What is a Laughing Hyena?
Spotted Laughing Hyenas live in Africa, hunt in packs but are primarily scavengers. It is the only hyena specie where the females are larger than the males and females dominate the males as well.
The word hyena stems from the Greek word Hyaina and they belong to the family Hyaenidae. Hyenas are primarily nocturnal, and other than bats, are one of the only known mammals to survive an infection with the rabies virus.
Hyenas can run at 40mph. They have forelimbs that are longer than their rear limbs, their backs slope noticeably down toward their rumps and they have an erect mane. They catch their prey by wearing it down in long chases and then devouring it. Their molars are strong enough to crack bones.
Spotted hyenas are also known as man-eaters. If they feel threatened, or are under attack, they make a high-pitched, short, giggle-like sound that resemble hysterical human laughter. Thus, the name Laughing Hyena.
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The Bible compares Israel’s moral decline to a hyena’s den in Book of Jeremiah 12:9.
The Greek Physiologus uses the hyena as an allegory for sexual aberration. The hyena is used as a symbol of religious duplicity by the Latin Physiologus.
African folklore is flush with tales of the spotted hyenas. In West African folklore the hyenas are sometimes depicted as bad Muslims or they are used to symbolize dirty habits, immorality or a reversal of normal activities. Also in Africa, they habitually scavenge on human corpses, especially in times of war, and also catch and drag off the weak or young. They attack people, especially children, at night when it’s hot and they are sleeping outdoors.
Arab tales relate how hyenas can mesmerize people with their eyes.
In modern Hebrew both hyena and hypocrite mean the same thing.
“To laugh like a hyena” has been used as a simile in numerous works of literature, including Shakespeare’s, As You Like It.
This is not a mammal you should try and mimic.
Just saying….
