IN CAPTIVITY IN LOWER BENGAL. 77 



Habits. 



Like other mun gooses, it is rather heavy in its movements, and as 

 inquisitive and active as the rest of the species. It may be often heard 

 to utter the grating sound, like a mew, characteristic of the mungooses. 



(81) THE STRIPED HY^NA. 

 (HYAENA STRIATA— Zimm.) 

 Hindi — Lakar JBagha, Hondar. 

 The hyaena is a well-known animal in Lower Bengal : no descrip- 

 tion is therefore necessary. The characteristic features of this animal 

 are its short hind limbs, and the long hairy crest along the middle line 

 of the back. 



Sab. — Common in Central and North- Western India, extending 

 through South-Western Asia to Northern Africa. Though not so 

 common as in Western and Central India, it is not rare in Lower 

 Bengal. 



Length of life in captivity. 



A specimen has been living in the garden since 1879. Hyaenas 

 appear to be very hardy animals and bear captivity well. 



Treatment in health. 



Housing. — Hyaenas being extremely quarrelsome animals, diffi- 

 culty is sometimes experienced in finding accommodation for them. 

 On several occasions they have been known to mutilate, through the 

 bars, a leopard or a wolf living in an adjoining cage, in spite of the 

 stout wire-netting attached to the gratings which separate the compart- 

 ments. It is safer, therefore, to have the partitions boarded up with 

 thin planks. It is undesirable to keep a number of adult hygenas 

 together ; unless the floor is hard they burrow deep holes in it. 



Food. — In their wild state they generally feed upon carcases of 

 animals that have been killed by others or that have died of diseases, 

 and in captivity also they do not object to eat food which other 

 animals will not touch ; it is, however, better to feed them on fresh and 

 wholesome food, regard being had to the artificial conditions of life in 

 confinement. Bones are indispensable to them; they break and 

 crunch up large pieces with surprising ease. 



Transport.— As they are much addicted to biting destructible 

 materials, a light iron cage should invariably be provided for their 

 transport, unless the habit and temper of the animal to be transported 

 is well known. A case is on record in which an adult hyaena, sent by 

 rail from a station in West Bengal, escaped during the course of the 

 transit by biting through the sal wood battens of its cage ; it was 

 found, on the arrival of the train at the Howrah terminus, comfortably 

 seated behind some bales of goods. 



Treatment in sickness. 



Hyaenas have been known to die from inflammation of the 



stomach. Some six years ago a female hyaena suffered from extensive 



ulceration of the mucous membrane of its mouth, extending to the lips • 



the animal could hardly eat anything for about ten days, and was 



