The hyaenidae, also known as the hyena, that live in Africa are very deadly creature. Most people mistake the hyena to be a scavenger, which makes them underestimate the strength and tenacity of these amazing creatures. These creatures have perfected the way of "The Hunt." The stay in groups, or clans, of about 80 other hyenas and savagely attack their prey. They don't stalk their prey like lions which make their attempts at kills a lot more efficient than most wild animals, like lions. They also have one of the worlds strongest bite forces in the animal kingdom.
These animals are very vocal, social. They are always talking amongst one another with high vocal screeches, which often people say sounds like mad laughter. They are also known to have very coordinated attacks, because of the sheer number of hyenas in a clan they can overpower most anything that they see as sustenance. The leaders of each pack are females, and there is always an alpha female in each clan, with the males being very low on the ranking system. Often males had to forage or try and scavange pickings off of the females kills. Females in charge, in my opinion, seems like it would work out so much better, not only in an animal clan but in a human political system as well.
The hyenas have one of the most deadly bite forces in the world. It's bite force is measured at about 1,100 PSI, also known as pounds per square inch. The hyenas bite force passes the bite force of a lion, at 691 PSI, and the tiger's bite force, at 1,050. This bite force is only trumped by a few animals, like the hippopotamus, which is at 1,821 and the crocodile, which is at 5,000 PSI. The hyena has the third highest bite force in the animal kingdom and can tear through muscle, and can even chew through an elephant's bone. It feasts on it's kills while it's still alive and reduces them to a bloody pile on the floor.
A hyena is not likely to attack humans, but if a hyena is injured it will most likely go for a human since humans that are unaware of the threat of hyenas are fairly weak towards hyenas. A hyena would usually attack a human during the night since they have very good hearing and eyesight during the night. They kill humans in less than three minutes, and eat every part of them, clothes, bones and all. So in conclusion don't mess with a hyena, they are no laughing matter!
I got most of my information from a show called Nature's Deadliest.
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The bite force info was excellent. I had no idea that hyenas had that much power.
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