Hyenas or hyaenas are feliform carnivorous mammals of the family Hyaenidae family. Basically, there are two species of Hyenas found in African savannas; Spotted Hyena and Striped Hyena.
It is a general belief that Hyenas are scavengers, but the reality is that Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta) kills up to 95% of the animals they eat; whereas Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena) are largely scavengers.
During my trip to Masai Mara, I had an opportunity to see a Hyena hunt. By about noon time it becomes really hot and the Topi were scattered all over the place. Some were on the mount and a few were seating on the ground with their heads down trying to sleep. There, we saw a Spotted Hyena quietly moving towards the Topi and trying to hunt. Once we saw this, we started following them expecting to see some action.
The Hyenas quietly walked closed to the Topi, but before they could reach, the Topi would get up and run; and since the Hyenas are not good runners, they were not able to catch them. This went on for about 2.30 hours, losing their prey one after the other. They would not give up and kept moving from one Topi to the other. The hunting style remained the same… they always came from the back side of the Topi.
Finally, one of the Hyena was able to catch a Topi who was drowsy. The bite was so firm that however hard the Topi tried to release the grip, it failed. By that time, another Hyena who was close by joined him and two of them had a very firm grip on the Topi. Within a few minutes, the Topi was on the ground and both the Hyenas started opening up the belly of the Topi.
It was a horrendous sight to see the belly of the Topi being opened up while it was still alive. We were surprises at how quick the signals were sent to other Hyenas in the area that within few minutes, quite a few of them arrived and polished up the Topi in less than 30 minutes.
I have never seen a hunt like this before and it was special because of the different style of hunting. We always see big cats hunting and they go for the neck of the prey, whereas in this case, the Hyenas went for the belly of the prey.
