Inside the Secret Lives of Hyenas
Welcome to a deep dive into the hyena's intelligence, hunting skills, clan hierarchy, and why the female hyenas rule the savannahs.
When most people think of hyenas, they picture a hunched-over scavenger cackling in the shadows of a larger predator’s kill. But the reality couldn’t be further from this picture. Hyenas are not cowardly thieves — they’re one of the African continent's most intelligent, socially complex, and fearsome predators. The most interesting part? They live in a society that would turn most mammalian norms on their head: a brutal, bizarre matriarchy.
Smarter Than You Think
Spotted hyenas are the largest and most studied hyena species. Research shows their social intelligence is underrated, rivaling that of even primates. They form large clans of up to 80 individuals, each one with its own complex set of relationships, dominance hierarchies, and cooperative behaviors for hunting and socializing.
Hyenas are capable of problem-solving, recognizing individuals by their calls, and even remembering past social interactions. Scientists have found that hyenas perform just as well as some primates on cooperative tasks, and their ability to strategize when forming alliances or challenging each other for higher ranks in their complex hierarchy, something commonly found in chimpanzee societies. Their ability to communicate also plays a huge role in their cooperative behavior — they use a wide range of vocalizations, body postures, and even scent markings to identify each other and mark territory.
Matriarchal Society
But we haven’t yet discussed the most fascinating part of hyena life: their matriarchal social structure. In hyena society, every female outranks every male — even the lowest-ranking adult female is higher ranked than the highest-ranking male.
Rank is also inherited. A cub’s rank is largely based on the rank of its mother. High-ranking females use their status to secure food, better mating opportunities, and social support for their cubs. Low-ranking females and males are often left to the bone in this harsh hierarchy.
But dominance isn't just about brute strength — it's reinforced through social networks and public displays. High-ranking females can bully subordinates or withhold food access, but they also invest in allies and defend their close relatives, who in turn support their position. As I learned this information, I was surprised by the close similarities between hyena hierarchies and our own society’s political systems. Both systems have singular leaders in power who rely on close allies to help defend their positions of power and tend to get access to a larger share of resources. Are there any other similarities you find between people and hyenas? Let me know in the comments.
But hyena politics doesn’t just stop there. Cubs born to high-ranking females are often bullied just as much as the other low-ranking cubs. This is because they rely heavily on the protection of their mothers to survive, and in the off-chance the mother leaves the cubs alone to hunt, it’s a total free-for-all, which often leads to injuries or even death of cubs. Hyenas are extremely fierce and competitive, going as far as to kill one of their own if it means getting a better chance at advancing in rank.
The Struggles of the Males
As mentioned already, hyena hierarchies are often enforced through constant social interaction, displays of submission, and competition. Higher-ranking individuals get first access to the food after hunts, thus providing them with better nutrition and reproductive success, as well as longer lifespans (females can live up to 20 years and males can live only about half as long as that).
The harsh hierarchy takes a toll on the male hyenas. Once they reach maturity around age two, they leave their natal clan and attempt to join a new one. But it's not easy. They must spend weeks or months in submissive roles, proving themselves to the dominant females of their new group. Most are often rejected or must wait for long periods on the outskirts of the territories before being accepted.
Even once accepted, their role remains entirely subordinate to the females in the clan. Mating is also entirely controlled by the female, who often chooses males who have been patient and submissive in the clan for long periods. This process ensures that the most socially compatible, not just the strongest males, get to reproduce.
Since females rarely move between clans, female bloodlines remain stable for generations. Over time, these long, undisturbed bloodlines get to dominate clan politics, and any disputes within the clan often involve entire family lines rather than individuals alone.
Diet & Hunting
One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding hyenas is that they are bottom-feeding scavengers. But in some ecosystems, they hunt more than 60% of what they eat. In actuality, larger predators like lions and leopards often steal hyenas’ kills more often than the other way around.
Spotted hyenas use teamwork, stamina, and strategy to chase down prey like wildebeest, zebra, and antelope. They hunt in coordinated groups and use vocal cues like yips, whoops, and grunts to communicate across long distances. Their tactics often involve running prey to exhaustion, then overwhelming it with numbers. Hyenas can run up to 40 mph over long distances, making them one of Africa’s most persistent predators.
Their famous "laugh" is actually just a social signal — often used when they’re excited, anxious, or in submission. Their jaws are among the most powerful of any land mammal, capable of crushing bones and consuming every part of a carcass. This ability allows them to extract any nutrients from a kill that many other predators leave behind, making them incredibly efficient recyclers of the ecosystem.
Drawing of the Week
For this week’s drawing, I took inspiration from the hyena when making it. I had to look up a tutorial to draw the hyena’s face, and tried my best to recreate it in this drawing. The rest of the drawing is completely based on my creativity, as I tried to go for a space ninja theme. Looking over it now, I could’ve made the proportions better fitted as the legs seem slightly too large compared to the rest of its body, and the face seems unfitting somehow.
Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. If this post made you see hyenas in a new light, consider supporting my work. It helps me keep researching, writing, and sketching weird creatures across the animal kingdom, and any amount helps.
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Thank you so much for your post. I visit games parks here in Southern Africa so see these amazing animals fairly regularly. This is the best info I’ve read.