How do hyenas mate

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Animals that live in groups also need to organize themselves to avoid in-fighting, collaborate, and gain more resources as a group. Within spotted hyena clans, social dominance hierarchies are basically a lunch line, with higher ranking females and their cubs getting first dibs on meals.

As mentioned above, spotted hyena clans are matriarchies, led by females. This is partly due to a phenomenon called male dispersal. After puberty, males leave the clan into which they were born. However, immigrant males do get a perk that native males do not: females are more likely to mate with low-ranking immigrant males , which helps diversify the gene pool.

Also, females completely control mating. Remember the pseudopenis? In addition to these male-female dynamics, relationships between female hyenas in a clan are also hierarchical and are typically stable for many years. Offspring inherit a social rank below their mothers. These kin groups are organized by how the oldest females relate to each other.

Though rare, a high-ranking matrilineal kin group may be toppled if a coalition of lower-ranking groups challenges the smaller, higher-ranking group. Though spotted hyenas develop long-lasting relationships with their clan mates, clan members spend most of their time alone or in smaller groups.

However, they come together to help each other hunt large prey and defend their kills from other hyenas and predators. After working together to bring down a large prey, spotted hyenas then enter what looks like a competitive eating contest. Hyenas eat rapidly, taking in as many calories as possible.

A scientist observed a clan of 35 spotted hyenas turn a 1, pound African cape buffalo into skull and bones within a few hours. During feeding, higher ranking females, their cubs, and adult offspring have first dibs, showing where social dominance hierarchies are most important: access to food. How females were able to establish and maintain this dominance, though, is only being revealed now, through new research.

In a recent study , researchers observed more than one-on-one aggressive interactions between over hyenas from eight different clans. In each of these interactions, both hyenas were characterized by two intrinsic factors, sex and body mass, and the extrinsic factor of social support. The interaction was further categorized by whether it was between two hyenas of the same clan or not. When hyenas came from the same clan, the researchers also noted whether the hyena was born in that clan, or an immigrant.

To evaluate social support, the authors examined whether a hyena would be able to recruit backup from fellow clan mates. When faced with a challenge, a hyena can emit a long-distance call , called a whoop, which brings other hyenas to its rescue. The payoff for leaving the natal group and joining a new clan is that immigrants can take advantage of mating opportunities that are unavailable to males in their natal clans.

Female spotted hyenas call all the shots when it comes to who will sire their cubs, and they rarely mate with adult natal males who are reproductively mature but have not yet dispersed. The mating pair we came upon this week were a low-ranking female named Baez and an immigrant male named Oakland.

We knew something odd was going on when we saw Baez following Oakland up a hill. Ordinarily adult female hyenas may be followed around by males, but they never follow males.

Not only was Baez following Oakland around, but she was also engaging in what looked like play with him! They rolled together on the ground and splashed around in some deep puddles. Female spotted hyenas show no visible signs of being in estrus, so we were mystified until we finally watched Baez stand still in front of Oakland, with her hindquarters toward him, and then lower her head to the ground.

Head-lowering by an estrous female signals to the male that she will not bite him, and that it is now safe for him to mount her. Once Baez lowered her head, Oakland made a couple of abortive mount attempts, veering off at the last second as if he was simply overcome by nervousness.