Striped hyaena
Hyaena hyaena
Dnyaneshwar Thongire · Maharashtra
Key facts in one look
- Size
- 60–80 cm at the shoulder, 22–55 kg
- Diet
- Scavenger, eats bones, small animals and fruit
- Status in Georgia
- Regarded as extinct, last seen in the 1990s
- Habitat
- Dry steppe, semi-desert, rocky gullies
- Family
- Hyaenidae
- Conservation
- NT (global) / RE (Georgia)
The striped hyaena no longer lives in Georgia. It was last seen in the 1990s in the Chachuna Managed Reserve, and a 2021 national assessment rates it Regionally Extinct (RE). It once lived on the Iori and Kartli plateaus, and in the middle of the last century it was seen around Tbilisi too, on Makhata hill and by Turtle Lake. It is a grey, striped scavenger with a tall mane and a sloping back. It moves at night, searching for carcasses and bones. If anyone reports a hyaena in Georgia today, it would be a sensation, and it would need a photo or tracks to confirm it.
Identification
Striped hyaena: how to identify it
The striped hyaena is a dog-sized, long-legged carnivore with a grey or brownish-grey coat and dark vertical stripes on its flanks. A long mane runs along its back, and it raises it when alarmed. Its hind legs are shorter than its forelegs, so the back slopes down towards the tail. Its large, pointed, almost black ears show from far away.
Head and body length is 85–130 cm, the tail 25–40 cm, and shoulder height 60–80 cm. It weighs 22–55 kg, 35 kg on average. The head is massive and the neck thick, and the jaws are strong enough to splinter a camel's thigh bone.
The coat is grey or brownish-grey. Four indistinct dark stripes run down the flanks, and the thighs carry 3–4 dark bands. The mane hairs on the back are 15–22.5 cm long, pale at the base and black or dark brown at the tip. The winter coat is long and dense, the summer coat short and coarse.
The hind legs are noticeably shorter than the forelegs, so the back slopes from the neck to the tail. The ears are large, pointed and almost black, and the tail tip is black too. This sloping silhouette is one of its best field marks.
The wolf comes close to the hyaena in size, but its back is level and it has no mane and no flank stripes. The hyaena is low behind, with large pointed ears and dark stripes on its sides. Seeing a striped animal with a sloping back in Georgia today would be a sensation, so do not draw conclusions without a photo.
Often confused with
The striped hyaena is an animal of dry, open country. It lives in semi-deserts and deserts, in wooded and shrubby parts of the steppe, and in quiet, rocky gullies. By day it hides in thickets, reed beds, caves and rock crevices. It needs more water than most other carnivores, so it cannot stray far from water. In Georgia its range was the northern edge of its Caucasian range and took in the Alazani, Iori and Mtkvari valleys. In the last century it was recorded on the Kartli and Iori plateaus. In the middle of the century it was seen around Tbilisi too: on Makhata hill and near the Kukia cemetery by the former salt lakes, and one animal was killed on the shore of Turtle Lake. By the early 1980s only a handful remained in Dedoplistskaro municipality: in the Vashlovani reserve and in the Pantishari, Mamachai and Kumuro areas. It was last seen in the 1990s in the Chachuna Managed Reserve.
The striped hyaena is above all a scavenger. It eats the carcasses of hoofed animals, often skeletons already stripped by others, and cracks long bones for marrow and cartilage. Now and then it kills hares, rodents, reptiles and birds, raids nests on the ground and eats insects. In the Caucasus it ate grasshoppers, and in Azerbaijan and Central Asia it switches almost entirely to tortoises in spring, when the young hatch. Plant food matters too: melons, watermelons, nuts and seeds.
The striped hyaena is nocturnal. It leaves its den once it is fully dark and returns before sunrise. It lives alone or in pairs, is not territorial, and the home ranges of different animals overlap. Its sense of smell is keen, while its eyesight and hearing are weak. When attacked, it sprays a foul-smelling liquid from its anal glands and often plays dead. It digs its own den or uses caves, rock crevices and the old burrows of porcupines and wolves. In Transcaucasia it mated in January–February. Gestation lasts 90–91 days. The female gives birth to 2–4 blind cubs, whose eyes open after 7–8 days. The cubs leave the den at about one month and are weaned at two months. Pairs are faithful, and the male helps raise the cubs. In the wild it lives up to 12 years, in captivity up to 23.
Globally the striped hyaena is Near Threatened (NT, 2015). Its numbers are estimated at fewer than 10,000 mature animals. The main threats are deliberate and incidental persecution and the decline of its food, the large hoofed animals. In Georgia the hyaena was already in the 1982 Red Data Book. The 2014 Red List lists it as Critically Endangered (CR) because of its very small population. A 2021 national assessment rates it Regionally Extinct (RE). In the last century its habitat in the Caucasus changed greatly, which helped drive it out. The nearest populations today are very small: in Azerbaijan, 12 years of research in the 21st century produced only three records, and a small population still lives in Turkey.
Related guides
Continue with related pages
No, it is regarded as extinct in Georgia. It was last seen in the 1990s in the Chachuna Managed Reserve. A 2021 national assessment rates it Regionally Extinct (RE). There has been no confirmed record from Georgia since.
In eastern Georgia, in the Alazani, Iori and Mtkvari valleys and on the Kartli and Iori plateaus. In the middle of the last century it was seen around Tbilisi too, on Makhata hill and by Turtle Lake. By the early 1980s only a handful remained in Dedoplistskaro municipality, in Vashlovani and the areas around it.
It is a dog-sized grey animal with dark vertical stripes on its flanks. A long mane runs along its back, and its hind legs are shorter than its forelegs, so the back slopes towards the tail. It has large, pointed, almost black ears. A wolf has no mane and no stripes, and its back is level.
It stands 60–80 cm at the shoulder, with a head and body length of 85–130 cm and a tail of 25–40 cm. It weighs 22–55 kg, 35 kg on average. The largest animals live in the Middle East, Asia Minor, Central Asia and India.
Above all carcasses and bones: its strong jaws crack even long bones. Now and then it kills small animals, eats insects and raids nests. In the Caucasus it ate grasshoppers. It also likes melons, watermelons and other plant food.
It usually avoids people. Attacks are rare but known from history, for example in the Erivan Governorate in the 1880s. In Georgia it is regarded as extinct today, so it poses no danger here.
Globally it is Near Threatened (NT, 2015). Georgia's 2014 Red List lists it as Critically Endangered (CR). A 2021 national assessment rates it Regionally Extinct (RE) in Georgia.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
