habitat_narrative
Terrestrial
The Brown Hyaena is widespread across southern Africa and is found in the following habitat types: desert areas with annual rainfall less than 100 mm (particularly along the Skeleton Coast in Namibia), semi-desert, open scrub and open woodland savannah with a maximum rainfall up to about 700 mm. It shows an ability to survive close to urban areas (Kuhn 2014). It requires some type of cover in which to lie up during the day. For this it favours rocky, mountainous areas with bush cover in the bushveld areas of South Africa (Skinner 1976). In the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, it has been shown to be primarily a scavenger consuming a wide range of vertebrate remains, which is supplemented by wild fruits, insects, birdsâ eggs and the occasional small animal which is killed; and its impact on domestic livestock is usually small (Mills 1998, Maude 2005). Brown Hyaenas occupy a range of ranch land, but typically avoid agricultural and heavily urbanised habitats (Thorn et al. 2011).Brown Hyaenas compete with Spotted Hyaenas (Mills and Funston 2003). Management practices have favoured the Spotted Hyaena in the Kruger National Park, leading to the Brown Hyaena being excluded as a breeding species (Mills 1990). However, in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park it was found that although the Brown Hyaena outnumbers the Spotted Hyaena by a ratio of about 2:1, in areas well frequented by Spotted Hyaenas, for example around dens, Brown Hyaenas were less often sighted (Mills 1990).
Although 65% of Brown Hyaenas live in mixed sex clans (Mills 1983) of 4â14 individuals (Mills 1982), they are solitary foragers who spend much of their time alone (Owens and Owens 1996, Skinner and Chimimba 2005). A clan is generally composed of one dominant male and a dominant unrelated female (Knowles et al. 2009), several additional females, natal male adults, subadults and cubs (Mills 1982, Owens and Owens 1996).
Ecosystem and cultural services: As a mammalian scavenger, the Brown Hyaena plays a key role in the ecosystem by cleaning up carrion. This service can prevent the spread of diseases and assist other scavengers or decomposers to meet their feeding requirements. Many farmers, especially on hunting farms, make use of this service by leaving carcasses and offal in the veld for Brown Hyaenas and other scavengers to clear.
Brown Hyaenas are also competitors with mesocarnivores such as Black-backed Jackals (Canis mesomelas) that can cause economic losses to farmers and thus Brown Hyaenas may help to alleviate such losses.
As one of the few widely distributed large carnivores left in South Africa, Brown Hyaenas can be considered charismatic and are used to educate children about the natural world and conservation as evidenced by the Earthwatch Brown Hyaena Project.
The Brown Hyaena features in local stories and songs in northern Limpopo; however, these cultural connections are significantly more prominent with older people, which suggests that many of this speciesâ cultural links may phase out with the younger generation. Frequently, the hyaena is portrayed in local folklore as a character who is ignorant, easily fooled or connected with witchcraft.
