of the ears being completely black. The head is broad and flat, and the 

 eyes, which are not placed obliquely, have an expression of extreme wildness and ferocity. In 

 the construction of its teeth it differs in no essential degree from the majority of carnivorous 

 animals, each jaw having six cutting teeth and two canine. It has five molar teeth on each side of 

 the upper jaw, and only four on the lower, which in comparison to those of the dog, possess an 

 extraordinary degree of strength. The legs differ from those of all other animals in having but four 

 toes, as well on the fore feet as the hinder, the claws of which are not retractile like those of the cat 

 or the lion. Its tail is short, the hair of which, however, is rather long; and immediately under it, 

 above the arms, is an opening into a kind of glandular pouch, which separates a substance of the consis- 

 tence, but not of the odour of the Civet — on the contrary, it is highly offensive and disagreeable. The 

 manner in which it holds its head possesses this peculiarity, that it is generally inclined to the ground, 

 like that of the dog when following a scent ; and it is this posture which may, probably, have led the 

 ancients to believe that the Hyaena has no joint in its neck. Pliny and other naturalists concur in 

 disseminating this error; and Lucan, in his Pharsalia, informs us, that this jointless neck possessed 

 particular efficacy in all magical invocations. The neck of the Hyaena does, however, possess an 

 unusual stiffness, on which account, when the animal looks behind it, or snatches obliquely at any 

 object, it is obliged to move its whole body, similar to the motion of a Hog. 



The striped Hysena is a native of Barbary, Arabia, Persia, and many parts of Africa, in 

 the interior of which they often enter the villages at night in herds of eight or ten, and often 

 exceeding that number, and carry off with them whatever they can seize. They always assemble 

 around a dead Camel or other animal, dragging it in consort to a considerable distance, where 

 undisturbed they may satisfy their ravenous appetite. 



There is a remarkable peculiarity in the Hyaena, which is, that when he is driven from his haunts, 

 and compelled to run, he appears, for a considerable distance, to be lame ; and to such a degree as to 



