The Spotted Hyena, and an animal very much like it which is some times
called the Aard Wolf, and the “Hunting Hyena,” all belong to this
family, but there is very little difference in their forms or their
manner of living. The Spotted Hyena, which is called by the colonists of
the Cape of Good Hope the Tiger Wolf, is most commonly met with in
Southern Africa, where its appetite for living prey, as well as for
carrion, causes it to be justly regarded as a very dangerous neighbor;
indeed, as we learn from the reports of travelers, it seems to be
especially fond of attacking children, and many harrowing tales might be
told of the fiend-like deeds of which it is guilty.
“To show clearly the preference of the Spotted Hyena for human flesh,”
says Steedman, “it will be necessary to observe that the Mambookies
build their houses in the form of bee-hives, and tolerably large, often
eighteen or twenty feet in diameter; at the higher or back part of the
house, the floor is raised until within three or four feet of the front,
where it suddenly terminates, leaving an area from thence to the wall,
in which every night the calves are tied, to protect them from storms or
wild beasts. Now, it would be natural to suppose that should the Hyena
enter, he would seize the first object for his prey, especially as the
natives always lie with the fire at their feet; but notwithstanding
this, the practice of this animal has been in every instance to pass by
the calves in the area, and even the fire, and take the children from
under the mother’s caress; and this in such a gentle and cautious manner
that the parent has been unconscious of her loss until the cries of the
poor little innocent have reached her from without, when hopelessly a
prisoner in the jaws of the monster.”