Hyenas are among the most powerful predators in Africa, but they genuinely fear several threats. The biggest surprise from recent research: the thing that scares hyenas most isn’t lions or leopards. It’s humans. A 2023 study found that hyenas fled faster and more frequently when they heard human voices than when they heard lion roars, gunshots, or barking dogs.
Humans Scare Hyenas More Than Lions Do
A landmark study published in Current Biology tested how wildlife at South African waterholes reacted to different sounds played from hidden speakers. When hyenas heard human conversation, they abandoned the waterhole significantly faster than when they heard lions. They also ran more often. This pattern held across nearly every large mammal tested, from elephants to leopards, leading the researchers to describe humans as a “super predator” whose presence triggers an outsized fear response across the savanna.
What makes this finding striking is that the fear of human voices even exceeded the fear of hunting-specific sounds like gunshots and barking dogs. In other words, hyenas aren’t just reacting to obvious danger cues. The mere sound of people talking is enough to send them running. This likely reflects generations of persecution, habitat loss, and lethal encounters with humans that have wired a deep avoidance instinct into hyena behavior.
Lions Are a Constant Threat
Lions are the most significant natural enemy hyenas face. A single male lion can easily kill a hyena, and lions regularly attack hyenas at kill sites, sometimes fatally. Hyenas know this. When a male lion approaches a carcass, even a large group of hyenas will typically back off. Spotted hyenas can sometimes mob a lone female lion if they outnumber her heavily, but they rarely challenge a male.
The dynamic is less about one-on-one fear and more about constant, calculated risk assessment. Hyenas monitor lion movements, listen for roars, and adjust their foraging routes to reduce encounters. In areas where lion density is high, hyenas shift their activity patterns to avoid overlap. Still, as the waterhole study showed, even this deep-seated wariness of lions is smaller in magnitude than their fear of humans.
Leopards in Direct Confrontation
The relationship between hyenas and leopards is more nuanced. Leopards have superior strength and agility in a one-on-one fight, and striped hyenas in particular tend to avoid areas frequented by leopards. Field observations have documented hyenas approaching leopard kills only to retreat after a hostile response from the leopard. A cornered or aggressive leopard is a real physical danger, capable of inflicting serious injuries with its claws and bite.
That said, hyenas can flip this dynamic with numbers. Researchers recently documented the first cases of striped hyenas ganging up on a single leopard to take over a carcass. So hyenas aren’t universally afraid of leopards. They’re afraid of losing a fight with one, and they gauge that risk based on whether they have backup.
Large Wild Dog Packs
African wild dogs and hyenas compete directly for prey, and hyenas frequently steal kills from smaller wild dog packs. But when dog packs are large enough, hyenas lose their advantage. In one South African park where wild dog packs averaged 17 individuals (compared to hyena clan sizes of 9 to 14), the dogs showed no spatial or temporal avoidance of hyenas at all. Large packs can defend their kills effectively and for longer periods, making it risky for hyenas to attempt theft.
A lone hyena or a small group approaching a large, coordinated pack of wild dogs faces real danger. Wild dogs are fast, persistent, and work together to harass threats. While hyenas aren’t “scared” of wild dogs the way they are of lions, they clearly recognize when the numbers aren’t in their favor and move on.
Fear Within the Clan
Some of the most visible fear responses hyenas display aren’t toward other species at all. They’re toward higher-ranking members of their own clan. Spotted hyena society is rigidly hierarchical, with females dominant over males. When a lower-ranking hyena encounters a dominant one, the submissive individual retreats with ears flattened, tail tucked between its legs, and a cowering posture that looks unmistakably like fear.
During greeting ceremonies, the submissive hyena lifts its leg and tail to allow the dominant individual to inspect its scent glands, a vulnerable position that signals total deference. These aren’t casual social gestures. Dominant hyenas enforce their rank with aggression, and lower-ranking individuals who fail to show proper submission risk being bitten or driven away from food. For many hyenas, the most frequent source of fear in daily life is the clan member who outranks them.
Fire and Unfamiliar Objects
Like most wild animals, hyenas are wary of fire. This is one reason campfires have historically been used across Africa to deter nighttime visits from hyenas and other predators. Bright, flickering light and smoke signal danger, and hyenas will generally keep their distance from an active fire. They also tend to avoid unfamiliar objects or sudden environmental changes, a trait common to intelligent, cautious predators that rely on learned experience to assess risk.
Hyenas living near human settlements do gradually habituate to some stimuli, including vehicles, buildings, and routine human activity. But novel disturbances, especially loud or unpredictable ones, reliably trigger avoidance. This adaptability is part of what makes hyenas so successful: they’re bold enough to scavenge near human communities but cautious enough to retreat when something feels wrong.