This monograph is the foundation for much of our current view of the spotted hyena: that it is a hunter, not a scavenger; that it is a social, and not solitary, animal; that it is, after the lion, the apex predator of Africa's grasslands. Although many of the old...
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This monograph is the foundation for much of our current view of the spotted hyena: that it is a hunter, not a scavenger; that it is a social, and not solitary, animal; that it is, after the lion, the apex predator of Africa's grasslands. Although many of the old misconceptions exist amongst non-specialists, right down to the one that the spotted hyena is a hermaphrodite (!), they are dying against the steady stream of new research and popular works that has to take Kruuk's years of study, distilled in this book, as its starting point.
That said, one of the main conjectures of the book has been disproven since it was first published. Kruuk hypothesized that the extreme and extraordinary lack of sexual dimorphism in the spotted hyena's exterior genitals was due to the hyena greeting ritual. Although subsequent research has ruled this out, no other hypothesis has arisen to take its place. The startling similarity between male and female hyena genitalia, although it renders the female hyena perhaps the only rape-proof female mammal, imposes great risks on primiparous hyenas and their litters, remains one of the greatest mysteries of natural selection.
Last, although the book often resorts to complex statistical arguments to bolster a point, it is mostly accessible to the lay reader, and Kruuk has a fine, elegant prose style, and it is best on display in the many anecdotes he uses to illustrate and give examples of things he has argued for using statistical methods.
This book should certainly be in the library of anyone interested in the spotted hyena, the major predators, or African wildlife in general. It is a classic of its type, and it is a pity it is out of print, but appears to be readily available used.
