28 
ACCOUNT OF FOSSIL TEETH AND BONES 
carcases even of the hyaenas themselves were eaten up by their sur¬ 
vivors. Whether it be the habit of modern hyaenas to devour those 
of their own species that die in the course of nature; or, under the 
pressure of extreme hunger, to kill and eat the weaker of them, is a 
point on which it is not easy to obtain positive evidence. Mr. Brown 
however asserts, in his journey to Darfur, “ that it is related of the 
hyaenas, that upon one of them being wounded, his companions in¬ 
stantly tear him to pieces and devour him.” It seems therefore in the 
highest degree probable, that the mangled relics of hundreds of hyaenas 
that He indiscriminately scattered and equally broken with the bones 
of other animals in the cave of Kirkdale, were reduced to this state by 
the agency of the surviving individuals of their own species. 
It has not only been stated as above, that modern hyaenas devour 
their own species, but still further, that when in captivity they eat 
up parts of their own bodies. The keeper of Mr. Wombwell’s col¬ 
lection told me in December 1821, that he had an hyaena some years 
ago which ate off his own fore paws; and his Boyal Highness the 
Prince of Denmark has subsequently informed me, that the old hyaena 
in the Jardin du Boi at Paris has eaten off his own hind feet. I 
have since requested my friend Mr. Underwood, who is resident in 
Paris, and is an accurate observer of nature, to procure me further 
particulars of this circumstance, which I subjoin in his own words. 
“ The present Cape hyaena,” says he, “ about ten years ago, in 
the month of September, began to nibble and suck his hinder paws, 
which nearly destroyed them in two months, at which time he left 
off: at the same period of the following year he began again, and 
continued for about the same space of time, by which the metatarsal 
and tarsal bones of both feet, and about half the tibia and fibula of 
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