Hyenas are adaptable carnivores, often seen as formidable predators and scavengers. While their resilience and social structures significantly reduce their vulnerability, they are not without natural threats. Specific circumstances and encounters can lead to them becoming prey.
Apex Predators and Competitors
Lions pose the most significant natural threat to hyenas, especially spotted hyenas, due to intense competition for shared food and territory. These antagonistic interactions often escalate into violent confrontations. Lions actively pursue and kill hyenas, particularly when hyena numbers are low or during disputes over kills. A single lion can kill an adult hyena, and multiple lions often cooperate to eliminate rivals.
African wild dogs, though smaller, also threaten hyenas, particularly cubs or injured individuals. Encounters stem from resource competition, with packs attacking hyenas near den sites or kills. Direct predation on adult hyenas by wild dogs is less common but can occur if the hyena is isolated or weakened.
Intraspecific aggression within hyena clans also contributes to mortality, especially among spotted hyenas. Severe territorial disputes or social conflicts can lead to adults killing other adults or, more commonly, infanticide where cubs are killed by non-parental adults. This behavior helps regulate clan size and resource allocation.
Humans also pose a substantial threat, directly through hunting, poaching, and retaliatory killings due to livestock depredation. Indirect threats include habitat loss and fragmentation.
Hyena Defenses and Resilience
Spotted hyenas benefit from their complex social structure, living in large clans that can number over a hundred individuals. This collective strength provides a cooperative defense, allowing them to mob and deter larger predators like lions. Clan members also use alarm calls to warn others, enabling coordinated responses to threats.
Hyenas possess physical attributes contributing to their resilience. Their powerful jaws generate immense bite force, among the strongest relative to their size, allowing them to crush bone. A muscular build, combined with speed and endurance, makes them capable of outrunning many threats.
Their intelligence and adaptability enhance their survival. Hyenas exhibit cunning behaviors, assessing risks and often avoiding direct confrontation when outnumbered or outmatched. Their opportunistic scavenging niche also reduces their likelihood of being primary prey, as they frequently arrive at kills after the initial hunt.
Specific Vulnerabilities
Hyena cubs are highly vulnerable to predation, especially when left unattended at den sites. Young cubs, particularly spotted hyenas, face threats from lions, African wild dogs, and even adult hyenas from rival clans. Their small size and inability to defend themselves make them susceptible to opportunistic predators.
Injured, sick, or elderly hyenas are considerably more susceptible to predation. Such individuals cannot defend themselves or escape threats, making them easier targets. Their weakened state makes them an attractive and less risky meal for larger carnivores.
Hyenas separated from their clan, or solitary species like striped and brown hyenas, face a higher predation risk due to the absence of group defense. Without clan support, an isolated hyena is more exposed to attacks from larger predators. Smaller hyena species, such as aardwolves and striped hyenas, face a broader array of threats from larger carnivores compared to dominant spotted hyenas.