Researchers from UL unexpectedly discovered new way of foraging by spotted hyenas in Africa
Dr. Miha Krofel
Date of publication:
Spotted hyenas are the second largest species of large carnivore in Africa. Most people know them as scavengers, but they are in fact also successful hunters of antelope, zebra and other African ungulates. Little is known about their feeding on smaller prey. In Namibia, researchers from the University of Ljubljana have discovered an unusual and hitherto unknown way of feeding the local hyenas - on songbirds.
During their field study on African lions, Ruben Portas and dr Miha Krofel from the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana regularly visited waterholes in Etosha National Park in Namibia. In autumn, large flocks of songbirds red-billed queleas often gather at such waterholes. One day, the researchers came across an unexpected scene, when four hyenas ran after a flock of these small birds and tried to catch them at one of the waterholes. As this behaviour of hyenas had never been described in the scientific literature, they decided to investigate further and record this unusual hunting behaviour.
They measured that a hyena catches an average of 21 birds/hour by running into dense flocks of birds that come to the water's edge to drink. Generally, small birds are rarely hunted by large carnivores, who mostly predate on animals of a similar size or larger than them. However, hyenas are known for their adaptable behaviour, and they have apparently learned, at least in some areas, that they can also expand their diet with bird treats. However, birds are probably not an important food source for hyenas, since the researchers calculated that hyenas would need to spend 7-15 hours a day hunting birds if they were to meet their entire daily food requirement.
The novel findings were published in journal Food Webs: - Portas, R., Krofel, M. 2024. Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) predation on passerine birds in Namibia. – Food Webs, 38: e00340.