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Hattie the Hyena (20/26)


This is also part of this series: All About Animals (26)

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Subjects: Animal Behaviour, Animals, Evolution, Geography, Natural History, Nature

Grade Level: K-Gr3
Producer: BBC
Closed Captioned: No		 Running Time: 25 mins
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Study Guide: No
Copyright Date: 2004
Available in French: No

Hattie is a Spotted Hyena, the most common predator on the wide-open grasslands of East Africa. With her oddly sloping back, shabby spotted coat, tatty tail and toothy grin, when she is fully grown she will stand about 85cm at the shoulder and weigh up to 80kg. Hattie and Herbie were born in an underground den. The only mammals to be born with their teeth in place, plus lots of male hormones in their bodies, baby hyenas are aggressive from the start. Within minutes of their first breath, Hattie and Herbie were fighting to see which one would be the top dog. A quarter of cubs die from this sibling rivalry. Spotted Hyenas are skilled hunters and loving parents. They are rarely alone. There are about 50 hyenas in Hattie's clan, but some clans contain up to 100 individuals. Each clan's territory covers up to 1000 km. Hyenas are social animals and from an early age cubs spend time out of the birthing den getting to know other members of the clan. There are cubs of all sizes around. Other females in the clan have young across a range of ages. The mothers keep the cubs together in a nursery den. The ranking order in hyena society is unlike that of most other mammal species; males (including the adults) are dominated by the bigger, heavier and masculine-looking females. Hattie's mum Harriet is clan leader. This gives Hattie a privileged position; she gets more milk than her brother and one day she will inherit her mum's position. But first she must survive long periods without milk, and encounters with hungry lions, while her mother is off hunting wildebeest, gazelle and zebra.

Links: http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/

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