The Hyena: An Ancient Animal

For a short period of my life I was lucky to know the great man Dr Ian Player who dedicated his life to the wild, wilderness and nature. Since those days I have always looked for the symbolism in nature he talked so much about. Every time I see a hyena they symbolise for me the importance of balance, community, communication and cooperation.

My spotted hyena sightings have been few and far between over the last 20 odd years of travelling to Africa, but this is one of the animals that has taught me the most over the years about Africa, about ecosystems, and about how wrong first impressions can be.

Most people arrive on tour with a picture already formed: a skulking scavenger, hanging around the edges, waiting for lions to finish. Then they spend a few evenings listening to whoops echo across the bush, or watch a clan confidently walk close to camp, and everything changes.

Hyenas have been part of my travels across Africa for decades now, and every encounter seems to add another layer to a story that began millions of years before any of us were ever thought of.

An truly ancient animal

The spotted hyena is not just old in evolutionary terms, it belongs to a lineage that stretches back nearly four million years.

My research tells me that the earliest known fossils from the genus Crocuta come from Africa, dating to roughly 3.8 million years ago, during the late Pliocene. I had no idea when the 'late Pliocene' was until I research it recently, so please don't confuse me with an expert! These early hyenas lived in a world already shifting toward open grasslands and large grazing herds, in a landscape that shaped their future as powerful hunters and bone crushers!

From Africa, their relatives expanded into Asia and Europe, and for a long time hyena like animals roamed as far as Britain. The famous “cave hyenas” of Ice Age Europe were close cousins of today’s spotted hyena, filling a similar ecological role alongside mammoths, woolly rhinos, and early humans.

When you sit around a fire listening to hyenas calling in the dark, you’re hearing a voice that echoes back through deep time.

Yes scavengers but serious predators as well

One of the biggest myths I try to gently dismantle with groups is the idea that hyenas are second rate hunters. In many parts of Africa, spotted hyenas kill the majority of what they eat.

I remember one evening in Namibia with a group when we watched a small clan moving with clear intent across open ground. No noise, no chaos, just purpose. We didn't see the kill but within minutes, they had brought down a young antelope with amazing efficiency. There was no sign of lions, no leftovers the next day. It was a reminder that hyenas don’t wait for opportunities, they create them.

Their jaws are among the most powerful of any land mammal, capable of crushing bone with ease. This allows them to consume almost an entire carcass of skin, hooves, and bones, playing a crucial role in keeping ecosystems clean and healthy.

Life in a clan is matriarchal

Spotted hyenas live in large social groups called clans, and some have been seen with more than 50 individuals, which I would love to see. But unlike a pride of lions, you rarely see everyone together. My research tells me that clan members split and reform into smaller groups, moving across vast territories, a social system known as 'fission fusion'.

What often surprises people most is that females dominate males, sometimes very visibly. Rank matters enormously in hyena society and it affects who eats first, who breeds, and even how confident an individual appears.

On one trip in South Africa we came across a feeding clan at first light. A large female arrived late, walked straight into the centre of the carcass, and every other hyena, males included, simply stepped aside. Watching that quiet assertion of rank was far more instructive than any textbook explanation.

Hyenas are also incredibly long lived. I have heard that some individuals survive well over 20 years in the wild, building relationships, rivalries, and alliances over decades.

The sound of Africa at night

Few sounds define the African night like the hyena’s whoop!

I’ve lost count of the number of evenings when guests have gone quiet mid sentence as that rising call rolls across the landscape. Sometimes it feels eerie, other times it feels reassuring but always a reminder that you’re truly out there, in Africa, in the bush, having an adventure...

Guides have told me that that “laugh” we hear, is usually heard during high energy moments around food or social tension. It’s not mockery or madness, it’s communication. Hyenas are vocal, expressive, and far more socially aware than most people expect.

Intelligence and adaptability

Modern research I have read and watched in documentaries has confirmed what field guides have long suspected. Spotted hyenas are highly intelligent, with problem solving abilities comparable to some primates.

They adapt well to changing environments, which is both a strength and a challenge. In some areas, this brings them into conflict with people, especially livestock farmers. They are still listed as Least Concern, but local populations are declining where persecution and habitat loss are a real challenge.

Seeing them thrive depends on healthy landscapes, tolerant communities, focused conservation, and people willing to look beyond old myths.

Why I love hyenas

If lions are about power and presence, hyenas are about resilience, intelligence, and cooperation.

They remind me that Africa isn’t just about the obvious icons, it’s about the systems that keep everything functioning. Hyenas sit right at the centre of that, quietly shaping landscapes and cleaning up what others leave behind.

When guests say the hyena was the animal they enjoyed the most, I know the journey has done its job. It’s no longer just about the headline species, but about understanding the rhythms and characters of the wild. And every time that first whoop carries through the darkness, it feels like a reminder that some lessons are ancient, and never quite finished.