This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Hidden deep in the bush, ranging over huge territories at speeds humans can't match and through terrain not even the most rugged vehicle can handle, hyenas and lions are hard to study. Now, new research using GPS collars to map the movements of individual animals has revealed crucial information about the relationship between these competing carnivore species.
We've long assumed that hyenas simply shadow lions for scraps, but these findings show that when they encounter each other, it's the lions, especially males, that approach hyenas, and the hyenas that give way. "During my master's, I lived in the bush while studying brown hyenas," said Dr. Nancy Barker of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, lead author of the article in Frontiers in Ethology.
"I repeatedly observed lions actively tracking hyenas. When I shared my observations with other leading researchers, I was often told that I had the relationship backward: that hyenas are the ones tracking lions, primarily for scavenging opportunities, and that what I had seen was simply a series of chance encounters. I felt there was more to the story.
"Our GPS collar data show that African lions and spotted hyenas leave a clear, measurable signature in the way they move around one another. Spotted hyenas consistently move away from lions, while male lions tend to move toward hyenas. Because the hyenas' retreat signal was consistent across three independent statistical tests, we can conclude that it reflects a repeatable behavioral pattern." The balance of power we see in the wild is the result of thousands of individual decisions made by animals about risk and reward.
To track those decisions as closely as possible, Barker went to Etosha National Park in Namibia and Chobe National Park and the adjoining Linyanti Conservancy in Botswana. "I spent several months simply learning the lions and hyenas, identifying the various lion and spotted hyena groups, understanding pride and clan dynamics and the areas they frequented," said Barker. "Over time, I determined which individuals ranked higher in the social hierarchy.
They were least likely to disperse from their pride or clan's territory, so I chose them for GPS collaring. We included collars from 17 lions and 14 spotted hyenas over four years for this study. "Throughout, I maintained camera traps by day and conducted behavioral observations by night.
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