Cultural depictions of spotted hyenas

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Trace of a 20,000-year-old spotted hyena painting from the Chauvet Cave, France

The

African folklore. In the former, the species is mostly regarded as ugly and cowardly, while in the latter, it is viewed as greedy, gluttonous, stupid, and foolish, yet powerful and potentially dangerous. The majority of Western perceptions on the species can be found in the writings of Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, though in relatively unjudgmental form. Explicit, negative judgments occur in the Physiologus, where the animal is depicted as a hermaphrodite and grave-robber.[2] The IUCN's hyena specialist group identifies the spotted hyena's negative reputation as detrimental to the species' continued survival, both in captivity and the wild.[2][3]

In prehistory

mammoth ivory "creeping hyena", found in La Madeleine
rock shelter, dated back to circa 12,000 to 17,000 years ago

The spotted hyena (cave hyena subspecies) is depicted in a few examples of

Upper Palaeolithic rock art in France. A painting from the Chauvet Cave depicts a hyena outlined and represented in profile, with two legs, with its head and front part with well distinguishable spotted coloration pattern. Because of the specimen's steeped profile, it is thought that the painting was originally meant to represent a cave bear, but was modified as a hyena. In Lascaux, a red and black rock painting of a hyena is present in the part of the cave known as the Diverticule axial, and is depicted in profile, with four limbs, showing an animal with a steep back. The body and the long neck have spots, including the flanks. An image on a cave in Ariège shows an incompletely outlined and deeply engraved figure, representing a part of an elongated neck, smoothly passing into part of the animal's forelimb on the proximal side. Its head is in profile, with a possibly re-engraved muzzle. The ear is typical of the spotted hyena, as it is rounded. An image in the Le Gabillou Cave in Dordogne shows a deeply engraved zoomorphic figure with a head in frontal view and an elongated neck with part of the forelimb in profile. It has large round eyes and short, rounded ears which are set far from each other. It has a broad, line-like mouth that evokes a smile. Though originally thought to represent a composite or zoomorphic hybrid, it is probable it is a spotted hyena based on its broad muzzle and long neck.[1]

The relative scarcity of hyena depictions in Paleolithic rock art has been theorised to be due to the animal's lower rank in the

woolly rhino.[1]

In Africa

Spotted hyena mask from Burkina Faso, Musée barrois
Spotted hyena being fed in Harar, Ethiopia

In Africa, the spotted hyena is usually portrayed as an abnormal and ambivalent animal, considered to be sly, brutish,

Tabwa mythology portrays the spotted hyena as a solar animal that first brought the sun to warm the cold earth.[4]

In the culture of the Mbugwe in Tanzania, the spotted hyena is linked to witchcraft. According to Mbugwe folklore, every witch possesses one or more hyenas, which are referred to as "night cattle" and are branded with an invisible mark. It is said that all hyenas are owned by witches, and that truly wild hyenas are non-existent. Lactating female spotted hyenas are said to be milked by their owners every night to make hyena butter, and are further used as mounts. When a witch acquires a hyena mount, he rides it to distant lands in order to bewitch victims and return safely home before morning. The Mbugwe consider killing hyenas to be dangerous, as the bond between the hyena and its owner is very strong, and will likely result in the witch seeking retribution. In order to obviate this danger, a killed hyena usually has its ears, tail and front legs cut off and buried, as these are the parts which are supposed to be marked by the witches' brand.[5] In the Mtwara Region of Tanzania, it is believed that a child born at night while a hyena is crying will likely grow up to be a thief. In the same area, hyena faeces are believed to enable a child to walk at an early age, thus it is not uncommon in that area to see children with hyena dung wrapped in their clothes.[6]

The

Arabia to Ethiopia using hyenas as mounts. In Dorze tradition, the highest Demuṣa-priests have the ability to control hyenas, and will send them to punish defaulting debtors.[9]

Spotted hyenas feature prominently in the rituals of certain African cultures. In the Gelede cult of the Yoruba people of Benin and Southwest Nigeria, a spotted hyena mask is used at dawn to signal the end of the èfè ceremony. As the spotted hyena usually finishes the meals of other carnivores, the animal is associated with the conclusion of all things. Among the Korè cult of the Bambara people in Mali, the belief that spotted hyenas are hermaphrodites appears as an ideal in-between in the ritual domain. The role of the spotted hyena mask in their rituals is often to turn the neophyte into a complete moral being by integrating his male principles with femininity. The Beng people believe that upon finding a freshly killed hyena with its anus inverted, one must plug it back in, for fear of being struck down with perpetual laughter. They also view spotted hyena faeces as contaminating, and will evacuate a village if a hyena relieves itself within village boundaries.[4] In Harar, Ethiopia, spotted hyenas are regularly fed by the city's inhabitants, who believe the hyenas' presence keeps devils at bay, and associate mystical properties such as fortune telling to them.[10]

In Western culture

As several distinguished authors of the present age have undertaken to reconcile the world to the Great Man-Killer of Modern times; as Aaron Burr has found an apologist, and almost a eulogist; and as learned commentators have recently discovered that even Judas Iscariot was a true disciple, we are rather surprised to find that someone has not undertaken to render the family of Hyenas popular and amiable in the eyes of mankind. Certain it is, that few marked characters in history have suffered more from the malign inventions of prejudice[11]

Traditional Western beliefs about the spotted hyena can be traced back to

masculinised genitalia of the female), though his physical descriptions are more consistent with the striped hyena. Pliny the Elder supported Aristotle's depiction, though he further elaborated that the hyena can imitate human voices. Additionally, he wrote how the hyena was held in high regard among the Magi, and that hyena body parts could cure different diseases, give protection and stimulate sexual desire in people.[2]

The author of the

sons of Israel are like this animal since in the beginning they served the living God but later, given over to pleasure and lust, they adored idols." The bestiaries of the Middle Ages embraced the Physiologus's descriptions, but further elaborated on the animal's necrophagous habits. These bestiaries almost invariably depict hyenas feeding on human corpses. These illustrations were largely based on the descriptions given by Aristotle and Pliny, though the animals have no spots or other bodily markings, thus making it unlikely that the authors had ever seen hyenas first-hand.[2]

During the 15th and 16th centuries, travellers to Africa provided further descriptions of the species.

Eastward Ho. John Milton, in his Samson Agonistes, compares the species to Delila.[2]

Natural historians of the 18th and 19th centuries rejected stories of hermaphroditism in hyenas, and recognised the differences between the spotted and striped hyena. However, they continued to focus on the species' scavenging habits, their potential to rob graves and their perceived cowardice. During the 20th century, Western and African stereotypes of the spotted hyena converged; in both

defamation of character,[12] and another – who had organized the animators' visit to the University of California's Field Station for Behavioural Research, where they would observe and sketch captive hyenas[2] – suggested boycotting the film.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c Spassov, N.; Stoytchev, T. (2004). "The presence of cave hyaena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea) in the Upper Palaeolithic rock art of Europe" (PDF). Historia Naturalis Bulgarica. 16: 159–166. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 April 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glickman, Stephen (1995). "The Spotted Hyena from Aristotle to the Lion King: Reputation is Everything – In the Company of Animals", Social Research, Volume 62
  3. ^ Mills & Hofer 1998, p. 92 & 101
  4. ^
    JSTOR 1178757
    .
  5. ISBN 0-415-33073-4
  6. ^ a b Mills & Hofer 1998, p. 97
  7. ISBN 0-8160-4892-4
  8. ^ Quin, P.J. 1959. Food and feeding habits of the Pedi. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, p. 125.
  9. ISBN 3-447-05607-X
    . p. 97.
  10. ISBN 3844858849
    . p. 45.
  11. ^ Goodrich, S.G. and Winchell, A., Johnson's Natural History (New York: A.J. Johnson & Company, 1885), p. 248.
  12. ^ Mcpherson, James (2008). The good, the bad and the hyena Archived 27 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine. BBC Wildlife, pp. 49-51.
  13. ^ Frank, Laurence D. (May 2006). Girl Power, African Geographic

Bibliography

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