Brown Hyena

Brown Hyena – solitary and social

They move around silent, alone and over vast distances in search of food. They are nocturnal scavengers and occasionally hunters. Parts of populations in certain areas have adapted to be active during the day to avoid confrontations with their kind when sharing the same food source. Some live in areas where no other large predators are present. Others share their habitat with lions while an unknown number is found on commercial farms and communal land.

Population and status

It is estimated that there are around 3000 mature individuals in Namibia. They are a protected species and their conservation status is near threatened in Namibia as well as globally (IUCN). Two research projects are on-going for some years now, one in the Tsau ǁKhaeb National Park south of Lüderitz and one in the Hoanib River and the Skeleton National Park around the Hoanib mouth and Möwe Bay.

Food

Brown hyenas are scavengers and feed on anything they can find. They are known to carry ostrich eggs one by one from the nest and stash them in different places in the soil. Their diet includes tsamma melons and probably some other plants. They are not very successful hunters but on the coast in the Tsau //Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) and Skeleton Coast National Parks they hunt Cape seal pups. On commercial farms the numbers of brown hyenas have increased and unfortunately farmers blame these shy predators of killing livestock. No proof of an actual killing of any sheep or cattle has been recorded.

Behaviour

According to researchers Marie Lemerle and Emsie Verwey the clan, in whose area a seal colony is found, defends its territory against intruders. The members of outside clans or nomadic males have adjusted and visit the seal colonies during the day to avoid contact with the resident clan members who normally patrol and look for food at night. Although belonging to a clan the different members move around alone but do care for youngsters at a communal den. These dens are the social meetings points of the clan members. While foraging brown hyenas cover vast distances between 18 and 90 km in a day. A collared brown hyena with transmitter once walked from Elizabeth Bay south of Lüderitz to Kolmanskop (24 km), from there north of Lüderitz (10 km), at 3h00 through the town of Lüderitz to the peninsula (15 km) and back to Elizabeth Bay (21 km) in one night; a distance of more than 70 km! Some of the nomadic males in the park cover the whole area between Lüderitz and Oranjemund, a distance of 244 km on their search for food.

Natural enemy

In the Tsau //Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) National Park brown hyenas are most of the time hassled by black-backed jackal while feeding, but in the Hoanib and Möwe Bay area in the Skeleton Coast National Park, brown hyenas live in conflict with desert adapted lions. According to Emsie Verwey between 2016 and 2021 one lioness killed at least seven mainly young hyenas and another lioness is known to have killed at least one more hyena.

People are afraid of brown hyenas but these secretive animals pose no danger to humans. Visitors who see brown hyenas should try and photograph the individual animals and report the sightings with good photos to the researchers.

Text and photos by Dirk Heinrich