Models of predator, prey and scavenger relationships suggest hominins were most successful when banding together to exploit and defend such finds from adversaries like giant hyenas ( Pachycrocuta brevirostris) that were seeking their own easy meals. New research in Scientific Reports suggests that our ancient human relatives might have survived, at least in part, by adeptly feeding on the meaty carcasses left by big cat predators when they were plentiful. Predators like saber-toothed cats dominated the food chain, and our ancestors and their relatives may have frequently relied on scavenging their felled prey as part of the prehistoric diet. But in this era before advanced weapons, the successful hunter may not have been human at all. It meant a nutritious, fatty group feast for Homo erectus, made possible by the skill and tenacity of the hunter who brought down the beast, which all surely appreciated. They also disperse seeds from tsama melons, gemsbok melons, and hookeri melons at defecation sites.In southern Europe, a million years ago, a horse or elephant kill was a big event. They also change the predation frequencies of leopards and cheetahs by stalking them while they are hunting and then driving them away from their kills. These animals help regulate black-backed jackal and South African fur seal populations through predation. ![]() Currently, this species is classified as Near Threatened (NT), but its numbers today remain stable.Īs a scavenger, the Brown hyena has an important role in removing the remains of dead animals from its habitat, as these serve as breeding grounds for many diseases and parasites if left to decay. This includes populations of 2,799 and 5,271 in Botswana 566-2,440 animals in Namibia and 1,007 (31-2,316) animals in South Africa. ![]() Due to the amount of poisoning, hunting, and trapping, the overall range of brown hyenas is possibly declining, and in the southern part of its range, it is now rare, and possibly even extinct.Īccording to the IUCN Red List, the total Brown hyena population size is 5,000 to 8,000 individuals. Besides such persecution, this species is occasionally used in traditional rituals and medicine. Brown hyenas, in fact, rarely kill livestock, and when they do, such killings are probably the work of a particular individual. There is a continuing false belief that these animals threaten domestic livestock, resulting in commercial farmers throughout its range killing harmless individuals. The Brown hyena is often killed due to misconceptions, myths, and an unjustified bad reputation. Males usually leave the den but females remain with the clan. They reach reproductive maturity between the age of 2 and 3. When they are 3 months old, they start to eat solid food and are moved by their mother to the communal den, where they are fed either by their mother or another lactating female. ![]() Gestation lasts about 90 days, with 1-4 cubs born in the natal den. ![]() Breeding is usually every 12 to 41 months. They typically mate from May to August, during the dry season in Africa, but timing may also be due to the spontaneous arrival of any nomadic male. The other system involves the clan females primarily mating with one or several nomadic males that come into the clan’s territory, being a polyandrous or polygynandrous (promiscuous) system, with females sometimes mating with up to four different males. One is a polygynous, clan-based system, which occurs only when the alpha male is a non-relative from another clan and mates with all females in the clan. Brown hyenas usually demonstrate one of two complex systems of mating.
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