So behind this expression, is the spotted hyena really laughing? As far as the current research is concerned, it is not the spotted hyenas who make this expression with hissing, but it often happens when they are nervous, such as being attacked by the same kind, being driven away by the ethnic group, and being bullied by individuals. Smile? .
Is this Dalmatian really laughing?
Of course, the research on the sound and behavior of hyenas is far from in-depth, so no one dares to say that there are no hyenas at present. Laugh? This kind of emotion, after all, was said by Zhuangzi thousands of years ago? If you are not a fish, you will know the happiness of fish. ? This truth.
Hyenas are often used in film and television works and literary materials? Villains? For example, in the famous "The Lion King", hyenas are portrayed as greedy and dark, and are spurned by the audience. Nott also said:? Writers think hyenas lack courage? .
This statement may be exaggerated, but it reflects the image status of hyenas in people's minds. In fact, people's prejudice against it began as early as Aristotle's time. In fact, hyenas are very smart and powerful, what's more, their huge group can compete with lions. Is it just a theory? Communication skills? In this respect, it is ahead of most animals.
The image of hyenas in The Lion King
Hyenas family
We often say that hyenas generally refer to spotted hyenas, but in fact there are three kinds of animals that can be called hyenas, namely hyenas, brown hyenas and striped hyenas.
Compared with Canidae and Felidae, there are four kinds of hyenas, which are? People are dying? Together, the distribution range of these four animals is very similar to that of lions in history, mainly concentrated in most parts of Africa except the core of Congo basin and the core of Sahara desert, as well as southwest Asia.
Four kinds of hyenas.
People often think that hyenas are canines, don't they? Dogs? Words are misleading, but you know what? In fact, the relationship between hyenas and cats is closer than that between hyenas and canines, but not a few people say that hyenas belong to cats. Strictly speaking, all members of hyenas belong to Catoidea.
In traditional classification, Carnivora includes Canidae, Xiong Ke, Mustelidae, Skunkidae, Urbanidae, Pandidae, Sea Lions, Sea Lions and Walruses. There are cats, civets, Diptera, Formicidae, Diptera, and hyenas in Cat Suborder.
Taxonomic relationship of Iguanidae.
Later, after the taxonomic update, in modern classification, both Canidae and Catinas were downgraded to Canidae and Catinas, but hyenas and cats still belong to Catinas, and Canidae is also in Canidae, so hyenas and cats are naturally closer than dogs.
Hyenas are the largest and most powerful of the four species of Hyenaceae. Male hyenas are smaller than female hyenas, and the weight of the whole species is mostly between 40 and 70 kilograms, which is greatly influenced by geographical distribution. For example, hyenas near Zambia are huge, and even the average weight of adult males is 67.6 kg, while the average weight of females is 67.6 kg.
Crokuta
Hyenas' barking is an important carrier of information transmission.
Friends who have seen relevant documentaries or had relevant field experience in Africa may know that Dalmatians can make all kinds of sounds, and most of them are scary, especially at night. If they hear spotted dogs barking in the field, they will be scared into a cold sweat.
According to the current research, Dalmatians can make about 1 1 sounds, and each sound represents a different meaning, which is very important for their daily communication. 20 1 1 There is a report in The New York Times, which introduces the hyenas' barking and its meaning in detail. The author is a zoologist, Kay? Holkamp, a scholar who specializes in hyenas.
Several typical calls of hyenas and their meanings;
A short, high-pitched cry, usually made when encountering animals such as lions; Bass grunts often mean right? An outsider? Is unpopular, and then it is likely to make an expulsion decision; A high-pitched purr, usually used before individuals gather, can be understood as a prelude to a party; A series of barking like a puppy, usually made by the weak side when being chased or attacked; Shouting, like? Giggle? , usually issued when bitten; Growling is often a prelude to fighting back when attacked; Shout quickly and softly, mostly when attacking large prey or being chased by lions; Shouting for a long time, when you meet other groups of hyenas, most of them will make this sound, which means vigilance; Ordinary screaming, an average of 5-6 times, this kind of voice often appears, used in many occasions, generally understood as daily greetings. Of course, young hyenas also make some sounds when they are hungry, but compared with adult hyenas, they make many fewer kinds of sounds, most of which are? Talk about it? Barking indicates that you want to eat.
At present, people's research on hyenas' barking is still in a very primary stage, and the specific meaning of many barks is not very clear, and with the deepening of research, it is very likely to subvert the previous research results.
But no matter how you study it, you can't change the fact that, compared with other animals, the hyena is definitely a. Language master? As an animal with high social attribute, the communication between individuals in the group is extremely important. Hyenas not only have rich body language, but also have rich barking sounds as the carrier of information transmission, which makes the contact between individuals in their group closer and is very beneficial to the survival and development of the whole species.
In the animal world, sound is one of the most important information transmission carriers. The sounds of vocal animals can basically convey information. Of course, some creatures that can't make sound can transmit information through vision, chemicals and other means, and can also achieve the purpose of communication.
How refined is the content of hyena voice communication? At present, there is no conclusion about its nature, that is, people can't judge what kind of sound it is and which one is accurate. I gave this piece of meat, so don't rob anyone. I don't even know if the depth of communication can reach this level, but if you want to know the answer behind it, you can only expect a breakthrough in future scientific research.
Hyenas have meat in their mouths.
Hyenas' barking is not just communication.
In early research, people generally focused on deciphering the meaning of animal calls, that is? Chatting, however, a research report in 2007 revealed that the barking information of hyenas is very rich and can even play a role in identifying people.
In nature, many animals have their own characteristics? Id card? For example, stripes on tigers and stripes on African wild dogs, each individual is independent, and there are no two identical individuals, so this is the most important reference to distinguish individuals, and researchers have found that the barking of hyenas contains basic information of individuals.
Tiger stripes
The researchers studied 60 individuals from different races, different age groups, different sexes and other basic variables, recorded 1 17 screams, and analyzed the acoustic details. Later, they found that the basic information such as the age, body shape and status level of the hyena can be reflected in the call, that is, a special call of the hyena can include individuals.
The researchers pointed out that as the hyena grows older, its bark will also change to some extent. In addition, because the female hyena is larger in size and chest, the female hyena's cry will be deeper than that of the male hyena.
By carefully studying the ecological conditions and living habits of hyenas, we will find that the influence of sound on hyenas is far more than the level of information exchange, and almost all scenes in life are accompanied by barking.
On the African prairie, hyenas' main rival is lions. For a long time, hyenas have been barking? Shameless thief? In fact, on the contrary, lions rob hyenas of their prey much more than hyenas. After all, the strength is there, and hyenas are also very efficient predators. The number of ungulates captured in the same habitat is not less than that of lions, and they eat 95% of the food.
Spotted hyena predation scene
On the grassland, lions rely on absolute strength and often stay with other animals? Grab food? The spotted hyena is the main target of robbery. Because hyenas are strikingly similar to lions in prey preference, they are mainly medium and large ungulates, so in the same habitat, lions will pay special attention to hyenas' movements, which is due to the above reasons of survival competition and what we said earlier: for food!
What about the lion? Lock? Where are the hyenas? The main way is to listen to the sound. When the lion hears the hyenas, it will slowly approach them.
The hyena clashed with the lion.
For spotted hyenas, their hard-earned prey naturally does not want to be taken away by lions, so in order to reduce the risk of being attacked by large-scale lions, they often go out to hunt in the form of multiple small teams, which makes the lions in the range unable to concentrate on a sound source.
Of course, when lions attack or hunt large animals, hyenas can gather nearby individuals by barking, thus coping with difficulties. Since the barking of a spotted hyena can attract lions stronger than it, can it? Scared off? A weaker opponent than them.
For example, cheetahs are extremely weak after each predation process. At this time, if other large carnivores come, their prey will be taken away or even killed. Therefore, in order to avoid this situation, in the process of looking for prey, cheetahs often stay away from this area once they hear the barking of Dalmatians to avoid risks.
The hyenas robbed the cheetah of its food.
Animal calls are extremely important to their daily life, but most of them are reflected in life scenes, but do you know? Actually, sound? Magic? It's more than that.
Among cats, species that roar like tigers and lions can't make cats? Gollum? Sound, and can be issued? Gollum? A cat with a loud voice will definitely not growl. Many wildlife lovers know this knowledge, but what most people don't know is: actually, this kind of cat? Gollum? Sound can also relieve tension and promote tissue regeneration and bone healing.
200 1 10/29 October, Journal of the American Acoustical Society, Volume110, No.5, a research paper explained the scientific reasons behind this phenomenon in detail, which roughly means that it was made by cats. Gollum? Sound, its sound frequency is between 25- 150 Hz, and the sound frequency within this range can promote bone healing.
cat
People have a deep misunderstanding about hyenas.
For a long time, hyenas have always appeared in film and television works and literary materials with a bad image, so it is not surprising that people have more misunderstandings about this animal. There are two typical rumors about hyenas. One is that they always snatch prey from other animals, and the other is about biting power. Let's explain them one by one.
First of all, as one of the most important carnivores in grassland ecosystem, the niche of spotted hyenas is actually similar to that of lions. No lions? In this area, hyenas can completely replace the ecological function of lions, and hyenas are fully capable of catching large ungulates such as wildebeests and gazelles.
In addition, spotted hyenas live in groups and eat a lot. Scavenger? On the grassland, it is impossible to meet the needs of survival by picking up carrion, so it is known that the main food source of spotted hyenas must rely on the strength of the team to catch large prey.
Hyenas prey on wildebeests.
The problem of hyenas' bite force is also a cliche. People think that the bite force of hyenas is greater than that of lions. In fact, it's not everyone's fault, because an early popular science program abroad was not rigorous.
The Chinese name of this program is "Kouga with giant teeth". In this project, the researchers measured the bite force of adult lions and sub-adult hyenas in two different ways. Because of the large experimental error, the data has no reference significance.
The general practice is to wrap the metal dynamometer with meat to attract lions to bite. At this time, we saw the lion take the meat and run away. The experimental bite force data is 227 kg, and when the lion ran back to bite, it measured 3 1 1kg. When measuring the bite force of hyenas, the researchers found a one-year-old sub-adult hyenas. As long as the hyena bites the metal dynamometer, there will be a steady stream of milk. At this time, the measured bite force of hyenas is 27 1 kg, so researchers should conclude that the bite force of hyenas is greater than that of lions.
The scene of measuring the bite force of lions in the program
However, friends who know the experimental process can easily find the flaws. First of all, the teeth used by lions to get meat are canine teeth and incisors, so the measured data is not the ultimate bite force of lions;
Secondly, when measuring the bite force of hyenas, another way is adopted. The greater the bite force, the more milk will flow out. In order to get food, this hyena will bite the metal dynamometer as much as possible, so that the data obtained is close to the limit value, but this is not a dog tooth at all, but a cracked tooth. This comparison is meaningless.
The scene of measuring the bite strength of the spotted hyena in the program
So how strong is the bite force between Dalmatians and lions? In 2005, a paper in Life Science can answer this difficult problem for us. The writer is Stephen from the School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney. Luo et al.
The results showed that the adult lion's skull was 33.4 1cm long and 24.8 1cm wide, and the bite force of dog teeth was 1768N, and the quotient of bite force (the regression value of animal bite force divided by body weight) was 1 12. The adult hyena's skull is 23.64 cm long, 16.73 cm wide, with a bite force of 773N and a bite force quotient of 1 17. Because the bite force of animals is influenced by many factors, such as weight, age and physical condition. The average weight of lions is much higher than that of hyenas, so compared with the bite force of dogs, lions are far better than hyenas. It is correct to say that the unit bite force of hyenas is greater than that of lions.
Crokuta
In fact, when we look at an animal in nature, we are easily influenced by cognitive level and external factors, which leads to some deviations in our cognition of this animal. Fame It's pathetic, but after getting to know this creature carefully, you will find that it is really powerful, especially in voice communication. In the animal world, not many people can reach the level of hyenas. Moreover, the research on the barking of hyenas is still in the primary stage. I believe that with the deepening of the research, more mysteries and surprises can be found.