Facts on Hyena

By Thorn Mulli

In ancient Egypt, hyenas were domesticated, fattened and eaten. Some cultures, on the other hand, exploited hyena body parts not only for food but also for medicine. In contrast, the hyena today is one the most misunderstood and misrepresented animal. Most people, like the hit animation film ‘The Lion King’ view them negatively for the most part as cowardly, dirty, greedy, opportunistic, stupid and even associating them with witchcraft. This probably due to the fact few people know that there exists four species of hyena each with unique characteristics. Ignorantly, they use an unflattering characteristic of one species to refer to all hyenas.