49 ° 
CARNIVORES. 
identical, although the fossil European hyaenas were generally of larger dimensions 
than the existing African form. Moreover, a single lower flesh-tooth obtained 
from a cavern in Madras points to the conclusion that the range of this species at 
one time also embraced the southern part of India. 
When the spotted hyaena was an inhabitant of the vales of Yorkshire and 
of the Mendip Hills the climate of Britain must have been very different from 
what it is now, it being impossible to believe that an animal now restricted to 
Africa could have withstood the rigours of our present winters. That the 
British spotted hyaenas of the cave period were not mere summer stragglers from 
the south is amply shown by the quantities of their remains which are found 
in some of the caves. Such caverns were veritable hyaena dens, where the animals 
must have lived from year’s end to year’s end, and from generation to generation. 
The spotted hyaena is a far fiercer and more aggressive animal than his Indian 
relative. During the Abyssinian campaign, Mr. Blanford states that these animals 
constantly came amongst the tents at night, and would at times attack the mules, 
ponies, cattle, and goats tethered near the camp. In that part of the country the 
hyaenas are stated to be as common in the highlands as in the lowlands; although, 
as already mentioned, this does not appear to be the case in the Kilima-njaro 
district, where Mr. Johnston observes that not only do they steal sheep and 
calves from the herds, but they even carry off children, and often attack wounded 
and weakly men. “ I once,” continues Mr. Johnston, “ sent a sick man back to the 
coast a short distance by himself, and he was severely bitten at night by the 
hyaenas. He succeeded, however, in beating them off, and recovered from his 
wounds.” 
Sir Samuel Baker describes the midnight visit of a hyaena to his tent, when 
on the Upper Nile, in the following words:—“ I was asleep in my tent, when I was 
suddenly awakened by a slight pull at my sleeve, which was the signal always 
given by my wife if anything was wrong. . . . She now whispered that a hyaena 
had been within the tent, but that it had just bolted out, as these animals are so 
wary that they detect the slightest movement or noise. As a rule, I never shoot at 
hyaenas, but, as I feared it might eat our saddles, I lay in bed with the rifle to my 
shoulder, pointed towards the tent door through which the moon was shining 
brightly. In a few minutes a grey-looking object stood like an apparition at the 
entrance, peering into the tent to see if all were right before it entered. I touched 
the trigger, and the hyaena fell dead.” 
The Hon. W. H. Drummond, referring to the spotted hyaenas of South-East 
Africa, notices the damage these animals do to cattle, more especially cows; 
and then mentions certain instances where they have attacked human beings. 
“Cowardly when there is the faintest suspicion of danger, daring when there is none, 
stealthy and cunning to the last degree, and provided with great powers of scent 
and hearing, added to immense strength, there is no animal so universally hated, or 
that causes more trouble and annoyance to both hunters and the peaceful natives.” 
Common as they are in South-East Africa, spotted hyaenas are, however, but 
very seldom seen, as they are quite as nocturnal as their striped cousin, retiring 
to their holes at the earliest dawn. “ Regular beaten paths,” he continues, “ lead 
to these burrows, along which they invariably go, both when coming out and 
