THE HYÆNA.*

 

            THOUGH Aristotle+ has left us two characters by which alone this animal is easily distinguished from all others; yet travellers and naturalists have confounded the hyaena with no less than four different species, namely, the jackal, the glutton, the civet, and the baboon.  They are carnivorous and ferocious, like the hyaena, and each of them has some resemblance to him, which might give rise to the mistake.  The [226] jackal inhabits the same countries, and, like the hyaena, has nearly the form of a wolf, feeds upon dead carcasses, and digs them out of the sepulchers.  The glutton is equally voracious, has the same appetite for putrified flesh, the same instinct of digging the dead out of their graves; and, though he lives in a different climate, and his figure is very different from that of the hyaena, this conformity of natural dispositions was sufficient to make authors confound them together.  The civet is found in the same countries, and, like the hyaena, has long hair along the back, and a particular fissure or orifice.  These singular characters, which belong to no other animals, misled Belon into the notion that the civet was the hyaena of the antients.  The baboon has still less resemblance to the hyaena than the other three; for it has hands and feet like those of a man or a monkey.  Naturalists, therefore, could be deceived by the name:  In Barbary, the hyaena, according to Dr Shaw, is called dubbah, and the baboon, according to Marmol and Leo Africanus, is called dabuh; and, as the baboon is found in the same climates, digs the earth, and is nearly of the same form with the hyaena, these affinities first deceived travellers, and naturalists copied the blunder, without sufficient examination.  Even those who have clearly distinguished these two animals, have given to the hyaena the name of dabuh, which belongs to the baboon.  Hence the hyaena is not [227] the dabuh of the Arabians, nor the jesef or sesef of the Africans, as we are told by naturalists.*   Neither should he be confounded with the deeb of Barbary.  But, to prevent all future confusion arising from names, we shall, in  a few words, give a detail of the researches we have made with regard to these animals.

           

            Aristotle employs two names, hyaena and glanus.  To be convinced that these appellations denote the same animal, we have only to compare the passages where they occur.+  The antient Latins preserved the name hyaena, and never used that of glanus.  Among the modern Latins we find the words ganus or gannus,3 and [228] belbus,* substituted for hyaena.  According to Rasis,+ the Arabians call the hyaena kabo, or zabo, names seemingly derived from the word zeeb, which, in their language, signifies a wolf.  In Barbary, the hyaena is called dubbah, as appears from the description given of it by Dr Shaw.3  In Turkey, the hyaena, according to Nieremberg,4 is named zirtlam, in Persia, kaftaar, according to Kaempfer,5 and caftar, accor- [229] ding to Pietro della Valle.*  These are all the appellations which can, with propriety, be applied to the hyaena.  It is probable, however, that the lycaon and crocuta of India and Æthiopia, mentioned by the antients, are no other than the hyaena.  Porphyry says expressly,+ that the Indian crocuta is the hyaena of the Greeks.  Indeed, all that the antients have said, whether true or fabulous, concerning the lycaon and cro- [230] cuta, apply to the hyaena.  But we shall postpone all farther conjectures on this subject, till we come to treat of fabulous animals, and the relations they have with real ones.

 

            The panther of the Greeks, the lupus canarius of Gaza, and the lupus Armenius of the Arabians and modern Latins, seem to be the same animal, namely, the jackal, which Pollus says is called cical by the Turks,* or thacal, according to Spon and Wheeler:+  The modern Greeks call it zachalia,3 the Persians siechal,4 or schachal,5 and the moors of Barbary deeb,6 or jackal.  We shall preserve the name jackal, because it has been adopted by most travellers, and content ourselves with remarking in this place, that he differs from the hyaena not only in size, figure, and colour, but likewise in his manners; for the jackals commonly go in troops, and the hyaena is a solitary animal.  Our modern nomenclators, in imitation of Kempfer, call the jackal, lupus aureus, because his hair is of a lively yellow colour.

 

            The jackal, as we have seen, is an animal very different from the hyaena, as well as from the glutton, which last is peculiar to the northern regions of Lapland, Russia, and Siberia:  It is [231] even unknown in the temperate climates, and, consequently, could never inhabit Arabia, and the other warm countries frequented by the hyaena.  Besides, the figure of the glutton resembles that of a very large badger; his limbs are so short, that his belly nearly reaches to the ground; he has five toes both on the fore and hind feet; no mane, and black hair over all the body, excepting sometimes a few brownish yellow hairs on the flanks.  In a word, he possesses nothing in common with the hyaena, but his voracity.  He was likewise unknown to the antients, who had not penetrated far into the northern regions of Europe.  Olaus* is the first author who mentions this animal, which he has called gulo, on account of its gluttony.  He was afterwards denominated rosomak in the Sclavonian language,+ and jerff, or wildfras in the German.  The French travellers have called him glouton.3  Of this species there are varieties, as well as in that of the jackal, which shall be pointed out in the particular history of those animals.  But these varieties, instead of making [232] him approach nearer the hyaena, remove the two species to a still greater distance.

 

            The civet has nothing in common with the hyaena, excepting the fissure or sac under the tail, and the mane along the neck and spine.  It differs from the hyaena in the figure and size of the body, being one half smaller.  Its ears are short and covered with hair, while those of the hyaena are long and naked.  Besides, it has shorter limbs, and five toes on each foot; but the legs of the hyaena are long, and he has only four toes on each foot.  Neither does the civet dig the earth in quest of dead bodies.  It is, therefore, extremely easy to distinguish these animals.

 

            With regard to the baboon, which is the papio of the Latins, he seems to have been mistaken for the hyaena by an ambiguity of names, to which a passage of Leo Africanus,* copied by Marmol,+ seems to have given rise. The dabuh, say these two authors, “is of the size and figure of the wolf, and tears dead bodies from the sepulchers.”  The similarity of the name dabuh with dubbah, which last denotes the hyaena, joined to the avidity for dead carcasses common [233] to the dabuh and dubbah, have made them be mistaken for the same animal, though it be expressly mentioned in the very passages we have quoted, that the dabuh has hands and feet like the those of a man, which corresponds with the baboon, but can never apply to the hyaena.

           

            By looking at Belon’s figure of the lupus marinus,* which Gesner has copied,+ this animal might be mistaken for the hyaena, because there is a considerable resemblance.  But his description applies not to our hyaena; for he tells us, that the lupus marinus is an amphibious animal, which feeds on fishes, and has sometimes been seen on the coasts of the British ocean.  Besides, Belon mentions none of the peculiar characters which distinguish the hyaena from all other quadrupeds.  Belon, prepossessed, perhaps, with the notion that the civet was the hyaena of the antients, has given the figure of the true hyaena, under the name of lupus marinus; for the characters of the hyaena are so singular, that it is almost impossible to mistake him.  He is, perhaps, the only quadruped that has four toes on each foot.  Like the badger, he has an orifice under the tail, which penetrates not into the body. He has long, straight, naked ears; a head shorter and more square than that of the wolf; but his legs, particularly the hind ones, are longer.  His eyes are placed like those of a dog.  [234]  The hair of his body and mane is of a dark gray colour, mixed with a little yellow and black, and transverse dusky undulations.  He is of the size of a wolf, only his body is shorter and more compact.

 

            This savage and solitary animal lives in the caverns of the mountains, in the clefts of rocks, or dens which he digs for himself in the earth. His disposition is extremely ferocious, and, though taken young, never can be tamed.*  Like the wolf, he feeds on pretty; but he is stronger and more daring.  He sometimes attacks men, and rushes with fury upon cattle of all kinds.+  He [235] follows the flocks, and often breaks down the doors of stables, and the inclosures of the sheepfolds.  His eyes sparkle in the dark; and he is said to see better in the night than in the day.  All naturalists agree, that his cry resembles the groanings of a man who vomits, or rather the lowing of a calf, according to Kaempfer.*

 

            The hyaena defends himself against the lion, is not afraid of the panther, and attacks the ounce, which is not able to resist him.  When prey fails, he digs the earth with his feet, and tears out the dead bodies of animals and men, who, in the countries which he inhabits, are equally buried in the fields.  He is found in almost all the warm climates of Africa and Asia; and the animal called farasse at Madagascar,+ which in figure resembles the wolf, but is larger, stronger, and more cruel, is perhaps the same with the hyaena.

 

            A greater variety of absurd stories have been related concerning the hyaena than any other quadruped. The antients gravely tell us, that the hyaena is alternately male and female; that, when it brings forth, suckles, and rears its young, it continues to be a female during the whole year; but that, the following year, it resumes [236] the functions of the male, and makes its companion submit to the lot of the female.  This story, it is apparent, has no other foundation than the fissure under the tail, which is common to the male as well as the female, independent of the organs of generation peculiar to both sexes, which, in the hyaena, are similar to those of all other quadrupeds.  The hyaena has been said to imitate the human voice, to remember the names of shepherds, to call upon, to fascinate, and to deprive them of the power of motion; and, at the same time, to terrify the shepherdesses, to make them run from and neglect their flocks, to render them frantic with love, &c. –All this might happen without the hyaena!  and I here stop, lest I should, with Pliny, incur the censure of delighting in compiling and relating ridiculous fables.

SUPPLEMENT.

 

            In the year 1773, I saw a male hyaena at the fair of St Germain.  The hyena above described was perfectly ferocious; but this male, having been tamed when young, was remarkably gentle; for, though his master often provoked him with a cudgel, in order to make him erect his mane, he instantly afterwards seemed to forget the affront.  He played with his keeper, who put his hand into the animal’s mouth, without [237] the least apprehension of danger.  This hyaena was precisely of the same species with that whose description I have formerly given; and I have nothing to add to it, excepting that the tail of this male was all white, without any mixture of other colours.  He was somewhat larger than the first, being three feet two inches long, from the extremity of the muzzle to the origin of the tail, and carried his head lower than is represented in the figure.  His height was two feet three inches; and his hair was white, intermixed with streaks and spots of black, both on the body and legs.

 

            In the south part of the island of Meroë, there are hyaenas much larger than those of Barbary.  Their muzzle is longer, and has a greater resemblance to that of a dog.  This animal is so strong, that he carries off a man to the distance of a league or two, without stopping.  His hair is coarse, browner than that of the other kind, and the transverse streaks are blacker.  His mane erects not from the head, but from the tail.  Mr Bruce was the first who remarked of this hyaena, as well as that of Syria and Barbary, that, when forced to fly, they are lame of the left hind-leg, which continues so remarkably for about a hundred paces, that the animal seems as if he would tumble down on his left side.* [238]

Notes

 

*  The hyaena has long, sharp pointed, naked ears, an upright mane, high shoulders, and the fore-legs higher than the hind-legs.  The hair on the body is coarse, rough, pretty long, of an ash-colour, marked with long black stripes from the back downwards, and others cross the legs.  The tail is very full of hair, sometimes plain, and sometimes barred with black. His size is that of a large dog; but he is very strong made; Pennant’s Synops. of quad. p. 161.

            In Arabic, Zaba; in the language of Barbary, Dubbah; in Persic Kaftar or Caftar.

            Hyaena; Arist. Hist. anim. lib. 6. c. 32.  Plinii, lib. 8 c. 30.

            Taxus porcinus, seu hyaena veterum; Kaempfer, Amoen. p. 411.

            Canis hyena, cauda recta annulata, pilis cervicis erectis, auriculis nudis, palmis tetradactylis; Linn.  syst. Nat. p. 58.  The annulated tail, which is also mentioned by Kaempfer, is neither very sensible, nor constant.  The hyaena which I examined had every other character ascribed to it by Linnaeus.  The tail was not annulated, but only mixed with brown upon a gray ground, which formed a kind of undulations rather than rings.

            Lupus marinus, Belon. aquat. p. 33. Gesner. quad.

 

+  Aristot. hist. anim. lib. 6. c. 32. lib. 8, c. 5 [back to page 226].

 

*  Charleton, Exercit. p. 14.  Brisson. Regn. anim. p. 234.

+  Hyaena colori lupi prope est, sed hirsutior, et juba per totum dorsum praedita est.  Quod autem de ea fertur, genitale simul et maris et foeminae eandem habere, commentitium est:  Sed virile similiter, atque in lupis. Et canibus habetur.  Quod vero foemineum esse videtur, sub cauda positum est, figura simile genitali foeminae, sed fine ullo meatu.  Sub hoc meatus excrementorum est.  Quin etiam foemina hyaena praeter suum illud etiam simile, ut mas habvet sub cauda fine ullo meatu, a quo excrementorum meatus est, atque sub eo genitale verum continetur.  Vulvam etiam hyaena foemina, ut ceterae hujuscemodi foeminae animantes, habet.  Sed raro hyaena foemina capitur, jam inter undecim numero, unam tantum cepisse venator retulit quidam; lib. 6. cap. 32. –Quam autem alii glanum, alii hyaenam appellant, corpore non minore, quam lupus est, juba qua equus, sed seta duriore, longioreque, et per totum dorsum porrecta.  Molitur haec insidias homini, canes etiam vomitioonem hominis imitando capit, et sepulchral effodit humanae avida carnis, ac eruit; Arist. hist. anim. lib. 8. cap. 5.

3.  Gesner. hist. quad. p. 555 [back to page 228].

 

*  Belbi, id est, hyaenae, decem fuerunt sub Gordiano Romae.  Julius Capitolinus; Id. ibid.

+  Gesner. hist. quad p. 555.

3.  The dubbah is of the badger kind, near the bigness of a wolf –Its neck is so remarkably stiff, that, in looking behind, or snatching obliquely at any object, it is obliged, in the same manner with the hog, the badger, and crocodile, to move the whole body.  It is of a buff colour, inclining to be reddish, with some transverse streaks of a dark brown; whislt the hairs upon the neck are near a span long, which it can occasionally erect, notwithstanding they are much softer than the bristles of a hog.  The paws are large and well armed, serving, in want of other food, to lay open the medulla of the palmeta, or dwarf palm; to dig up the roots of plants, and sometimes the graves of the dead……Next to the lion and panther, the dubbah is the fiercest of the wild beasts of Barbary; and, from the characteristics of having long hair upon its neck, like a mane, moving its neck with difficulty, and disturbing the graves of the dead, it may lay a greater claim to the hyaena of the antients than the civet cat, or the badger, which are smaller animals; Shaw’s travels, p. 173.

4.  Euseb. Nieremb. hist. nat. p. 181 [back to page 229].           

5.  Kaftaar, id est, taxus porcinus, sive hyaena veterum, (Vid. in Tab. ∫ 4. No 4.) animal est porici, feu scrophae grandioris, magnitudinem ejusdemque formam corporis obitens, si caput, caudam, et pedes excipio.  Pilis vestitur longis, incanis, in ora [229] dorfi, porcino more, longioribus, pene spithamalibus, apicibus nigris; caput habet lupino non dissimile, rostro nigro, fronte longiori, oculis rostro propinquioribus nigris et volubilibus, auribus nudis, fuscis, et acuminates; cauda donator praelonga, villis densis longioribus vestita, circulisque nigricantibus ad decomrem intercepta.  Crura in orbem quodammodo variegate, posteriora prioribus sunt longiora; pedes in quaternos ungues divisi, quos lupino more contrahit, ne videntur.  Norpus habet striis a dorso ventre tenus pictum paucis, latis, et inaequalibus, alternatim fuscis et nigris……Mira vi terram effodit, eavernisque abditum se illatebrare amat, diu fine cibo vivit, et raptu victum quaerit…..Ferox et carnivora bestia, quipped in humana saeviens cadavera, quae noctu ex tumulis impigre effodit, 7c.; Kaempfer, amoenitates, p. 411. 412 [This note straddles two pages, with the break occurring where indicated above.  Back to page 229].

 

*  At Schiras, I saw a living animal, which the Persians called caftar.  It was as strong as a large dog. It was of the size, figure, and colour of a tiger, (he means the panther), and the head and muzzle were long like those of a hog.  This animal is said to feed on human flesh, and to dig up the carcasses from the sepulchers, which made me conjecture that it might be the hyaena of the antients.  However this may be, it was a ferocious creature which I had never before seen; Voyage de Pietro della Valle, tom. 5. p. 343.

+  Porphyrius in eo opera quod inscripsit de abstinentia ab ufu cranium, hyaenam dicit ab Indis appellari crocutam; Cillis apud Gesner. hist. quad. p. 555 [back to page 230].

 

*  Gesner. hist. quad. p. 675.

+  Travels of Jacob Spon and George Wheeler, vol. 1. p. 114.

3.  Id. ibid.

4.  Voyage de Chardin en Perse, tom. 2. p. 29.

5.  Kaempfer, amoenit. exot. p. 413.

6.  Shaw’s travels, p. 174 [back to page 231].

 

*  Inter omnia animalia quae immani voracitate creduntur insatiabilia, gulo in partibus Sueciae septentrionalis, praecipuum suscepit nomen, ubi patrio fermone Jerff dicitur, et lingua Germanica Wilsfrass, Sclavonice Rosomaka, a multa commestione; Latina vero non nisi fictitio gulo, videlicet a gulositate, appellatur; Hist. de gent. septent. ab Olao Magno, p. 138.

+  Hist. de la Laponie, par Schefter, p. 214. –Rzacynski, Auct. hist. nat. Polon. p. 311.

3.  Relation de la Grande Tartarie, p. 8 [back to page 232].

 

Dabuh Arabica appellatione Africanis Sesef dicitur.  Animal et magnitudine et forma lupum resert, pedes et crura hominis similes; reliquo bestiarum genere non est noxius, sed humana corpora sepulchris evellit ac devorat; Leon. Afric. de Afric. descript. tom. 2. p. 756.

+  L’Afrique de Marmol, tom. 1. p. 57 [back to page 233].

 

*  Belon, de aquatil. P. 35.

+  Gesner. hist. quadrup. p. 674 [back to page 234].

 

*  Hyaenam marem Ispahani curiositatis causa alebat dives quidam Gabr seu ignicola, suburbia Gabristaan, captam dum ubera sugeret, in latibulis vicini montis.  Ad eam spectandam progressus, bestiam eo situ depinxi,m quo in fovea subdiali duarum orgyarum profunditatis (cui inclusa servabatur) cubantem inveni.  Desiderio nostro possessor omni ex part satisfacturus, eam educi quoque curavit in aream; quod ut tuto fieret, demisso fune rostrum prius illaqueabat; mox descendentes servi protracta utrinque labra funiculo ex pilis contorto, strenue colligabant.  Hoc facto educitur, laxatoque fune, qui rostrum fraenabat, bestia latius discurrere permikttitur, non semel apprehensa, more athletico in terram projicitur, ac variis lacessitur vexationibus; quibus illa irrito nocendi nisu obluctata, subinde mugitum edidit vitulino simillimum.  Narrabant Gabri sic fraenatam nuper se opposuisse duobus leonibus, quos aspectante oculo ferenissimo in fugam verterit; Kaempfer, amoenitates, p. 412. 413.

+  In Abyssinia, the wolves are small and timorous.  But they have an animal called hyaena, which is extremely bold and rapacious.  He attacks men in the open day as well as during the night, and often breaks down the doors and inclosures of the sheep-folds; HIst. de l’Abissinia, par Rudolf, p. 41 [back to page 235].

 

*  Kaempfer, loc. supra citat.

+  In Madagascar, there are animals called farasses, of the same nature with the wolf, but still more voracious; Mem. pour servir à l’hist. des Indes-Orient. p. 168. – See also l’hist de l’Orenoque, par Joseph Jumilla, tom. 3. p. 603 [back to page 236].

 

*  Note communicated to M. de Buffon from Mr Bruce [back to page 238].