Image courtesy of Professional Pest Control Image courtesy of Dr. Verna Case
Habitat: Spotted Hyenas are found throughout Africa south of the Sahara with the exception of the Congo Basin. They live on flat, grassy plains with few or no trees and sometimes in marshes or rocky country. They can be found in many varied climates from hot, arid low-lying areas to the cold heights in the mist forests of East Africa. They can live in elevations up to 4000 meters. Spotted Hyenas are often seen during the day resting, as in the picture below, or lying in shallow water and are active at night. They use caves, aardvark holes and drain culverts as dens (Applegate 1999).
Image
courtesy of Professional
Pest Control Image
courtesy of Dr. Verna Case
Spacing and Territorial Defense: Because the spotted hyena's prey have home ranges, it requires the spotted hyena to also have a home range. However, each clan defends a small stretch of plains that serves as their territorial hunting ground. They mark off the territory by pasting a sticky substance which is excreted from their anal glands onto the grass they are marking (Postanowicz 2003). In addition to this pasty substance, defecation in a latrine area is another way of marking their territory. A latrine consists of several piles of feces deposited by many hyenas in the same spot. You can see in the picture below that their feces are white. This is due to the amount of bone they digest. Consequently, the territorial marking is more conspicuous (Boydston, Morelli, and Holekamp 2001).
Image
courtesy of Dr. Verna Case Image
courtesy of Professional Pest Control
E.E. Boydston, T.L. Morelli, and K.E. Holekamp conducted a study researching the sex differences exhibited by spotted hyenas in territorial behavior. Initiation and leadership of most territorial behaviors are by adult female clan members although, border patrols are occasionally conducted by groups of resident males. But in general, females are more likely to lead border patrol, clan wars, scent-mark more regularly, and are more willing to take more risks in territorial defense than males. When groups of intruders are sensed near the territorial borders, a cooperative attack may be initiated to drive them away. These "clan wars" are characterized by coordinated rushes and attacks by both parties as well as frequent vocalizations to call in reinforcements. Actual physical contact is rare but sometimes injury and death occur from severe biting.
How do you explain this sexually dimorphic territorial behavior? Boydston et. al. suggest that the explanations for territoriality differ for males and females. Some possible explanations for territorial behavior in general include defense of resources such as food or potential mates and offspring defense. I would agree with Boydston et. al. that the most likely explanation for male aggression towards male intruders is defense of potential mates because males showed the most aggression towards intruding male hyenas. Since females are the limiting sex in this species, female territoriality is most likely explained by defense of offspring or food resources than defense of mates. I again agree with Boydston et. al.: that their territoriality is explained most by defense of the food resources because hyena defense of offspring when it happens occurs near the dens rather than the territorial borders. No clan war has been observed near the dens.
This web site was created by Keeley Roles for an undergraduate class, Animal Behavior, at Davidson College Spring Semester 2004. Email keroles@davidson.edu with questions regarding this web page.
Home • Physical Characteristics • Female Dominance • Food, Predation, and Hunting • Social Spacing • Social Organization • Mating System • Offspring • References
