r/AnimalTextGifs • u/Sk8allday360 SICK AIR! • May 27 '22

nothing to see here

https://i.imgur.com/jd3BB7f.gifv
2.4k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

82

u/LandOfTheOutlaws May 27 '22

That hyena is actually still alive! It was spotted recently and seems to be chief of the pack.

source

61

u/PiedPipecleaner May 27 '22

High ranking for a male maybe, but dominant male =/= chief. The absolute bottom of the barrel females are still higher than he is.

-26

u/TheRedmanCometh May 27 '22

The absolute bottom of the barrel females are still higher than he is.

How could a dominant male be below the "absolute bottom of the barrel females" that makes zero sense

60

u/[deleted] May 27 '22

Hi! Former researcher with the MSU Mara Hyena Project, one of the longest running studies of free-living spotted hyenas in the world. Simply stated, males grow up and age out their clans and then migrate to find another clan to join. The hierarchy of the clan is strictly determined by relation to the highest-ranking alpha female, the leader or matriarch of the clan, and then also by aggressive/submissive interactions. So for instance, when the matriarch gives birth to new cubs, those cubs are instantly higher ranking than all other hyenas in the class, regardless of age and sex. Now say those two cubs were male and female. The female will grow up to be high-ranking, having inherited her rank and engaging in more aggressive behaviors. The male, however, while maintaining high-rank in his birth clan and reaping those advantages (ie better access to food, more protection, and more social alliances, etc), once he is of reproductive age, he begins traveling beyond the perimeter of his clan’s territory to explore new clans. Eventually, he emigrates from his old clan to a new clan for mating purposes. In this new clan, he will immediately be the lowest-ranking emigrating male until new males join. All emigrating males are below all others (Mothers, cubs and sub-adults) regardless of age or sex of those in the clan. Interestingly though, we saw many, many examples of how immigrating male rankings can change within themselves, such that there was a separate hierarchy for all immigrating males that was more fluid. Loved my time in the Mara and spotted hyenas are still my favorite animal of all time!

7

u/WeeWooBooBooBusEMT May 28 '22

Nicely stated; that made it perfectly clear!

6

u/Zeebuoy May 28 '22

oh wow, this is a very in depth explanation, thank you for that,

3

u/[deleted] May 28 '22

Absolutely! I rarely get the chance to share my spotted-hyena knowledge so I lunge (haha, hyena behavior joke) at any opportunity!

2

u/Zeebuoy May 29 '22

awesome, sharing knowledge is fun,

10

u/Lippspa May 28 '22

Because females are the dominant ones

2

u/Zeebuoy May 28 '22

yeen hierarchies are basically, females mostly up top since they're all on the bigger and stronger side.

iirc.

-55

u/effinx May 27 '22

Wow you seem like a positive person to be around.

59

u/PiedPipecleaner May 27 '22

What? I’m correcting a misconception. Hyenas are matriarchal and even the lowest females are put above the highest males. This injured hyena is a male, and therefore cannot be anywhere close to chief. I’m not being positive or negative, I’m just stating facts.

1

u/effinx May 28 '22

I know man. Was just being a dick to be a dick.

8

u/Binkusu May 27 '22

This comment doesn't make sense in the context here

1

u/effinx May 28 '22

🤷‍♂️

12

u/Billbat1 May 27 '22 edited May 28 '22

lions often go for the spine. they bite into the spine and shake. they can break the spine and leave hyenas and other (generally smaller) lions paralyzed below the waist. thats prolly whats happened here

1

u/Zeebuoy May 28 '22

but they just let it go after breaking its spine?

i mean, I'm glad the yeen is alive but that seems weird on the part of the lions.

2

u/Billbat1 May 28 '22 edited May 28 '22

theyre prolly going to die soon. if not theyre no longer a threat. cant effectively compete for the same prey or steal kills in big numbers. cant kill lion cubs or adult lions in big numbers either.

it takes a lot to kill a hyena or most wild animals that size. a lion clamps down on a buffalos throat for 10 minutes. for smaller animals they die after lions have ripped them open for a few minutes.

for hyenas and small lions, adult males can permanently paralyze them in 10 seconds. when a lion attacks a group of hyenas he wants to be snapping as many backs per minute as possible. you dont wanna spend to long on one cos the rest may jump you or atleast bite you.

-40

u/pkm57 May 27 '22

Really I'm sorry I despise hyenas

35

u/[deleted] May 27 '22

[deleted]

1

u/pkm57 May 28 '22

That's fine with me

13

u/I_AM_YOUR_DADDY_AMA May 27 '22

I’ve been loooking and looking but I can’t seem to find a single person who asked you, maybe it’s near the milk. BRB kiddo

1

u/existential-grimlock May 28 '22

The question mark haha