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Reintroduced spotted hyenas favored dense bush and prey-rich scrubland

Research: Ecology, Behaviour

Researchers tracked five adult spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) after their reintroduction to the fenced Korannaberg section of Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in South Africa, where lions are absent. The hyenas had been moved from Addo National Park in two groups in 2019 and 2020; GPS collars recorded their locations hourly.

Four of the five selected areas with dense bush in both the dry and wet seasons; the fifth did so in the wet season. Here, dense bush cover meant vegetation less than five metres high. All five avoided duneveld and areas where aerial surveys had not recorded herbivores. The relationship with prey depended on habitat: in the combined calcrete scrubveld/shrubveld habitat category—mostly shrubveld with smaller patches of calcrete scrubveld—the hyenas selected locations associated with herbivore sightings, while this pattern was not evident in bushveld or duneveld.

That scrubland combination may help explain its appeal. It held 35% of the herbivore sightings and seven of the reserve’s 16 permanent waterholes, and had no lodges. In the dry season, four hyenas selected areas close to permanent waterholes, but not close to lodges. The study cannot determine which of these features mattered most.

The hyenas moved shorter distances around midday and longer distances at night. They also preferentially used roads in the early morning, evening and at night, when traffic was likely lower. The researchers suggest that, without lions, the hyenas may have had fewer opportunities to scavenge and relied more on hunting herbivores. The study documents five animals in one fenced section of one reserve, so its findings do not establish a general pattern for spotted hyenas elsewhere.

Sources and image credit

  1. Environmental and anthropogenic effects on reintroduced Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta) space use in a fenced reserve in absence of other top predatorsPrimary research article. Supports the study location and design, findings on habitat selection and movement, and the authors’ interpretation.

Image: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Representative photograph. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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