Hyenas Find an Easy Dinner and Feast On a Hippo Carcass Floating in Shallow Water

The harsh African savanna doesn’t usually feature simple meals – in fact, food there usually requires a quick wit and sheer force. However, even an unforgiving environment can yield good luck from time to time. As we see in the below clip, a group of extremely fortunate spotted hyenas happen upon a hippo carcass ready for the taking. And, from the looks of it, with no strings attached!

While it’s not clear throughout the video itself why an entire feast like this is just sitting around, who are hyenas to refuse a complimentary breakfast? Make no mistake in assuming these carnivores are simply scavengers, though. It’s a common misconception that these critters only rummage up what they can find or steal, but that’s not entirely true. The wily hyena is more than capable of planning out complex hunting strategies, but they certainly won’t turn down the occasional break!

With that in mind, let’s turn our attention to these spotted critters and find out a bit more about what makes hyenas so special.

How Clever Are Hyenas?

Hyenas are incredibly smart animals, and have a matching brute strength to boot. Not at all what the stereotype might have you believe, these fighters hunt with stunning ability and even provoke lions at times. This is due to an tightly-knit clan structure and a remarkable level of intelligence. Speaking of which, studies consistently agree that the tandem problem-solving skills of these critters is on the same level as primates – or higher! One observation implied that two hyenas given a puzzle with a reward solved it with no training. Conversely, chimps usually need to go through rigorous trials before seeing results, and don’t always work well in teams.

Are Hyenas Dogs?

Although they may physically resemble canines, hyenas are actually not related to dogs. They belong to a group of carnivorous mammals known as feliforms, which also includes felines and mongooses. The mismatch of dog-like behaviors and appearances we see are currently thought to be a result of evolutionary adaptations that took place a very long time ago. For context, ancient predecessors of the modern day hyena would likely have resembled the civet, another unusual animal. But in today’s sense, the animals we see are either spotted, striped, and brown hyenas, or the aardwolf. Something interesting to keep in mind is that the aardwolf is the sole remnant of the more canine-like species that used to exist.

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The photo featured at the top of this post is © iStock.com/mlschach