The Evolution of Hyenas
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- Опубліковано 25 лип 2024
- Not very long ago the range of hyenas stretched much further than it does today. They lived throughout the northern hemisphere in Europe and also in the arctic. This video seeks to explain how they got there and their evolution.
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Sources:
www.researchgate.net/publicat...
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www.sciencedirect.com/science...
www.smithsonianmag.com/scienc...
After being a fan of extinct animals all my life, why is this the first time I ever learned there had been hyenas in North America?!?!? Thank you!
It seems NAmerica was like africa today, but all animals were bigger. Cheetahs, lions, mastodonts, hyenas.
@@Argentvs and whooly
@@Argentvs Hyenas basically lived everywhere except in Antarctica and Australia I guess. There were populations of striped hyenas in the area of modern Germany and France. And a subspecies of the spottes hyena - cave hyenas - also lived all over Europe, but I think especially in the southern parts like Spain and Italy. But niot exclusively, we know for example that Neanderthals competed with cave hyenas for liveable caves and the hyenas sometimes stole the food of the Neanderthals. Good old times. And about lions... I think there were even cave lions in what today is the UK... so it's not like North America was like Africa, but a lot of species we only know from Africa today once lived basically everywhere.
@@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei Yes and no. In that time period Europe was a subtropical forest and cooled down, the middle east steppes became arid, siberia cold and Europe a boreal forest.
Those hyenas, lions, elephants lived in forest and caves and then cold climate. The only two places were the environment was the same as modern Africa savannahs was middle east, central Asia and north America. South America had the same but with different fauna, giant sloths (who ate meat) giant predator birds, giant glyptodont, small horses, rodents, tapir alike and camelids that occupied the nich of bovines and large herbivores.
Even the Sahara was like steppes and forest then. Animals from Europe, middle east and central Asia migrated there and with the climate changed moved down to central and south Africa while all of those biomes died out elsewhere. Including our hominid ancestors who evolved in southern east Europe and the region of Levant-Anatolia.
Big cats evolved in central Asia and migrated everywhere.
@@Argentvs Didn't hyenas live until the end of the ice age in europe and it were basically the forests that killed them, because wolves and humans were more efficient hunters in forests while hyenas liked more open space?
When ever I see these videos, it makes me want to look for actual specific realistic prehistoric survival games that *kinda don't exist.*
Try Ark Survival Evolved, the PC version but there's also a Mobile one (if you haven't know it yet). Man, that game will make you angry and screw you up via the giant bugs and Raptors so much that you can't stop playing it 🤣😂
GorillaBBQ lol I swearrr bro !
You could try Far Cry Primal. It’s a fun game but not all that historically accurate. Unfortunately hyenas aren’t present in the game which is odd since it takes place in Central Europe where cave hyenas were abundant.
@@enemyoftherepublic777 Bloodfang Sabertooth is Loveeeee💕💕💕
Uh Roblox cenozoic survival? Models are great and i think they're going to be adding cave hyenas back soon.
I read in a speculative paper some time ago that the most likely cause for hyenas going extinct in most of the world except Africa was due to the bond humans made with wolves effectively snuffing hyenas out of their ecological niche. Wish I could remember where I read that from
Striped hyenas still roam across central and south Asia.
@@caniform-craze2080 very cool info man, thanks for sharing.
@@c4onmylip no problem.
They might have been outcompeted by wolves and humans even without dogs. It's very unlikely climate change alone wiped out all cave hyenas.
@@caniform-craze2080 still some people kill them, that why they are little there.
It is so good to see a vid about hyenas that doesn't vilify them. Usually they are depicted as thieves, indiscriminate killers and always as "cowardly running dogs". As usual your presentation blew away the misconceptions and presented the information in a concise and detailed format allowing people to understand these unique animals better and remove them from their "bad guys" file.
Exactamundo, nailed it. I love my Hyenas.
Still said they steal kills more than hunt which is absolutely false.
But they are cowardly, I just saw that same word used to describe them in a joe Rogan podcast
@@malourocha9211 You use Joe Rogan as a primary source 💀💀💀
@CHRB-nn6qp yeah I definitely trust the scientist, doctors and biologists that go on joe rogan.
This is one of the most interesting and under talked about Carnivoran family on the planet and I am commenting this to ensure this video gets the increased interaction rate it deserves and shows up on more people's recommendeds
I've been looking for this channel for years and had no idea
PBS Eons is another good one.
planescaped no bbc earth Ksjwjs
Trey the Explainer, Henry the Paleo Guy, Ben G Thomas and Stephen Milo are some other great a Paleo youtubers.
Isaac Arthur is a great explainer type but does sci-fi themed stuff
Just some other great stuff if you haven’t seen these guys
@@planescaped *they believe in charles darwin tho.*
@@buddythemoth pretty sure he existed
5:23
He sneek
He snacc
but most importantly
He pee when he attac
I thought I was the only one who noticed, thank you
*OH GOD*
I'm learning so much about ancient Hyenas😂
Watch his dino vids they are super interesting and cool
Palpatine: "Did you ever hear about the evolution of Hyenas?"
Anakin: "No...?"
Palpatine: "I thought not. .... It's not a story the Jedi concern themselves with."
Anakin: "But what does that have to do with---"
Palpatine: "High up in the arctic circle, a predator clings on for survival against persistent snow and blizzards in Ice Age, Canada. A hyena. ...The discovery of a fossil has revealed these beasts roamed two-thousand-five-hundred miles north of anywhere they had been previously known from...."
sorry but I think you’re at the wrong channel
Gave me a good laugh
lmao
@fumanchu168 I would rather watch episode 3 than any of the Disney wars movies
"hyenas are more closely related to felines than canines"
mind blown
I think that’s because there was this documentary on Viasat Nature that put hyenas on k9 tree next to wolfs
Hyenas can also loaf like a cat to further prove their relationship to them
@@ebtheartist3843 what does loaf mean ?
@@Andrew-ug2cy lol
@@briannadickson2884 I'm serious lol what does that mean
Commenting for the algorithm. This channel deserves way more subs!
Excellent stuff mate, keep up the good work! ;)
Hyenas get a bad reputation, but they’re so unique and beautiful, and funny too! I love these giant buddies.
Theyre just annoying and taste funny . My father used to hunt hyenas and i tried it once. I didn't like it but my uncles said it was tasty
Amazing content. You've reignited my curiosity of animals and their ancestors.
I adore your videos. Always so incredibly interesting👌🏼
so glad I found this video! I love hyenas and there is so little well made educational content about them out there. To me, they are as fascinating as alligators, both being long lived species who have undergone little change over very long periods of time. So misunderstood and hated, yet such an amazing and unique animal. The more you know about them, the more you realize how little you understand of nature.
Love? What is there to love? They hunted mankind for 100,000's of years, and not only in Africa, but Europe, Asia & N. America. I imagine there are hyena hunting tours available in Africa.
Ought to look into it.
@@tropickman "They hunted mankind for 100,000's of years, and not only in Africa, but Europe, Asia & N. America." Name me one predator that HASN'T hunted humans throughout history.
Very well said...said the catdoglionzebracheetahhippoooooect
I will boop the snoot, no matter what happens to me afterwards
@@hyenaboy7504 dont worry its just a troll
Didn't even know hyenas were closer to cats than dogs, so I was pretty surprised when I found out they hunted the bearing land bridge, and even into north america at some point. That's incredible. I have newfound respect for the hyena.
I've always found them fascinating, in a way they have alotta similarities to us humans, the group dynamics, taking care of and protecting ones family, and also the ability of both being able to hunt and scavenge, just like humans and also being very vindictive, territorial and aggressive just like humans lol.
I been known that 4 like the last 15 years. Theyre also related to the moongoose. Evil fuckers man. Right now theyre the most overpopulated animal on earth.
@@theprinceoftides6836 a lot of animals are like that
@@brianticas7671 "most overpopulated animal on Earth" not sure how they're the most "overpopulated" when there's only around 27,000-47,000 spotted hyenas out there, compared to around 200,000-250,000 grey wolves (for example).
Plus: no animal is evil, as there's nothing evil about trying to survive.
@@Redstoneprime316tame their "evil"ness.
And not through anything that callously hurt or kill them.
this is interesting, especially my favorite animal *IS* a hyena
Same. Such underappreciated animals.
Mine too 😊
Check out Kevin Richardson's channel The Lion Whisperer, he has a reserve in Africa that includes a clan of hyenas.
Me to
Lovely little podcast type presentations!....very informative.... wishing this channel success!
I love hyenas so much. They're my favourite creatures and this was a very interesting and enjoyable video!
Keep making videos please. I learn so much :)
I wish we were able to go back in time if only to watch, we could learn so much about both human and animal behavior from the times we traveled to. The biggest thing I would want to know about is their social structures as that always interests me about modern animals.
Thanks for educating me a little about our natural history.
Whatever it takes, try to keep your stuff up, you're going to collect many patrons over time.
I’m feeling pretty dumb right now, I can’t believe I have always thought a hyena is a canine.
yeah me too
Convergent evolution
They look and act like goddamn dogs!
We all intuitively think that, right, that hyenas are in the camp with bears, of being close to dogs without actually being dogs, but this is why we need science, because the world isn't intuitive. We're a smart animal, but without evidence based research, we wouldn't get very far.
@@Ingeb91 It's still weird, they look and act so much like dogs.
I would love to see the "Evolution of mustelids" because that whole group is fucking insane! They have so few predators compared to their size. Of all mammals physically......they are so fucking amazing. They also seem remarkably distinct from modern canids, felines and aren't rodents or marsupials. That is rare air for mammalian predators. I assume they are .........actually I don't know what they are closest to. I would assume canid as they don't seem feline. I actually have no fucking idea. Edit: I can't think of a smaller mammalian predator that is not a rodent.
Mustelids are Caniforms. ie Dog like carnivora family. So they are closeish to canids. More close to Bears and seals than canids though.
@@jamesknapp64 'bout to say the same, more derived than bears and dogs
Just remember, in the wild, size matters during a fight, unless you’re a wolverine.
@@juanjoyaborja.3054
Or a honey badger.
I love your videos and the music you use. Thank you and keep it up!
i love your content and this video has made me gain great appreciation for hyenas, theyre actually pretty cool
Thank you for that, always been fascinated with hyenas and how they came to be.
Fascinating, thanks for another great video!
Loving the videos.
Thanks !
Just discovered your channel! Been looking around for more information on Hyena's and stumbled upon your channel. Your content is really well put together and gave me a lot of new information on Hyena's that i've been struggling to find. keep it up! I'll definitely be subscribing, Also would I be able to make a request on Foxes?
This is fantastic. My daughter and I watch all of your videos. Please keep it up I think your sub count will snowball
Thank you and I hope so
Great video! Your content quality is phenomenal, and the information that you share is even more so. My only complaint is that I didn't find this channel sooner! I don't know if you will ever see this, but if you do, I'd like to ask something. You said that the "dog-like" hyenas were out-competed when the canids entered into Eurasia and Africa (other than the aardwolf), but isn't Chasmaporthetes (of which C. ossifragus was the only hyena species to make it into North America) also a member of the "dog-like" lineage. Also I think you should have at least touched upon Chasmaporthetes' cheetah-like adaptations for running, particularly its long, slender limb bones. That's all for now. God Bless You, and keep up the great work! Now I have to go binge the rest of your videos. :)
Thank you I hope you enjoy the other videos
And yes, the dog like hyenas dramatically dropped in diversity when canids entered Eurasia but some did survive
@@mothlightmedia1936 Awesome! You responded! I haven't had time to get through all of the videos yet, but I have certainly loved all of the ones I have seen so far!
Wait wait hold up. You're telling me Meerkats are literally part cat after all?-
There are no real evidence of dogs outcompeting hyenas... I see this story from a different perspective :
During the middle and late Miocene (15/5 mya), Hyaenids in Africa and Eurasia, and Borophagines (bone crushing dogs) in North America, they thrived through their golden age, until about 7-5 mya, environment and climatic change at the end of the Miocene declared doom for most of these two dinasties' members, who at that point have become too big or too specialised (or both)
Meanwhile, Canines, such as Eucyon and Vulpes, they were overall smaller and they were also more generalist, opportunistic, versatile and adaptable ecotypes, and their lack of specialization is what made them able to replace their competitors while more ecological niches remained vacant
Modern dogs still have this versatile personality, due to their "young age" in evolutionary terms
While hyenas thrived to present time by becoming more and more specialised and ecologically efficient (and also becoming more vulnerable to changing conditions), and the bone crushing dogs already died out around 2 mya.
Now, I am not an expert nor a professional paleontologist, but I still have the feeling that people do not understand how nature really works (MOST OF THE TIME) : when they say that different species FIGHT for survival, it is not a bloody Mortal Kombat match!
Because (believe it or not), Direct Competition is actually quite rare
LIFE FORMS DO NOT WANT TO FIGHT ONE ANOTHER, and that's why speciation and specialisation occur, different species occupy different niches just to survive and stay out of troubles
So what happens in most cases is that the ecosystem remains stable until "mutations" occur, some species go extinct leaving various empty spaces, and then new species can finally come in and fill those empty niches
In the end, I don't think modern dogs managed to overthrow their rivals (no matter how epic and glorious this idea sounds to you), just as mammals did not overthrow / outcompete dinosaurs : they inherited their role in the Circle of Life (sorry for casual Disney reference😁)
THE END
I love your videos, they are so informative and interesting
Your channel appeared in my recommendations due to algorithm I guess. I cannot be more happier though. Keep up the good work.
Nice video man. You have a bright future ahead.
Thank you, that means a lot
6:20 As a wildlife biologist I have spent time in many ecosystems. And I know from being in Africa that many Savanah habitats when fenced off from elephants turn to woodlands and that if you introduce sufficient grazing and browsing pressure to woodland ecosystems in temperate environments that woodland will be oppressed. Can we confidently say it was climate change that caused this shift or the loss of megafauna? How would dense closed canopy woodlands form in cold and temperate environments under the pressure of mammoths and elephants?
why woulndt hyenas preserved their claws and hand-like paws as felines did?. They evolved the same way as canine instead.
Because of their different hunting methods? The only cats really running after their prey also have developed doglike paws.
@@TheSynecdoche pretty solid argument , Cheetahs have doglike paws. I think that kind of paws are made for chashing and running instead of strengh.
Canine paws are adapted for traction while running which helps propel them forward, convergent evolution is a fan of this method of boosting locomotion and that can be seen in the fact that both hyenas and cheetahs possess claws more like dogs. Cheetahs are the only cat known (to my current knowledge) that doesn't have retractable claws for this reason. Retractable claws and flexible cat like paws would only be needed for climbing habits and do not benefit traction. The hyena is no longer arborial and hasn't been in ages due to that niche not being beneficial to them anymore
I love your videos
They are so interesting
Your super under-rated your work is astounding and I never knew this you have a new subscriber this information will be awesome and sure to tell my history teacher or science teacher 😀 😄 thank you bro your awesome I wish you the best and stay safe ❤
I love watching vids like this so much
As much as I love the African big cats (and I do), hyenas have been my favorite predator from the African plains since a young age. So happy to see them getting some love in the paleo corners of UA-cam now too! 😊😊
Great video very educational thank you
Hyenas have concentrated stomach acids, not strong stomach acids. All mammals have strong stomach acids, just differ in the concentrations
Great content.
4:05 After reading the Attack on Titan Manga and Uzumaki, images like this really freak me out.
5:43 Imagine being a prehistoric hominid terrified of the sight of pack-hunting predator hyenas, dogs, and big cats eat you and your seed. These wild animals sprinting across an open field racing from across continents and the best a hominid can do is attempt to hide from their superior nose.
This was very cool so happy I watched it!!!
I may have missed it, but I don't think you even mentioned hyenas being one of the only animals who are front wheel drive...
Good vid man
appreciate this. thank you.
Please increase your volume! Listening on a Samsung S8, a very good quality phone, I can't understand you over the sound of a fan. I've noticed that about all of your videos. Please keep up the great work.
Get a new phone
I'm on a note 20 and hear no such thing
i'm in heaven. so much good content i haven't watched.
Great videos btw
I had to do a paper on this and I used this video to help me so thank you
Can you imagine a boreal hyena? Objectively awesome.
5:05 "This scavenging lifestyle was probably forced upon them due to their large size, making them ill suited for hunting down prey over long distances".
Does evolution ever work like that? Isn't it more likely that they developed large body sizes specificly so that they could steal prey from other carnivores without having to hunt themselves? The guiding principle for evolution is to select for what works for a species -Why would large body size as a trait be selected for if it created a problem that had to be "delt with"?
Mating preferences, going off of today’s hyenas so could be wrong, larger size could be indicative that it was easier for females to establish dominance and therefore secure mating rights. If my wording can be understood. TLDR Bigger to fight for mates
@@chaotiklazy Sure, sexual selection is a thing, but if the trait being 'pushed for' by sexual selection is outright disadventageous for the already established mode of hunting -Would it be selected for? I guess if moving from active hunting to scanvenging/stealing prey was a smooth lateral move that didn't really require any other anatomical adaptations, it could have happened that way. TLDR Hm -Yeah, maby.
Carl Blix hmmmm... I’m not an expert, but couldn’t that larger size be an adaptation for colder climates? I mean plenty of ice age mammals were giants to have a greater surface to volume ratio (or something like that) to retain heat better, right?
@@camacakegd3714 I'm no expert either, far from it. That could very well be it, what you're saying. I'm not throwing out the theory of sexual selection as a cause either (why not both?). My original comment was more about how Moth Light Media made it sound as if larger body sizes caused a significant problem for cave hyenas (i.e. they became worse suited for hunting) but they somehow still evolved in that direction. Something about that seemed off to me. I would think that being able to get food would always be the heaviest weighing factor steering the evolution of an animal. Obviously they DID get larger -So either it actually didn't cause any problems for them being able to get food (-very easy transition to scavenging) or there must have been some serious evolutionary pressure from somewhere else, outweighing the need to be effective hunters (I'm leaning towards the first).
Sorry for the rather long answer.
@@carlblix7794 I stopped short at the same point of the video, wondering, if that could be correct. I'm not an expert either, but I suppose, that if there's a lifestyle promising an advantage, evolution will lead to body traits, which are better adapted to this lifestyle. So I think, the starting point are the influencing factors (like the need of food), the result is the body trait. Not vice versa (it's not, that body traits are the starting point, and then a species begins to try to get food on that condition by trial and error.) But I think things perhaps could become different, if suddenly a new competitor appears on the field. Then your traits might turn out not to be good enough anymore, and a species had to search new ways to survive.
You made no mention of hyena aggression, male hormones in female hyenas, and whether this trait was shared by related species. That would have been interesting.
Make a better video then😂
Unfortunately we can't learn that stuff from fossils
No evidence its another species. Extinction doesnt preserve hormones 😢
So far its just unique to hyenas but we dont know about others in the past. As far as we know its only unique to hyenas as we dont have any other living organism with the same phenomenon. Not to mention male hormones is just testosterone that is amped up in female hyenas. Remember both males and females have similar hormones its just one in mammals is elevated more in particular sexes. Particularly testosterone is typically higher in male mammals making them usually more aggressive sex .wouldnt be out of this world to realize it has happened to other species but it isnt known
Well I've now seen all your videos.. I'm ready for new ones
Hyenas have almost as twice the bite force of a lion, that's the only correction i wanted to make.
@@garadgantal1438 yes they do, lions habe 650 psi and hyenas 1100 psi. They can dig thru bone easier because of that
Put it this way..... Trainers will hand feed a lion..... But would never ever evvvverrr hand feed a hyena
Bro U make awesome videos , if U just extend them to 10 mins. They will be recommended to more people
Terrific video. Could you make on the evolution of big cats?
Thank you very much for your excellent videos, can you please try to make possible to include subtitles in other languages and in English? It would be very useful for animalhistory lovers across the world. Thanks!
I like your videos. I hope to see more in the future.
Also, if you don't mind me asking, what's the name of the background music?
The link to the music is in the description, however, the original will a be a bit different because i've edited it to fit the video.
@@mothlightmedia1936 Okay, thanks!
WOW! Very interesting
Its also interesting what they found in silesia in relation to canines(possibly becoming domesticated 20+ thousand years,and the feline/hyena was a menace to humans maybe for as long,and didn't have a base,or great solitary range like the cats and canines.i think organised humans in the world,drove them over the edge,in combo with the environmental hypothesis,and people pre domesticating and trapping all the big game ,that in the open was the end for them in most places of the world
Hyenas are so freaking cool I love them
Lowkey wish we domesticated laughing bois instead of wolves... don't tell my dogs though!
They're better than cats,they can laugh
Why not domesticate both?
Foxes laugh, and they have been partially domesticated in Russia
They smell terrible
@@zenolachance1181 don't you fucking dare bully those cute bois
6:32 this hyenas with the winter coat are very interesting.
Very interesting .
Also the hyena met and battle with Lions for thousands of years.
Interesting thank you bless
Do you think striped hyenas will expand their territories much like their ancestors did? They're the only living hyena today that live outside of Africa and in many other locations. I could see them drifting further up north and adapting if humans don't intervene. They're endangered and their habitats are shrinking due to human activity so like many animals they move onto different land.
Also it's striking that hyenas still have their winter coats even though they tend to live in hotter climates.
I was literally thinking of this topic in bed last night, and now it's at the top of my UA-cam feed. 0_o The algorithm strikes again...
Thank you.
Early in this video (excellent by the way!) you show three modern cat-like animals including the genet cat and the civet cat but what was that dark one on the far left? I listened three times to when you named it but can't make out what it's called and I honestly don't think I know what it is!
Binturong / bearcat!
@@migalu. Thanks! Just when you think there's nothing new, along comes an animal you've never heard of before!
Nice
tesekkür ederim
Where did you get those maps of earths ocean levels millions of years ago? I’ve never seen an accurate depiction of Australia’s connection with southeast Asia
Well the good thing is they are still here. What's mind boggling is that they been here for millions of years.
@3:05 okay, what the love is that deer-like creature though, my friend?
I would've appreciated it if you mentioned that Hyenas still live in the Indian subcontinent but its great video still
Whats crazy is the hyena is smaller than other cat family members and yet their bite is more powerful.
Wild that they're more related to felines but used to look more canines in the past
Just found this account and I fucking love it
Convergence evolution is awsome
Very interesting fozzleworth
Thank you
Hyenas have a stronger bite force than lions *
*stronger proportional to their body weight, lions bite would still be more devastating though
@Anti Fanboyism that’s what the video implies, but it’s not true. Hyenas have a bite force of 1100 psi, while lions have roughly half the bite force at 650 psi, relatively weak for a big cat.
@@AnkhAnanku I have heard this as well.
@@AnkhAnanku How rigorous are these tests really?
2canines More than you would think.
Honestly, a pre-historic RPG/adventure game would be lit af
Interesting...
So Timon has more in common with the Hyenas than with Simba
Volume please.. no sound here..
Lion:- Wanna hear some Facts?
Hyena:- Yeah?!
Lion:- You are more close to mongoose than a dog.
Hyena:- XD XD (Eeeeee)
@Moth Light Media I wondering, did the cave hyena or the spotted hyena ever lived in south Asia in India or the Himalayas?
Their remains have been found in China and Siberia, don't know about the Himalayas though.
Thank you, I was just wondering if spotted hyenas or cave hyena ever when to India or Pakistan before disappearing from Asia.
Malachi Lewis
Striped hyena are still found in India and central asia.
I know, I was wondering if other hyenas where in India in prehistoric times.
rhinos please
I know you've done horses but how did they became so different? and how did the rhino horn came to be?
4:04 When you step into the wrong bathroom
Hollywood movies and the nature channels made these magnificent creatures into the villains. They are very socially intelligent and incredible mamals.
The Largest Prehistoric Hyena Is Short Faced Hyena Right?
@bersercroc He meant Pachycrocuta!
I’m disappointed when I realize one of your videos is about to end