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Reintroduced spotted hyenas establish home ranges within seven months in Tswalu

Spotted hyenas waiting near a lion kill in Kruger National Park
Conservation · Reintroductions & translocations

A study published in August 2026 followed how spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) re-established themselves after being returned to Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in South Africa. Ten hyenas were reintroduced to the reserve, restoring a large predator that had previously disappeared from this part of the southern Kalahari.

Five of the animals were fitted with satellite collars, allowing researchers to follow their movements hour by hour. The study examined how quickly new home ranges formed, how much individual ranges overlapped and whether the animals continued to associate mainly with the same individuals they had been released alongside.

Stable home ranges formed within about seven months

The reintroduced hyenas established stable home ranges within about seven months after release. Across the five collared animals, the average home range was about 307 square kilometres, although individual ranges varied substantially.

Monthly and cumulative home ranges of five reintroduced spotted hyenas in Tswalu Kalahari Reserve
Monthly and cumulative home-range development for the five satellite-collared reintroduced spotted hyenas in Tswalu. Melville & Knox (2026), CC BY 4.0.

The hyenas together used most of the Korannaberg section of Tswalu, but no single part of the reserve was used equally by every animal. Individual home ranges overlapped by no more than about 36 percent, and several hyenas made long exploratory movements before settling into more predictable patterns.

Social ties crossed the original release groups

Social relationships also proved more flexible than the composition of the original release groups might suggest. Movements became synchronised when animals were within roughly 10 kilometres of one another, but the hyenas did not remain socially tied only to the individuals with which they had been reintroduced. Animals from different release cohorts could associate as the new population developed.

The authors also note that, in an arid setting without lions and with abundant resources, the home ranges of reintroduced hyenas may be smaller than is typical for the species.

Sources and image credit

  1. Melville, H., & Knox, N. M. (2026). Reintroduction of spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) within their former range: A home range establishment case study in Tswalu Kalahari Reserve. Conservation, 6(3), 95. https://doi.org/10.3390/conservation6030095Primary peer-reviewed open-access study, published 8 August 2026; CC BY 4.0.

Image: Bernard DUPONT — spotted hyenas waiting near a lion kill on H7 Road east of Orpen in Kruger National Park, South Africa; representative image. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

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