Spotted hyena vs brown hyena
Most people picture the spotted hyena, but southern Africa has a shaggier, rarer cousin. At night on a trail camera, the coat gives it away.
Quick tip: Shaggy and dark with a pale mane is a brown hyena. Short fur with spots is a spotted hyena.
Five field marks
| Field mark | Spotted hyena | Brown hyena |
|---|---|---|
| Coat | Short, sandy fur with dark spots. | Long, shaggy dark-brown coat with a pale cape over the shoulders. |
| Legs | Spotted like the body. | Pale with dark horizontal stripes. |
| Ears | Rounded. | Long and pointed. |
| Social life | Lives in large clans and hunts much of its own food. | Forages alone, mostly scavenging. |
| Range | Widespread across sub-Saharan Africa. | Only in southern Africa, mainly dry country. |
Five real camera-trap photos. Can you tell them apart?
Why it matters
The spotted hyena is listed as Least Concern and the brown hyena as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. Brown hyenas are shy and nocturnal, so camera traps are often the only way researchers see them at all.
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Photos: Snapshot Safari via LILA BC, CDLA-Permissive-1.0. We cropped camera banners, resized the images and removed their metadata. Field marks written by Save the Animals. Red List status from the IUCN.