Why All The Hate for Hyenas?- Hyena Discussions

Hyenas- they seem to be one of the most misunderstood animals out there. Have movies like The Lion King, though an excellent movie, ruined the hyena's reputation? Or did most people not even know what a hyena was, and this movie introduced them to them in a negative way?
In addition, are there any cool hyena exhibits out there? By this, I mean the exhibit is fantastic, or if it's a decent hyena exhibit but it somehow lets visitors know that a hyena is more than a lowly scavenger?

 

Off hand, I can't think of any cool hyena exhibits but here's another example of hyenas portrayed negatively; a lot of people liked and read Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear and the main character, demonstrated an extreme dislike for hyenas that carried on to several more books.

 

Also (sorry for all the questions), why aren't there any Brown Hyenas in US zoos but there are some in European zoos? What European zoos house Brown Hyenas, besides Berlin?

 

The best hyena exhibit that I have seen is the striped hyena exhibit at the Living Desert in Palm Desert, California. It has lots of places for them to dig and play in the dirt and good interpretation of why hyenas are cool animals. Most of the viewing area is indoors and through a glass wall so you can see them very close up. The Oakland Zoo has a spacious exhibit for spotted hyenas that is well vegetated, but it is at the bottom of a hill from where the viewing area is and the hyenas are hard to see and watch.

I think that not only are there no brown hyenas in the U.S., but aardwolves and striped hyenas seem to be on their way out too. The Living Desert had an aardwolf in a nicely vegetated exhibit that had good viewing, but they no longer keep the species. I think that Wildlife Safari in Oregon had brown hyenas at one point, but that was many years ago.

 

Thank you David, and it seems that Living Desert does have a nice hyena exhibit. I've seen 5 hyena exhibits;
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay- Best hyena exhibit I've seen yet. Spacious, great viewing oppurtunities, giraffes and hoofstock are in background, and the Spotted Hyenas rotate with African Lions.
Lowry Park Zoo- No longer keeps Striped Hyenas, but their exhibit was on a island with limited viewing. They used to rotate with Cheetahs, but now Cheetahs are out 24/7.
Bronx Zoo- A very good hyena exhibit, with several viewing oppurtunities and lots of space. However, the glass viewing could be bigger as it's basically just a small window.
Naples Zoo- They had 2 hyena exhibits; one for Striped Hyenas, and one for a Spotted Hyena. When I went, the Striped Hyenas had a nice grassy enclosure with space and trees, and the Spotted Hyena had a smaller, adequate enclosure. The hyenas rotated. Now that Cheetahs are in the zoo, the Striped Hyenas and Spotted Hyena rotate in the smaller habitat.
It's a shame that Aardwolves are in only one US collection (Cincinnati), and that Striped Hyenas are in limited numbers. I think that Aardwolves will disappear from the US once Cincy's Aardwolves pass, but I think Striped Hyenas will stay in the US, at least for a little bit longer. There are currently only 15 Striped Hyenas in the US. At least it seems Spotted Hyenas will be here permanantly. Lucky Europeans get to see all 4 of the hyenas.
Do any exhibits have any interactive features, like skulls or demonstrations showing the hyena's biting power?

 

I'd be curious to know how the new hyena exhibit at the Oregon Zoo is in terms of viewing and interpretation. Has anybody here on Zoochat seen it?

Oops, I just looked at their website and they do not have hyenas in their new African Predators complex so question withdrawn.

Does Busch Gardens have any kind of keeper demonstration with their hyenas? I remember that one of the features that was touted when that complex opened up was that there were going to be behavioral and training demonstrations with the species within it.

 

There are more aardwolves in the United States than you think. The Cincinnati Zoo is one of three facilities in the United States with aardwolves, though Cincinnati's are the only ones currently on public display (as of last I heard). Cincinnati's pair was brought in from Tanzania, and the zoo plans on breeding them. If there is enough interest in them, aardwolves may have a chance in America.

 

Oregon opened a new hyena exhibit? Where did you find this, as I can't find anything on the Internet about it...

 

Sorry, I got mixed up. They have African wild dogs, not hyenas.

 

Hyenas are some of my favourite animals. I hate how they're so misunderstood. I have personally seen hyenas at 4 zoos:

Toronto Zoo: Spotted hyenas are in the African Savanna area. Their exhibit is pretty good but I would like if it was a little bigger.
Busch Gardens Tampa: They have spotted hyenas in their African exhibit. Of all the hyena exhibits I've seen, this one was the best. I really liked that they could rotate with the lions. It's such an interesting idea.
Zoo Miami: Their spotted hyena was similar to the rest of the exhibits in the zoo. Nice and large, but sort of boring.
Buffalo Zoo: I thought Buffalo's spotted hyena exhibit was nice. It was cool to see the antelope behind the hyena exhibit to show predators and prey.

 

DavidBrown- I believe that they have daily feeding demonstrations with both the lions and hyenas.
Kudu21- Do you know the other faculties with Aardwolves? According to JBZVolunteer, DeYoung Family Zoo might have one.

 

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Predator Ridge at Denver Zoo, as spotted hyenas rotate with African wild dogs and lions in an excellent complex with two large, naturalistic habitats and a smaller side enclosure. Busch Gardens rotates its spotted hyenas with lions in a couple of top-notch exhibits, and Miami, Buffalo and Living Desert all have decent exhibits for hyenas to make it a top 5. Oakland's exhibit is great for its inhabitants but not so cool for visitors peering down a steep cliff. Fort Wayne also has a very nice hyena exhibit that is part of the fairly new African Journey complex and even Zoo Boise has a decent enclosure for striped hyenas.

 

What are the other two facilities they are kept at?

 

The other aardwolves that are at least on display (according to an outdated Global species list) are at Rare Species Conservation Center, and Twycross Zoo. I can't find anything that mentions other ones that are kept off display. All I get when I search on Google is a company called 'Aardwolf', and pictures of aardvarks and alpacas.

 

I've always wanted to see hyenas (of any species) in zoos. I've wanted to hear hyenas laugh. That is such an eery sound.

 

In addition to Berlin Tierpark, there are also brown hyaenas at Kronberg (Opel) Zoo, Dvur Kralove, Prague, and Port Lympne. According to Zootierlist there are brown hyaenas at Domain des Fauves and Toulon Zoo too.

Berlin Tierpark is the place to visit if you’re interested in hyaenas; it has spotted hyaena, brown hyaena, striped hyaena and aardwolf – all four species.

 

Twycross certainly don't keep Aardwolves any more,also think that there are none at RSCC at present either!

 

This is a very interesting topic. I've seen the hyenas at the Toronto Zoo but I'm going to have to rack my memory on others. I would like to hear one laugh too.

 

I know you might not know this but I'm just responding for everybody but are aardwolves still at the Montgomery Zoo?

 

No that I don't know, what's bugging me is I know I saw hyenas somewhere else besides the Toronto Zoo but can't remember...hmmmmm...it'll come to me during a weird time I bet.