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Hyenas or hyaenas (from Greek ὕαινα hýaina[1]) ar the animals of the mammal family /haɪˈɛnɨdiː/ of the feliform taxonomic category of the Carnivora. With solely four living species, it's the fifth-smallest biological family within the Carnivora, and one among the tiniest within the class.[2] Despite their low diversity, hyenas ar distinctive and important elements of most African ecosystems.[3]

Although phylogenetically they're nearer to felines and viverrids, hyenas ar behaviourally and morphologically like canines in many aspects; each hyenas and canines ar nonarboreal, cursorial hunters that catch prey with their teeth instead of claws. (In fact, cheetahs are notable to climb trees to flee hyenas.[4]) each eat food quickly and should store it, and their tough feet with massive, blunt, nonretractile nails ar tailored for running and creating sharp turns. However, the hyenas' grooming, scent marking, defecating habits, mating, and parental behaviour ar per the behaviour of alternative feliforms.[5]

Hyenas, particularly noticed hyenas, ar notable for killing the maximum amount as ninety fifth of the animals they eat,[6] and for driving off leopards or lionesses from their kills, though they need long been thought to be being unmanly scavengers. Hyenas ar primarily nocturnal animals, however typically venture from their lairs within the early-morning hours. With the exception of the extremely social hyaena, hyenas ar typically not gregarious animals, tho' they will sleep in family teams and congregate at kills.[7]

Hyenas initial arose in Eurasia throughout the Miocene epoch amount from viverrid-like ancestors, and shortly became renowned as being of 2 distinct types: the gently engineered dog-like hyenas and also the strong bone-crushing hyenas. though the dog-like hyenas thrived fifteen million years agone (with one taxonomic category having settled North America), they became extinct when a amendment in climate along side the arrival of canids into Eurasia. Of the dog-like canid lineage, solely the insectivorous hyena survived, whereas the bone-crushing hyenas (whose living noticed, brown and patterned hyenas) became the undisputed high scavengers of Eurasia and Africa.[8]