Brown Hyena

The brown hyena inhabits desert areas, semi-desert, and open woodland savannah in Southern Africa. In the Namib, it also lives near seal colonies and in abandoned diamond mining towns. It is not dependent on water sources for frequent drinking and favours rocky, mountainous areas, as these provide shade.

Today, the brown hyena only inhabits Southern Africa, with the earliest known occurrence in the region during the Late Pliocene based on fossils from the Makapansgat-Member 3, dated to approximately . It may have lived also in the Iberian Peninsula and perhaps in other parts of Europe, indicated by fossils found at Fonelas 1 near Granada dated to the Late Pliocene. It is uncertain whether the Fonelas hyena specimens are truly brown hyena. Early Pleistocene brown hyenas are known to have fed on hominins, though whether this constituted scavenging or active predation is unclear. During the Middle Pleistocene, it inhabited what is now Kenya. Latrines made by brown hyenas have been discovered in South Africa dating back to the Middle Pleistocene. There is the possibility that Parahyaena may be synonymous with the extinct Pachycrocuta, making the brown hyena the only extant member of this genus. Other authors however do not support such a position.

In the Kalahari, 80% of a brown hyena's activity time is spent at night, searching for food in an area on spanning on average, with territories of having been recorded. They may cache excess food in shrubs or holes and recover it within 24 hours.

Brown hyenas maintain a stable clan hierarchy of four to six related individuals with a mated pair and their offspring; a male can move up in rank by killing a higher ranking male in confrontation, while the alpha female is usually just the oldest female in the clan. during which the hyena deposits secretions from its large anal gland, which is located below the base of the tail and produces a black and white paste. Emigration is common in brown hyena clans, particularly among young males, which join other groups upon reaching adulthood.

Female brown hyenas are polyestrous and typically produce their first litter when they are two years old. They mate primarily from May to August. Males and females in the same clan usually do not mate with each other; rather, females will mate with nomadic males. Clan males display no resistance to this behavior and assist the females in raising pups. Females give birth in dens, which are hidden in remote sand dunes far from the territories of spotted hyenas and lions. The gestation period is around three months. Females generally give birth to one litter every 20 months. Usually, only the dominant female breeds; however, if two litters are born in the same clan, the females nurse each other's pups, though favoring their own. Litters usually consist of 1–5 pups, which weigh at birth. Young are born with their eyes closed and open them after eight days. They are weaned at 12 months and leave their dens after 18 months. All adult members of the clan bring food to the pups. They are not fully weaned and do not leave the vicinity of their den until they reach 14 months of age. They reach full size at an age of around 30 months.

The global brown hyena population is estimated to comprise 4,000 to 10,000 individuals. It is listed as Near Threatened in the IUCN Red List. The major threat to the brown hyena is human persecution, based on the mistaken belief that it is harmful to livestock. Farmers find brown hyenas scavenging on livestock carcasses and wrongly assume that the hyenas have killed their animals. Brown hyena body parts are also occasionally used for traditional medicines and rituals. The brown hyena is not in high demand for trophy hunting. There are several conservation areas that are home to the brown hyena, including the Etosha National Park in Namibia, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The maintenance of these protected areas aids in the conservation of these animals. Educational campaigns are being utilized to promote awareness about hyenas and dispel prevailing myths, while problem individuals are removed from farmlands and urbanized areas.