Cave Hyena
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Hyaenidae
Genus: Crocuta
Species: Crocuta crocuta
Subspecies: Crocuta crocuta spelaea
Described by Georg August Goldfuss, 1823
Common Names: Cave Hyena and Ice Age Spotted Hyena
Synonym: Crocuta crocuta ultima
Current Park Population: (14; 7 adults, 7 cubs; 7 male, 7 female)
Park Diet: Meat mixes, whole prey like cattle or sheep, bones, carcasses, and muscle meat.
Natural Diet: Reindeer, Megaloceros, Red Deer, Wild Horse, Muskox, Aurochs, Wisent, Steppe Bison, Young Woolly Rhino, and Young Woolly Mammoth.
Lifespan: 12-25 years
Habitat: Open habitats such as the Mammoth Steppe and Grasslands and Open and Temperate Woodlands
Native Ecosystem: Eurasia, from the Iberian Peninsula to eastern Siberia, Middle to Late Pleistocene
Breeding Season: All-Year Round
Gestation Period: 110 days
Number of Young: 2-3 cubs
Danger Level: 8 out of 10.
Park Star Rating: 4 Stars
Summary: The cave hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea and Crocuta crocuta ultima), also known as the Ice Age spotted hyena, is a paleosubspecies of spotted hyena known from Eurasia, which ranged from the Iberian Peninsula to eastern Siberia. It is one of the best-known mammals of the Ice Age and is well-represented in many European bone caves. It preyed on large mammals (primarily wild horses, steppe bison, and woolly rhinoceros), and was responsible for the accumulation of hundreds of large Pleistocene mammal bones in areas including horizontal caves, sinkholes, mud pits, and muddy areas along rivers.
Genetic evidence from the nuclear genome suggests that Eurasian Crocuta populations (including the west Eurasian Crocuta crocuta spelaea and Asian Crocuta crocuta ultima) were highly genetically divergent from African populations (having estimated to have split over 1 million years ago). However, the lack of clear separation between mitochondrial genome lineages suggests that the two populations interbred for some time after the initial split. Some authors have suggested that the two subspecies should be raised to species level as Crocuta spelaea and Crocuta ultima.
The cause of the cave hyena's extinction is not fully understood, though it could have been due to a combination of factors, including human activity, diminished quantities of prey animals, and climate change.
Description: The main difference between the spotted hyena and the cave hyena lies in the different lengths of the bones of the hind and front limbs. In the cave hyena, the humerus and the femur are longer, indicating an adaptation to environments other than those of the spotted hyena. The former was also a heavier and more robust animal: an almost complete specimen, found from the Los Aprendices cave in northern Spain, was estimated to weigh 103 kg (227 lb). As with the spotted hyena, the females were larger than the males. A study of 16 fossil specimens of Pleistocene Crocuta indicated that the cave hyena was subject to Bergmann's rule, becoming larger during glacial periods and smaller during interglacial periods. The same study revealed a progressive increase in carnivorous tooth adaptations during glacial periods, indicating that it was an even more active hunter than today's spotted hyena, a behavior necessitated by the need to feed on calorie-rich fresh meat in a freezing environment. Rock paintings in the Lascaux and Chauvet Caves indicate that the cave hyena had the characteristic patches and mane of the spotted hyena. It has been proposed that it possessed thicker fur than the spotted hyena as an environmental adaptation.
Anatomy: The cave hyena has a strong, well-developed neck and forequarters, but relatively underdeveloped hindquarters. The rump is rounded rather than angular, which prevents attackers coming from behind from getting a firm grip on it. The head is wide and flat with a blunt muzzle and broad rhinarium. The ears are rounded rather than pointed. Each foot has four digits, which are webbed and have short, stout, and blunt claws. The paw pads are broad and flat, with the whole undersurface around the foot being naked. The tail is relatively short, 300–350 mm (12–14 in) long, and resembles a pompom. Unusually among hyaenids, and mammals in general, the female spotted hyena is considerably larger than the male. Both genders have a pair of anal glands which open into the rectum just inside the anal opening. These glands produce a white, creamy secretion which is pasted onto grass stalks by everting the rectum. The odor of this secretion is strong, smelling of boiling cheap soap or burning, and can be detected by humans several meters downwind. The spotted hyena has a proportionately large heart, constituting close to 1% of its body weight, thus giving it great endurance in long chases. In contrast, a lion's heart makes up only 0.45–0.57 percent of its body weight. The Eurasian cave hyena populations were distinguished from the modern African populations by their shorter distal extremities and longer humerus and femur.
For its size, the cave hyena has one of the most powerfully built skulls among the Carnivora. The dentition is more dual-purposed than that of other modern hyena species, which are mostly scavengers; the upper and lower third premolars are conical bone-crushers, with a third bone-holding cone jutting from the lower fourth premolar. The spotted hyena also has its carnassials situated behind its bone-crushing premolars, the position of which allows it to crush bone with its premolars without blunting the carnassials. Combined with large jaw muscles and a special vaulting to protect the skull against large forces, these characteristics give the spotted hyena a powerful bite that can exert a pressure of 80 kgf/cm2 (1140 lbf/in), which is 40% more force than a leopard can generate. The jaws of the cave hyena outmatch those of the brown bear in bone-crushing ability. A 63.1 kg (139 lb) spotted hyena is estimated to have a bite force of 565.7 newtons at the canine tip and 985.5 newtons at the carnassial eocene. One individual in a study was found to exert a bite force of 4,500 newtons on the measuring instruments.
Fur: European Paleolithic rock art indicates that the Eurasian cave hyena populations retained the spots of their modern-day African counterparts. The Cave Hyenas are grayish brown with black spots, legs, snouts, gray ears, and a light brown short mane on the neck and shoulders, Cubs are born dark brown.
Brain: Intracranial digital casts taken from spotted hyenas and two cave hyena skulls showed that the latter had an encephalic volume of 174–218 cm, higher than today's spotted hyena which has an average volume of 160 cm. In cave hyenas, however, the anterior telencephalon occupied only 15.9-16.6% of the total brain volume, in contrast to the spotted hyena, whose anterior telencephalon occupied 24.5%. As previous studies show that there is a correlation between telencephalon development and feeding sociability and flexibility in hyenas, it has been proposed, in light of this finding, brains were more similar to brown and striped hyenas both known as solitary scavengers compared to spotted hyenas. However, the authors still stated that cave hyenas were likely capable of forming social groups, just in smaller numbers due to the reduced size of the anterior brain.
Intelligence: Despite their brains being similar to brown and striped hyenas, the spotted hyena shows a greater relative amount of frontal cortex which is involved in the mediation of social behavior. Studies strongly suggest convergent evolution in spotted hyena and primate intelligence. Cave hyenas seem to plan on hunting specific species in advance; hyenas have been observed to engage in activities such as scent marking before setting off to hunt horses, a behavior that does not occur when they target other prey species. One of the signs of social intelligence is the ability to have a keen olfactory sense or nasal recognition. Cave hyenas have unique scent signatures that help them distinguish themselves from other clans and/or individuals (i.e., males or females conspecific), which enables them to mark their territories with secretions from their scent glands. Also, spotted hyenas have been recorded to utilize deceptive behavior, including giving alarm calls during feeding when no enemies are present, thus frightening off other hyenas and allowing them to temporarily eat in peace. Similarly, mothers will emit alarm calls when attempting to interrupt attacks on their cubs by other hyenas.
History of Discovery and Classification: Although the first full account of the cave hyena was given by Georges Cuvier in 1812, skeletal fragments of the cave hyena have been described in scientific literature since the 18th century, though they were frequently misidentified. The first recorded mention of the cave hyena in literature occurs in Kundmann's 1737 tome Rariora Naturæ et Artis, where the author misidentified a hyena's mandibular ramus as that of a calf. In 1774, Esper erroneously described hyena teeth discovered in Gailenreuth as those of a lion, and in 1784, Collini described a cave hyena skull as that of a seal. The past presence of hyenas in Great Britain was revealed after William Buckland's examination of the contents of Kirkdale Cave, which was discovered to have once been the location of several hyena den sites. Buckland's findings were followed by further discoveries by Clift and Whidbey in Oreston, Plymouth.
In his own 1812 account, Cuvier mentioned a number of European localities where cave hyena remains were found and considered it a different species from the spotted hyena on account of its superior size. He elaborated his view in his Ossemens Fossiles (1823), noting how the cave hyena's digital extremities were shorter and thicker than those of the spotted hyena. His views were largely accepted throughout the first half of the 19th century, finding support in de Blainville and Richard Owen among others. Further justifications for separating the two animals included differences in the tubercular portion of the lower carnassial. Boyd Dawkins, writing in 1865, was the first to definitely cast doubt over the separation of the spotted and cave hyena, stating that the aforementioned tooth characteristics were consistent with mere individual variation. Writing again in 1877, he further stated after comparing the two animals' skulls that there are no characters of specific value.
Genetics: Analysis of the mitochondrial genomes of Eurasian Crocuta specimens shows no clear separation from African lineages. However, an analysis of full nuclear genomes of both European and East Asian cave hyenas published in 2020 suggests that African and Eurasian Crocuta populations were largely separate, having estimated to have diverged from each other around 2.5 million years ago, closely corresponding to the age of the earliest Crocuta specimens in Eurasia, which are around 2 million years old from China. The nuclear genome results also suggested that the European and East Asian populations (often assigned to the separate subspecies C. crocuta ultima) were strongly genetically divergent from each other, but were more closely related to each other overall than to African Crocuta populations. Analysis of the nuclear genome suggests that there had been interbreeding between these populations for some time after the split, which likely explains the discordance between the nuclear and mitochondrial genome results, with the mitochondrial genomes of African and European Crocuta more closely related to each other than to East Asian Crocuta, suggesting gene flow between the two groups after the split between the East Asian and European populations. Some authors have suggested that the two subspecies should be raised to species level as Crocuta spelaea and Crocuta ultima. A 2024 study of a cave hyena genome from Sicily found that as with the 2020 study, there was strong genetic separation between Eurasian cave and African spotted hyenas, but unlike the 2020 study, there was no robust support for a basal split between East Asian/Siberian and European cave hyenas, with the Sicilian cave hyena found to be the earliest diverging cave hyena lineage, with less interbreeding with African hyenas than other European cave hyenas.
Distribution and Habitat: Crocuta first appeared outside of Africa in Asia during the Early Pleistocene around 2 million years ago, before arriving in Europe at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene around 800,000 years ago. Crocuta was widely distributed across northern Eurasia during the Middle-Late Pleistocene, spanning from the Iberian Peninsula, Britain, and Ireland in the West, across southern Siberia, Mongolia, and northern China to the Pacific Coast of the Russian Far East. Crocuta crocuta ultima at times ranged as far southeast as Taiwan, as well as Thailand and Laos in Southeast Asia, while Crocuta crocuta spelaea ranged into the Middle East, as far south as the Judaean Desert and as far east as western Iran (Wezmeh Cave).
Paleobiology:
Social Behavior: They live in smaller clans compared to Modern-day Hyenas up to five to twenty individuals. The clans are more compact and unified than wolf packs but are not as closely knit.
Females usually dominate males, including in cases where low-ranking females generally dominate over high-ranking males, but they will also occasionally co-dominate with a male. There have also been cases in which a clan has been led by a male rather than a female. Cubs take the rank directly below their mothers at birth. So when the matriarch passes away (or, in rare instances, disperses into another clan), their youngest female cub will take over as matriarch. It is typical for females to remain with their natal clan, thus large clans usually contain several matrilines, whereas males typically disperse from their natal clan at the age of 2 years. Höner et al. say that when a male co-dominates with a female or is otherwise able to lead, this is because the male was born to the matriarch of the clan and has taken the rank directly below his mother.
The clan is a fission-fusion society, in which clan members do not often remain together, but may forage in small groups. High-ranking hyenas maintain their position through aggression directed against lower-ranking clan members. Cave hyena hierarchy is nepotistic; the offspring of dominant females automatically outrank adult females subordinate to their mother However, rank in spotted hyena cubs is greatly dependent on the presence of the mother; low-ranking adults may act aggressively toward higher-ranking cubs when the mother is absent. Although individual spotted hyenas only care for their own young, and males take no part in raising their young, cubs are able to identify relatives as distantly related as great-aunts. Also, males associate more closely with their own daughters rather than unrelated cubs, and the latter favor their fathers by acting less aggressively toward them.
Cave hyena societies are more complex than those of other carnivorous mammals, and are remarkably similar to those of cercopithecine primates in respect to group size, structure, competition, and cooperation. Like cercopithecine primates, cave hyenas use multiple sensory modalities, recognize individual conspecifics, are conscious that some clan-mates may be more reliable than others, recognize third-party kin and rank relationships among clan-mates, and adaptively use this knowledge during social decision-making. Also, like cercopithecine primates, dominance ranks in hyena societies are not correlated with size or aggression, but with ally networks. In this latter trait, the spotted hyena further shows parallels with primates by acquiring rank through coalition. However, rank reversals and overthrows in spotted hyena clans are rare. The social network dynamics of spotted hyenas are determined by multiple factors. Environmental factors include rainfall and prey abundance; individual factors include preference to bond with females and with kin; and topological effects include the tendency to close triads in the network. Female hyenas are more flexible than males in their social bonding preferences. Higher-ranking adult cave hyenas tend to have higher telomere length and higher levels of some immune defense proteins in their blood serum.
Home ranges are defended through vocal displays, scent marking, and boundary patrols. Clans mark their territories by either pasting or pawing in special latrines located on clan range boundaries. Cave hyenas use scent gland secretions to distinguish between members of their own clan and members of neighboring clans. Within the same clan, differences in scent gland compositions can help individuals differentiate the reproductive states and sex of their members. One study analyzed the scent gland secretions of several hyenas belonging to three different clans and discovered a high degree of similarity in fatty acid composition among members of the same clans, while hyenas of different clans had more dissimilar scent gland secretions. Further studies have proposed a symbiotic relationship between spotted hyenas and their scent gland bacteria, where the differences in fatty acids can be attributed to fermentation by different microbes. Clan boundaries are usually respected; hyenas chasing prey have been observed to stop dead in their tracks once their prey crosses into another clan's range. Hyenas will however ignore clan boundaries in times of food shortage. Males are more likely to enter another clan's territory than females are, as they are less attached to their natal group and will leave it when in search of a mate. Hyenas traveling in another clan's home range typically exhibit bodily postures associated with fear, particularly when meeting other hyenas. An intruder can be accepted into another clan after a long period of time if it persists in wandering into the clan's territory, dens or kills.
Diet: The cave hyena's diet differed little from contemporary African spotted hyenas. The most common prey found in Europe are invariably horses, and in the Srbsko Chlum-Komin Cave alone (in the Czech Republic), the horse remains make up 51% of the species present. This predilection for equines distinguishes the cave hyena from today's spotted hyenas, which are known to target smaller antelope (impala, gazelle, wildebeest) as well as opportunistically scavenge carrion. Steppe bison remains are generally rare in hyena burrows, and it has been proposed that, except during glacial periods, these were avoided to lessen competition with cave lions and wolves. However, certain sites, such as the cave of San Teodoro, where bison make up 50% of the remains, indicate that certain populations of hyenas specialized their hunting where mammoths and bears were scarce, whose carcasses were a main source of food in much of Europe. Cervids are rare or absent in the burrows, probably being too fast for hyenas. However, exceptions to this pattern also exist; the site of Fouvent-Saint-Andoche represents a hyena den containing remains of red deer, Irish elk, and reindeer. Cave hyenas extensively engaged in cannibalism. They are primarily a predator, not a scavenger.
Cave hyenas prefer prey with a body mass range of 56–182 kg (123–401 lb), with a mode of 102 kg (225 lb). When hunting medium to large-sized prey, spotted hyenas tend to select certain categories of animal; young animals are frequently targeted, as are old ones, though the latter category is not so significant when hunting horses, due to their aggressive anti-predator behaviors. Small prey is killed by being shaken in the mouth, while large prey is eaten alive.
Reproduction: The cave hyena is a non-seasonal breeder, though a birth peak does occur during the wet season. Females are polyestrous, with an estrus period lasting two weeks. Like many feliform species, the cave hyena is promiscuous, and no enduring pair bonds are formed. Members of both genders may copulate with several mates over several years. Males will show submissive behavior when approaching females in heat, even if the male outweighs his partner. Females usually favor younger males born or joined the clan after they were born. Older females show a similar preference, with the addition of preferring males with whom they have had long and friendly prior relationships. Passive males tend to have greater success in courting females than aggressive ones. Copulation in spotted hyenas is a relatively short affair, lasting 4–12 minutes, and typically only occurs at night with no other hyenas present.
The length of the gestation period tends to vary greatly, but the average length is 110 days. In the final stages of pregnancy, dominant females provide their developing offspring with higher androgen levels than lower-ranking mothers do. The higher androgen levels – the result of high concentrations of ovarian androstenedione – are thought to be responsible for the extreme masculinization of female behavior and morphology. This has the effect of rendering the cubs of dominant females more aggressive and sexually active than those of lower-ranking hyenas; high-ranking male cubs will attempt to mount females earlier than lower-ranking males. The average litter consists of two cubs, with three occasionally being reported. Males take no part in the raising of the young. Giving birth is difficult for female hyenas, as the females give birth through their narrow clitoris, and spotted hyena cubs are the largest carnivoran young relative to their mothers' weight. During parturition, the clitoris ruptures to facilitate the passage of the young and may take weeks to heal.
Cubs are born with soft, dark brown hair, and weigh 1.5 kg on average Unique among carnivorous mammals, cave hyenas are also born with their eyes open and with 6–7 mm long canine teeth and 4 mm long incisors. Also, cubs will attack each other shortly after birth. This is particularly apparent in same-gender litters and can result in the death of the weaker cub. This neonatal siblicide kills an estimated 25% of all hyenas in their first month. Male cubs that survive grow faster and are likelier to achieve reproductive dominance, while female survivors eliminate rivals for dominance in their natal clan. Lactating females can carry 3–4 kg (6.6–8.8 lb) of milk in their udders. Spotted hyena milk has the highest protein and fat content of any terrestrial carnivore. Cubs will nurse from their mother for 12–16 months, though they can process solid food as early as three months. Mothers do not regurgitate food for their young. Females are protective of their cubs, and will not tolerate other adults, particularly males, approaching them. Spotted hyenas exhibit adult behaviors early in life; cubs have been observed to ritually sniff each other and mark their living space before the age of one month. Within ten days of birth, they can move at considerable speed. Cubs begin to lose the black coat and develop the spotted, lighter-colored pelage of the adults at 2–3 months. They begin to exhibit hunting behaviors at the age of eight months and will begin fully participating in group hunts after their first year. Cave hyenas reach sexual maturity at the age of three years. The average lifespan in zoos is 12 years, with a maximum of 25 years.
Denning Behaviours: The clan's social life revolves around a communal den. While some clans may use particular den sites for years, others may use several different dens within a year or several den sites simultaneously. cave hyena dens can have more than a dozen entrances, and are mostly located on flat ground. The tunnels are usually oval in section, being wider than they are high, and narrow down from an entrance width of –1 meter (1.6–7.7 ft) to as small as 25 cm (9.8 in). The Cave hyenas use caves as dens and even at the bottom of cliffs where prey would fall during a blizzard. Dens have large bare patches around their entrances, where hyenas move or lie down on. Because of their size, adult hyenas are incapable of using the full extent of their burrows, as most tunnels are dug by cubs or smaller animals. The structure of the den, consisting of small underground channels, is likely an effective anti-predator device that protects cubs from predation during the absence of the mother. Cave hyenas rarely dig their own dens, having been observed for the most part to use the abandoned burrows of small animals. Feces are usually deposited 20 meters (66 feet) away from the den, though they urinate wherever they happen to be. Dens are used mostly by several females at once, and it is not uncommon to see up to 20 cubs at a single site. The general form of a spotted hyena den is tunnel-shaped, with a spacious end chamber used for sleeping or breeding. This chamber measures up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) in width, the height being rather less. Females generally give birth at the communal den or a private birth den. The latter is primarily used by low-status females to maintain continual access to their cubs, as well as ensure that they become acquainted with their cubs before transferral to the communal den.
Communication:
Body Language: Cave hyenas have a complex set of postures in communication. When afraid, the ears are folded flat and are often combined with the baring of the teeth and a flattening of the mane. When attacked by other hyenas or by wolves, the hyena lowers its hindquarters. Before and during an assertive attack, the head is held high with the ears cocked, the mouth closed, the mane erect and the hindquarters high. The tail usually hangs down when neutral, though it will change position according to the situation. When a high tendency to flee an attacker is apparent, the tail is curled below the belly. During an attack, or when excited, the tail is carried forward on the back. An erect tail does not always accompany a hostile encounter, as it has also been observed to occur when a harmless social interaction occurs. Although they do not wag their tails, cave hyenas will flick their tails when approaching dominant animals or when there is a slight tendency to flee. When approaching a dominant animal, subordinate spotted hyenas will walk on the knees of their forelegs in submission. Greeting ceremonies among clan members consist of two individuals standing parallel to each other and facing opposite directions. Both individuals raise their hind legs and lick each other's anogenital area.
Vocalizations: The cave hyena has an extensive vocal range, with sounds ranging from whoops, fast whoops, grunts, groans, lows, giggles, yells, growls, soft grunt-laughs, loud grunt-laughs, whines, and soft squeals. The loud who-oop call, along with the maniacal laughter, are among the most recognizable sounds. Typically, high-pitched calls indicate fear or submission, while loud, lower-pitched calls express aggression. The pitch of the laugh indicates the hyena's age, while variations in the frequency of notes used when hyenas make noises convey information about the animal's social rank.
Interactions with other species:
Where cave hyenas and cave lions occupy the same geographic area, the two species occupy the same ecological niche and are thus in direct competition with one another. In some cases, the extent of dietary overlap can be as high as 68.8%. Cave lions typically ignore spotted hyenas, unless they are on a kill or are being harassed by them. There exists a common misconception that hyenas steal kills from lions, but most often it is the other way around, and lions will readily steal the kills of spotted hyenas. It is common for cave lions to subsist largely on kills stolen from cave hyenas. Lions are quick to follow the calls of hyenas feeding.
When confronted with a kill by cave lions, cave hyenas will either leave or wait patiently at a distance of 30–100 meters until the lions have finished eating. In some cases, cave hyenas are bold enough to feed alongside cave lions, and may occasionally force lions off a kill. This mostly occurs during the nighttime, when hyenas are bolder. Cave hyenas usually prevail against groups of lionesses unaccompanied by males if they outnumber them 4:1. In some instances, they were seen to have taken on and routed two pride males while outnumbering them 5:1.
The two species may act aggressively toward one another even when there is no food at stake. Cave Lions may charge at hyenas and maul them for no apparent reason. Cave hyenas have adapted to this pressure by frequently mobbing lions that enter their territories.
Although cave leopards preferentially prey on smaller animals than those hunted by cave hyenas, hyenas will steal their kills when the opportunity presents itself. Cave leopards, particularly males, may stand up to hyenas. There are records of some male leopards preying on hyenas. Hyenas are nonetheless dangerous opponents for leopards.
Cave Bears and steppe brown bears often put a fight when fighting off Cave Hyenas from a kill, but most of the time the bears would back off due to the Hyena's Strong Jaws and numbers of the Clan. Cave Hyenas would sometimes enter caves to hunt bears hibernating which doesn't always end in the hyena's favor.
Cave Hyenas will follow packs of cave wolves to appropriate their kills. They will typically inspect areas where cave wolves have rested and eat any food remains they find. When approaching wolves a kill, solitary hyenas will approach cautiously and attempt to take off with a piece of meat unnoticed, though they may be mobbed by the dogs in the attempt. When operating in groups, cave hyenas are more successful in pirating wolf kills, though the dog's greater tendency to assist each other puts them at an advantage against cave hyenas, who rarely work in unison. Although wolf packs can easily repel solitary hyenas, on the whole, the relationship between the two species is a one-sided benefit for the hyenas. Although they avoided each other as they lived in different habitats Wolves prefer the Woodlands while the hyenas live in the steppes.
Cave Hyenas hunt Wild Boar, Saiga Antelopes, Tarpan, European Wild Donkeys, Reindeer, Steppe Bison, Wisent, Eurasian Elk or Moose, Aurochs, and Megaloceros. They also target young Woolly Rhinoceros, Woolly Mammoths, and Elasmotherium, and even Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals.
Cave Htenas are often chased away by Woolly Mammoths since they sometimes hunt the calves, especially a Bull Mammoth in Musth. But the Ape Men directly compete and are hunted by them.
Relationships with Hominids: Kills partially processed by Neanderthals and then by cave hyenas indicate that hyenas would occasionally steal Neanderthal kills, and cave hyenas and Neanderthals competed for cave sites. Many caves show alternating occupations by hyenas and Neanderthals. The presence of large hyena populations in the Russian Far East may have delayed the human colonization of North America. There is fossil evidence of humans in Middle Pleistocene Europe butchering and presumably consuming hyenas.
In Rock Art: The cave hyena is depicted in a few examples of Upper Palaeolithic rock art in France. A painting from the Chauvet Cave depicts a hyena outlined and represented in profile, with two legs, with its head and front part with a well-distinguishable spotted coloration pattern. Because of the specimen's steeped profile, it is thought that the painting was originally meant to represent a cave bear, but was modified as a hyena. In Lascaux, a red and black rock painting of a hyena is present in the part of the cave known as the Diverticule axial, and is depicted in profile, with four limbs, showing an animal with a steep back. The body and the long neck have spots, including the flanks. An image on a cave in Ariège shows an incompletely outlined and deeply engraved figure, representing a part of an elongated neck, smoothly passing into part of the animal's forelimb on the proximal side. Its head is in profile, with a possibly re-engraved muzzle. The ear is typical of the spotted hyena, as it is rounded. An image in the Le Gabillou Cave in Dordogne shows a deeply engraved zoomorphic figure with a head in frontal view and an elongated neck with part of the forelimb in profile. It has large round eyes and short, rounded ears which are set far from each other. It has a broad, line-like mouth that evokes a smile. Though originally thought to represent a composite or zoomorphic hybrid, it is probably a spotted hyena based on its broad muzzle and long neck. The relative scarcity of hyena depictions in Paleolithic rock art has been theorized to be due to the animal's lower rank in the animal worship hierarchy; the cave hyena's appearance was likely unappealing to Ice Age hunters, and it was not sought after as prey. Also, it was not a serious rival like the cave lion or bear, and it lacked the impressiveness of the mammoth or woolly rhino.
Extinction: A 2014 study concluded that the youngest well-dated remains of cave hyenas in Europe date to around 31,000 years ago. A later 2020 study concluded that cave hyenas may have persisted as late as 7,000 years ago in the southern Iberian Peninsula based on radiocarbon dating of likely hyena coprolites found in caves in the region, but suggested that the dates should be considered with caution due to potential contamination issues. A 2021 study found the youngest specimens in East Asia date to around 20,000 years ago. Potential causal factors for extinction include decreasing temperatures, competition with other carnivores, including humans for food and living space, and decreased prey abundance. Evidence suggests that climate change alone cannot account for the cave hyena's extinction in Europe and that other factors, such as human activity and decreasing prey abundance, are necessary to explain it.
The cave hyena's distribution once ranged in Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the Urals, where it remained for at least one million years. Remains have also been found in the Russian Far East, and it has been theorized that the presence of hyenas there may have delayed the colonization of North America. During the Last Glacial Maximum, the spotted hyena also roamed Southeast Asia. The causes of the species' extinction in Eurasia are still largely unknown. In Western Europe at least, the cave hyena's extinction coincided with a decline in grasslands 12,500 years ago. Europe experienced a massive loss of lowland habitats favored by spotted hyenas and a corresponding increase in mixed woodlands. Cave hyenas, under these circumstances, would have been outcompeted by wolves and humans which were as much at home in forests as in open lands, and in highlands as in lowlands. Spotted hyena populations began to shrink roughly 20,000 years ago, completely disappearing from Western Europe between 14 and 11,000 years ago, and earlier in some areas.
Reintroduction Project: Prehistoric Park would normally plan to one day reintroduce a Pleistocene Eurasian animal, Cave Hyenas are part of the Russian mammoth steppe ecosystem. This, therefore, has made releasable in Pleistocene Park. Once a Large Population of Prey Animals is established, these hyenas would be reintroduced.
Danger Tip: With their Strong bites and working together as a clan, it's best to watch out for being attacked by a spotted hyena. Like most predators, cave hyena attacks tend to target women, children, and infirm men, though they can and do attack healthy adult males on occasion. The cave hyena is more dangerous, being larger, more predatory, and more aggressive.
Significant Events: During the Team's Second Rescue Mission, they encountered cave Hyenas alongside Cave Wolves outside a cave as the team waited out the storm, another clan trying to attack the Mammoth Sisters, Martha, and Ellie in the Cave alongside Cave Wolves and Cave Hyenas, and when the team came upon frozen bodies of dead woolly mammoths and rhinos at the bottom of a cliff where they fell from during the blizzard which is the territory of a clan of Cave Hyenas Luan managed to lure the clan to charge at her and into the portal. They now reside in the Ice Age Mount Predator Paddocks.
Ice Age Mount Cave Hyena Paddock: The third section of Ice Age Mount, which was naturally at the very back of the overall zone and closest to the zone's exit, consisted of six appropriately sized paddocks themed after ice age valleys and steppes that came with large rocky caves that served as indoor dens. It is home to Cave Bears, Cave Leopards, Cave Hyenas, Cave Lions, Cave Wolves, and Steppe Brown Bears.
The Cave Hyenas Paddock is a steppe with a large Cave where the Hyenas can sleep. Visitors can see them through the Glass Viewing Panels.
A Sketch of Luan Loud is played with by the cubs of the clan as the adults watch on.
Notable Individuals: The Clan forms a bond with Luan Loud.
Shenzi: Dominant female of the cave hyena clan.
Nne: Second in-command female of the cave hyena clan.
Azizi: Additional adult female of the cave hyena clan.
Tano: Nominal dominant male of the cave hyena clan and Shenzi's mate.
Banzai: Nominal second in-command male of the cave hyena clan and Nne's mate.
Kamari: Azizi's mate.
Ed: Lone bachelor and low-ranking male of the cave hyena clan.
Jasiri: One of the female cubs of the cave hyena clan and Shenzi and Tano's daughter.
Cheezi: One of the female cubs of the cave hyena clan and Banzai and Nne's daughter.
Madoa: One of the female cubs of the cave hyena clan and one of Kamari and Azizi's daughters.
Wema: One of the female cubs of the cave hyena clan and one of Kamari and Azizi's daughters.
Janja: One of the male cubs of the cave hyena clan and Shenzi and Tano's son.
Chungu: One of the male cubs of the cave hyena clan and Banzai and Nne's son.
Tunu: One of the male cubs of the cave hyena clan and Kamari and Azizi's only son.
Conclusion: The Cave Hyena is the most Misunderstood of the Ice Age Predators just like their modern-day counterparts. Once you learn how cool these animals can be they may become your new favorite animal when you visit Prehistoric Park.
The Field Guide might take a long time, like structuring and writing descriptions of the creatures, but also my time in college and spending time with my family. So you can suggest additional information quotes, descriptions, and natural or speculative behaviors for the prehistoric animals that I can edit, and you can send your suggestions either in reviews or private messages.
Examples: Inferring what the toons are doodling on the sketches or snarking quotes.
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