Why the Hyena? Sadly its an unfairly maligned animal. Did you know...

1) One of the few mammals where the female is larger and more dominant than the male (that should get some PC points for them).

2) In conflicts with lions, lions steal the kills of hyenas more often than hyenas steal the kills of lions?

3) They form large packs but are not very social.

4) They have an ummm...ok lets just say its almost impossible to distinguish the sex of a hyena and leave it at that.

5) Some tribes in Africa leave the dead out for hyenas to remove.

6) Hyenas are strangely easily tamed (well compared to say a wolf or lion, this is in no way endorsing the batcrap crazy idea of having a hyena as a pet).

7) Along with some of the strongest jaws, they can also consume and process bone.

However, the real reason I like hyenas, was once visiting the zoo as a young man and I stopped by the hyena enclosure. I was simply quietly standing there and the hyena focused on me and simply went incredibly an magnificently berserk. It was quite convincingly dismantling the chain links separating us, when a zoo keeper rush over and escorted me away. People always want a connection with a wild animal, and that was undeniably a more honest connection than most. Thats why I like hyenas. Oh and they laugh...

StinkingHyena