EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
IX 
116 
of its sounds ; the snarling, hideous, laughing noise it i 
utters round a carcase is only made when they are 
annoyed or excited. The natives believe that animals 
and birds talk to one another like human beino;s. The 
noise the hyoena makes when he finds a corpse is 
supposed to be “I have found.” Hollis in his account 
of the Nandi gives numerous examples. The senses of i 
sight and smell are very acute in hyaenas. These i 
animals are gregarious and troops of eight or more are i 
common ; although they rarely seize wild game they ; 
kill donkeys, goats, and even cattle, and they will 
Skull of a H3’i3ena {Hy<vna crocnta), showing the sectorial or 
carnassial tooth. The well-marked ridges afford attach¬ 
ment for the powerful muscles of mastication. (Museum 
of the Royal College of Surgeons, London.) 
attack wounded game. Hyaenas eat every portion of a 
wounded carcase, skin, flesh, and bones, their powerful 
jaws enabling them to crack every bone. A hyaena 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 hyaena is a great coward, but hunger makes 
most animals venturesome, so with the hyaena ; when 
