Class Mammalia
Order Carnivora
Family Hyaenidae
Inspired by the gorgeous yet rugged African landscape, these effortlessly stylish pieces look even better with age. Little sweet hyenas Conveniently tame Bittersweet hyenas Never far away Love leaves you alone Then pain will come for sure When your friends and foes will tell ya You ain't dangerous no more.
Genus Crocuta
Species crocuta
This species is found in a wide variety of habitats: savanna, open woodland, dense dry woodland, montane and semi-desert. It is not found in extreme desert conditions, the highest mountain altitudes or tropical rainforests.
Spotted hyenas range widely throughout Africa south of the Sahara up to 13,500 ft. (4,100 m). Populations are concentrated in eastern and southern Africa, primarily in protected areas.
Spotted hyenas live in female dominated groups called clans. The females in the group are related to each other but the males are unrelated. Females stay with their natal clan for life. Males disperse when they reach adulthood and join nomadic groups before settling in with a new clan. There is a separate dominance hierarchy for each sex. The highest ranking female and her descendents are dominant over all other members of the group.
Adaptations
- Large social groups help to provide protection, food and survival of young.
- Their brain’s large frontal cortex is associated with superior problem-solving skills.
- Strong jaws, teeth and digestion allow them to eat entire carcasses including skin, hooves, ligaments, horns, hair and bones.
- Spotted hyenas possess a variety of communication techniques. They have a large range of vocalizations with over 11 different sounds including yells, howls, cackles and a “whoop” that sounds like laughing to humans. Some vocalizations are loud enough to be heard several miles away. A complex set of body postures are also used in communication with other hyenas.
- To mark territory, their anal glands produce a pungent substance which is unique in chemical makeup to each individual. Urine and feces are also used to mark territory sometimes depositing feces in a communal “latrine” at the edge of their territory.
- Large heart and lungs allow them to run up to 37 mph for long distances in pursuit of prey.
- Females have more testosterone than the males making them more muscular and aggressive.
- Mostly nocturnal, their night vision and hearing are excellent.
Physical Description
- Hyenas bear some physical resemblance to wild dogs, but they are not canids. They are a separate family and more closely related to mongooses and meerkats.
- Spotted hyenas are the the largest of four hyena species (spotted, brown, aardwolf, and striped hyenas). Weight ranges from 75 to 190 lbs. (34-86 kg). Height at shoulders is 2.5 to 3 ft. (76-91 cm), body length ranges from 4 to 5 ft. (122-152 cm) and bushy tails are 10 to 14 in. (25-36 cm) long. Female hyenas are a bit larger than the males.
- Coat is short and coarse, ranging in color from sandy/yellow to grey/brown with black or dark brown spots.
- Front legs are longer than hind legs giving their back a sloping appearance. Paws have four non-retractable claws on broad toe pads.
- The head is large with round ears and a black muzzle. The neck is massive and a short, erect mane grows along the back of the head down the back.
- Strong jaw muscles are attached to a prominent sagittal crest (bony ridge on top of skull) giving them one of the strongest bites for an animal their size – 1100 lbs. per square inch (compare human’s 162 psi).
Diet
What Does It Eat?
In the wild: Spotted hyenas are carnivores that prey on animals of all types and sizes. Although often portrayed as scavengers, they are highly intelligent, skilled hunters that obtain 50% to 90% of their diet from direct kills. However, they are not picky eaters and will scavenge for food consuming carrion, bones, and vegetables. Spotted hyenas are able to eat up to 35 lbs. of meat at a single feeding.
At the zoo: Five days a week, each hyena is provided ground meat fortified with necessary nutrients. Individuals get specific amounts that help to maintain a natural body condition. Once a week, they get bones for a fast day, which they sometimes totally consume. Once a week, they receive large pieces of carcass often rabbits or pork products. On occasion, they receive larger pieces of carcass, around 100 pounds, as a group.
What Eats It?
Humans hunt spotted hyenas for meat, skins, and body parts for medicinal purposes. Although they are seldom intimidated or preyed upon, their primary rival, lions, will kill them over battles for prey.
Social Organization
Spotted hyenas are social animals that live in groups called clans, which can number up to 100 individuals. They typically hunt in groups for large prey, with larger clans breaking into smaller hunting packs. Individuals may hunt alone when going after smaller prey. Spotted hyenas live in a complex matriarchal society in which all females are dominant over males. There is also a strict hierarchy among females and among males in a clan. Females dominate hunts and females and their cubs eat before the males.
Life Cycle
Spotted hyenas live into their mid-teens in the wild and up on average into their early twenties in human care. Maturity is around three years with females maturing later than males. Mating is polygamous and controlled by females. Gestation is 110 days and typical liters are typically one to three cubs and only two usually survive. Cubs are well-developed at birth weighing about two pounds, with black fur, tiny teeth and eyes open. Cubs are raised in communal nurseries although each mother nurses her own cubs. Weaning takes place between 12 and 18 months and cubs begin eating small amounts of meat at 5 months. Offspring inherit their social rank below their mothers. Females will stay with their birth group and males will leave to join other clans.
Collection Connection
Denver Zoo is home to two hyena clans at Benson's Predator Ridge.
Young Clan These two young hyenas met as cubs when they came to DZ in 2014 from separate zoos. They were brought to DZ on a breeding recommendation from the Species Survival Plan (SSP).
Tavi (female) DOB: 6/11/2014. She is known as the official greeter of Predator Ridge. No one can walk by her without Tavi coming up to investigate. Kelele is not allowed to wake up from a nap and do anything before they first greet her.
Kelele (male) DOB: 6/26/2014. Kelele was rambunctious as a cub but has grown up to have a very sweet demeanor. His favorite activity is sleeping in cardboard boxes during the day, then tearing them up at night.
Although subordinate to Tavi, Kelele excelled over her in a study of hyena intelligence using a puzzle feeder.
Older Clan Ngozi and Kibo came to DZ together in 2004 when Predator Ridge was a new exhibit.
Ngozi (female) DOB: 5/2/1999. Ngozi is a prime example of a dominate female spotted hyena. She is larger than Kibo and will keep him away from food and make sure he knows his subordinate role. Ngozi’s favorite enrichment is spinning around in a large tub of warm water. When animals in other groups leave bones in the yard, she loves to find the ones that the keepers can’t. When she finds one, she will chase Kibo around with it to show off. She will also parade around with a large carcass for twenty minutes before starting to eat it. Ngozi has had seven cubs at DZ.
Kibo (male) DOB: 10/29/1998. Kibo enjoys the quieter parts of Predator Ridge. His day is not quite complete with a long nap. In the summer, he loves to lay in the shallow pools in the big yards. He also knows more taught behaviors than any of the other animals in Predator Ridge. Keepers are even encouraging him to create his own behaviors.
Conservation Status
IUCN Status: Least Concern
Species is widespread in Africa with an estimated population of about 10,000. However, the population outside protected areas continues to decline due to persecution and habitat loss. Declines in densities of its usual prey are also a threat. Also, a threat to survival is the negative public perception of hyenas due to their unusual appearance, strange vocalizations and scavenging tendencies.
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*Available with Spanish and English translations.
Author: Jude
Crossover: btvs/Stargate(/Anita Blake implied)
Pairing: Xander?
Beta: Mia and James
They are the best.
Summary: Xander just wanted a quiet evening to forget all the bad memories,
Of the last few weeks. Guess what? Well, he's not going to have
It, a knock at his door and a phone ring will change his life
Forever.
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Prologue: A quiet evening in Xanderland.
Xander was enjoying his first guilty-free evening, since the aborted wedding.
He was cocooning in his old leather couch, with a beer, some Chinese take
out and 'The X-Files' marathon on Sci-Fi. He had seen Anya at the Bronze,
last night, when he had stopped there for a beer after patrolling with Spike.
Apparently, she was all demon-like, again. And she seemed happier that way
than she had ever been in all her time with him.
The last couple of weeks had been a real guilt trip for him, but after seeing her
joking and smiling at the though of her next vengeance job, he could not regret
his decision anymore. He had let her control his life for too long, just because
he was feeling lonely, left aside by his friends again. Oh, it was not their fault
this time, just the circumstances of life. They all had a girl or a boyfriend or some
great study plans; even Giles had decided to move on. Well, they had drifted apart,
and when Anya had made her move, he had jumped on the offer just to feel like
Mystery case files ravenhearst unlocked free. download full version pc. someone cared. And, one thing entraining another, he had been carried away,
dragged by the flow. Thanks to that demon, or man, or what ever thing Anya had
cursed in the past who had came to the wedding to punish Anya by showing him
false visions of their future, he had had a good wake up call, before he had made
the biggest mistake of his short life!
Of course, his friends were thinking that it was the vision of the future, the demon
had shown him, which had frightened him, and pushed him on the running path.
But it had been his feeling of total detachment which made him run. How could he
marry someone he doesn't care enough for? He needed to be the alpha male in his
couple. And with Anya it was not possible. She wanted to dominate him so much
that his hyena was thrashing, urging him to beat her until Anh understood that
she was only beta to them. So, he had left her at the altar!
He was slowly drifting to sleep, when a knock at his door woke him up. /Who the
hell could be knocking at this time of the night / He had been clear, when he had
talked with Willow last night that he wanted to be left alone, just for one night. That
he would not move from his couch, not for pizza, Scooby meeting, not even if the
world was ending, ……..again! After another couple of knocks, he finally moved
himself from his sitting position, to the door of his apartment.
When he finally opened it, he found himself face to face with four children.
They were dark haired, with deep green coloured eyes, twin boys who must have
been ten to twelve years approximately, and an older girl, probably sixteen, holding
a baby. The girl was crying, trembling with deep sobs, the boys in front of her trying
to shield her and the baby from an eventual danger, tears kept with force in their eyes,
but you could see that they just wanted to hide their faces in the girl light blue dress.
They looked at Xander, with frightened eyes. It was the girl who finally talk, in a
Willow babble speed kind of rush.
'so…….sorrytodisturbyou,buttheslayerjustkilledourparentsandwearewere- hyenasandtheywereshiftingshecalledthemdemonsandbeheadedmomwithasword
anddaddyscreamedtoustogoseewillythesnitch.thathewouldknowwhoisthehyenapack
leaderinthistown,togototheobaandaskforprotection,and,'sob,'and,'deep breath. 'and,wehadgonetothemanandhesaidthatalexanderharriswasthepackleader.
sowecameheretoseehim.please,please,pleasetellusthatyourhimbecausetheslayer
slicedaddyintwopiecesandtherewassomuchbloodeverywhereandwehavenooneelse
andidon'tknowwhattodoifyou'renothim,andwearescared.'
And she began to cry much louder, hugging the baby a little bit more.
Xander looked at them seriously, he had understood almost the whole story, but needed
to hear it a second time to be sure.
'Could you repeat that more slowly sweetie, so I could answer your questions and
help you.' He said with a gentle voice, before taking the baby, who was sleeping in
her arms and making them enter the living room. He made them sit, and after a quick
trip to the kitchen, providing them some soda and handkerchief. 'Now sweetie,
explain to me what happened again.' He said rocking the baby, who had just began to whimper softly n his dreams, lightly.
'My name is Nicole, the twins are Marcus and Jayne, the baby is Albumine, but
we call her Mina; we are the Logans. We were moving from Texas to Sunnydale
for Daddy's work. We had just come in town and we were near the north cemetery
when the car broke. Daddy knew this guy called Willy the Snitch and we were five
minute from his bar, but we needed to cross the cemetery to go ask for his help. We
were almost on the other side, when a bunch of vamps attacked us, Mom and Daddy
decided to shift to defend us, when the slayer came and made the vamps flew. Our Adobe acrobat xi pro crack torrent.
parent were in the middle of shifting and she called them demon and kill them, first she beheaded mom with a sword, then Daddy put himself between her and us, screaming to
us to go ask Willy for help and that he would know who is the hyena pack leader in this
town, since we are all were-hyena, and to go to the Oba of Sunnydale and ask for
protection. And Willy said that Alexander Harris was the pack leader. So, he brought
us here to him. Please, please Mister Harris tell us that you're the Oba, because
Sweet Heat
the Slayer sliced Daddy in two pieces and there was so much blood everywhere
and we have no one else and I don't know what to do if your not him, or if the Slayer
finds us, and we are so, so scared.' She tells in a little voice broken with sobs, pain,
and her body shacking furiously.
Xander put himself beside her on the couch, took her in his free arm, and began to
purr lightly. At that sound she began to calm and purr in return, her head on his
shoulder, the twins decided to come and sit at their feet their heads on his knees,
purring lightly to shush their sister too.
'I'll take care of you, I'm the Oba of the were-hyena pack of this town, and I won't
let the Slayer touch you, or even come near you. You are now blood of my blood,
flesh of my flesh, my kin, my cubs, and no one hurts what is mine.' With his last word,
he bite lightly on the girl jugular, then each of the twins, and finally the baby's making
sure not to wake her, putting his claim on the new cubs of his pack. 'We'll go fetch
your car and what's inside tomorrow, I'm going to call someone to go and take care of
your parent's body. So, they can have a decent sepulture.' He continued to talk to them,
while purring for a long moment, and when they finally fall asleep, he took them and put
them in his bed in his bedroom, making a cradle for Mina in a drawer of his dresser,
before coming back in the living room to make some phone calls. When he had finished,
he finally took the time to let Nicole story take its plain measure.
'God, Buffy, what have you done?' Said Xander with a voice filled with sorrow,
Sweet Heaters
finally letting his emotion show on his face, a tear falling silently on his face.
It had taken superhuman willpower to show no reactions to Nicole's story.
The children needed to be reassured, and as their new Oba it was now his role.
Sweet Heat Treats
Something had change tonight and because of that he would have to explain to his
friends that he was a were. When they knew the truth, he would need to fight one of
Sweet Healthy Breakfast
his best friend or his pack would challenge him for the power. If someone else became
Oba, his friends and the fighters for the light side would be dead in less then a day.
Tomorrow night, he would fight Buffy, to avenge his new pack members, because
with him she would stay alive to see an other day. Tomorrow night, he would loose his family, to save them all. Tomorrow night, he would take the cubs and leave Sunnydale forever, to save him and the cubs.
As another tear ran on his face, the phone began to ring, the ring of more changes for
Sweet Heat Candy
Xander.
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