CHAPTER XVIII 
THE HYAENA 
I have among the “Wild Beasts” to bring in this 
low-caste creature. It is not worthy of a position 
among sporting animals, as it is a mere scavenger, 
useful in its repulsive habits as a four-legged vulture, 
to remove impurities from the surface. The pig 
would no doubt indulge in the same propensities, 
only that, being omnivorous, it is not exclusively a 
carrion feeder. 
There are two varieties of hyaena, the striped and 
the spotted. The latter is the larger, but both have 
the same habits. 
The bone-cracking power of this animal is very 
extraordinary. I cannot say that it exceeds the lion 
and tiger in strength of jaws, but I can safely assert 
that both those giants of the feline tribe will leave 
bones unbroken which a hyaena will bite in halves. 
Its powers of digestion are unlimited; it will swallow 
a large knuckle-bone without giving it a crunch. It 
will crack the thigh-bone of a wild buffalo to obtain 
the marrow, and will swallow either end immediately 
after. 
