Understanding Hyenas (Full Episode) | Built for the Kill | Nat Geo Animals

Narrator: The hyena. Much maligned. Misunderstood. It's both calculating killer and devoted mother. Born fighting, it has to learn how to hunt. Learn how to battle the king of the jungle. Learn to become, Built for the Kill. In Africa, two animals rule the night. We think one is dirty. Disgusting. Devious. The other is noble. Powerful. Pinnacle predator. But appearances can be deceiving. The slobbering scavenger is a killer. The king of the jungle is a thief. Death draws them together. Queen of the clan, King of the jungle. Mortal enemies. Deadly rivals. It's an epic battle for survival. A battle that began the moment the hyena was born. In a small den, on an empty plain a cub is born. She comes out fighting. Hyenas are the only wild mammals genetically programmed to attack their siblings. Flooded with testosterone, the first-born savages her sister with needle sharp canines. Until they realize there's another victim. Bitten and bullied; up to a quarter of cubs never leave the den alive. The dominant female is first out and first among equals. Her mother is queen of the clan. Rank is inherited, so the cub is a princess. Other adults know their place. This is a mafia of moms. The cub's father is alpha male; small, timid and brutally hen-pecked. Dominated by the sisterhood and his daughter. Smell signals status. He bows before royalty. The clan has assembled around their queen. It's time to kill. Hyenas look like dogs, are related to cats, and are as smart as some primates. The queen can count. The size of her hunting party depends on the size of the prey. Hyenas usually hunt gazelle alone; wildebeest are different. 500 pounds of flying horns and hooves. Fast. Agile. Kicks can kill. A single hyena, with a lot of experience and a little luck, can bring down a wildebeest. Hyenas hunting together are five times more successful than hunting alone. The queen has walked 30 miles to get here. The rewards are worth it. A vulnerable calf. The hunting party came here for wildebeest; ignoring all other species along the way. They have a plan. The queen and her sisters split up. She enters the herd, scanning for targets. Her reserves wait on the sidelines. There's no ambush, no surprise attack. Unlike lions, the pride waits until the herds in range, then fan out; blocking the exits. Each lioness now watches for her own chance to attack. Waiting for a calf to stray into her 50 yard kill zone. Hyenas don't wait. The queen stamps her feet and charges! Stampede! The sisterhood watches for weakness. Target acquired! Most prey run faster than hyenas, but few run farther. Hyenas are built for the chase. A heart, twice the size of a lion's, provides enormous stamina. Hyenas chase at high speed for up to 12 miles. The reserve force joins the pursuit; running the calf to exhaustion. Hyenas kill more calves than all other predators combined, but death takes time. Lions kill quickly. A short sprint and a short struggle. Powerful jaws close around the throat; crushing the windpipe, constricting air and blood flow. After asphyxiation, the pride feasts. Hyenas use a different tactic. Their jaws don't deliver a single lethal bite. Instead, they slash and tear and disembowel. Hyenas often eat their prey alive. In just 13 minutes, they turn a 300 pound animal into a bloodstain. Hyenas swallow a third of their body weight, 40 pounds of flesh, fur, horns and hooves; dissolved by aggressive acids in their stomach. Massive jaws and teeth even smash open the skeleton. They're one of the land's biggest consumers of bone. The queen always feeds first. And so will her daughter; if she's still alive. Narrator: Back at the den, the clan's cubs have bodyguards. But are they enough? It's the sound of a cub's worst nightmare. The handful of mothers prepare for battle. Lions kill cubs. One on one, it's no contest. The lions will crush the defenders. But they have back up. The lions will try for the cubs another day. They also have hungry mouths to feed. Females give birth away from the pride. A young male, 4 pounds of blind toothless fluff. One day he'll become the hyena's biggest rival. But for now, he's totally dependent on mom. She leaves him alone and unguarded as she hunts for food. But she's seldom away more than 48 hours. Hyenas are different. Cubs can go a week between feeds, because hyenas make super milk. A 15% mix of protein and fat. In humans, it's around 5%. The princess is always first served. In theory, she could suckle with her sister. But she blocks access. Rank has its privileges. The princess will depend on mother's milk for well over a year. It'll be another 5 years before she's a capable killer. So practice starts early. She has a lot to learn. Unlike some social species, hyenas like being alone when hunting for prey too small to be shared. The queen has 60 individuals in her clan scattered across the territory, alone or in small groups. Smell keeps them together, thanks to an extraordinary nose. Some hyenas can smell an old dry carcass from more than two miles downwind. They also smell each other. The princess is "pasting," smearing grass with slime from a pouch near her anus. Called "hyena butter," it's a stinking signpost. Hyenas use the smelly smears as a social networking site; updating the clan about who's who in the hood. In one year, a clan deposits 145,000 smears across their territory. Smell keeps the clan in contact. They need ready reinforcements, because in this land, danger is never far away. The sound of the squabbling scavengers spreads across the savannah. The queen hears a free meal; her sensitive ears can detect the sounds of a kill from 6 miles away! The birds are a beacon. Finding the kill's easy. Defending is hard. Alone, the queen's powerless. But others have heard the commotion, soon the numbers even up. But the attackers are still out-muscled. The lions can keep the hyenas at bay, but they can't keep them quiet. Calls can be heard up to 3 miles away. The clan comes from all directions. Soon there are twice as many hyenas as lions. But it's still not enough. One of the clan makes a fatal mistake. In some places, lions kill more than half of all adult hyenas. Lions and hyenas: eternal enemies. The young male has just two years to learn how to kill before he too, must confront the hyena queen. Narrator: The princess is now eight months old. She still drinks milk, but she's left the den. She's watching her mother, learning to hunt. During the day, chasing prey is hard and hot. Nights are cooler. Hyenas conserve water hunting under the cover of darkness. They rely on their superior night vision. A mirror in the eye reflects light back into the retina, turning night into day. The queen leads the charge! The herd panics! A fatal mistake for the cow and her calf. But hyenas are not the only nocturnal hunters. In parts of Africa, 88% of lion kills are at night. And if they can't kill, they steal. The lionesses gorge, but not for long. Reinforcements! Outnumbered 4 to 1, the lionesses retreat. But when their male arrives, everything changes. Numbers mean little to a male lion. He's born to attack hyenas! He kills the competition and leaves it in the dirt. Lions seldom eat hyenas. They're more interested in their kills. The male eats first and so do his cubs. lions seldom bother killing for themselves. They live off hyena kills. But when the sun rises, we assume the mighty lions made the kill. And see the hyenas as nothing more than skulking scavengers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Adult hyenas usually keep clear of rotting carcasses; too few nutrients, too many bugs. But the princess isn't fussy. She's nearly two years old, nearly an adult. But sometimes it's eat rotting flesh or go hungry. But she has competition; a pack of wild dogs. The hyena's twice their size. is about to learn the power of the pack. With her sisters beside her, things would be very different. But for now, big prey are beyond her; she still lacks the skills to kill. She'll be over five years old before her strike rate rises above 30%. Narrator: Four years later. coming into the peak of her powers. She's learned how to kill and to watch killers. Cheetahs share her territory. Exhausted after the chase, the cheetahs are vulnerable. She makes her move. It's no contest. These cats are built for speed, not savagery with weak jaws and blunt claws. Cheetahs lose 1 in 7 kills to hyenas. The princess is strong, smart, adaptable; she'll hunt almost anything. Mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles or bugs; regardless of size or species. The rhinoceros, 7,000 pounds of armored aggression with a long horn and a short fuse. Adults are impregnable, babies are vulnerable. If they can lure away the mother under cover of darkness. Narrator: To tackle such dangerous prey, the queen has assembled a huge hunting party. The hyenas play a dangerous game. They need to provoke a charge to separate the weak from the strong. The horn is lethal, capable of killing a male lion. The calf has an adult's attacking instincts, but no horn and no armor. So when a charge leaves it isolated the hyenas strike! It's divide and conquer, but this could be the world's luckiest rhino. The male lion grabs the queen! As ancient enemies battle, bloody and bruised, the calf escapes into the darkness. Hyenas can live for 25 years, but this is a violent land. Success comes at a cost; eyes, ears, noses. The old queen escaped the lion, but she lost a leg in the process. With the dominant female disabled, the princess seizes her opportunity. The clan has a new leader. is now a queen, the highest ranking female in her territory. Territory she shares with her biggest rival; a pride of lions with a new king. ascended the throne. Soon royalty will clash in a grudge match years in the making. Narrator: Wildebeest, on the move. So are the lions. The new queen hears the struggle. Hyenas locate nearly 80% of lion kills. Alone, the lioness is in trouble. But she has back up. The male lion, deadly defender. But hyenas are smart. They won't attack until they outnumber the lions 4 to 1. They call reinforcements. Hyenas feed from over 60% of kills made by lions. But the male is defiant. The queen and her clan; the king of the jungle. Face off! The lion's outnumbered, out-maneuvered, out-gunned. The clan claims the kill and the queen is first to feast. The hyena's no slobbering scavenger. Deadly jaws. Incredible endurance. And sophisticated hunting skills combine to make the hyena truly, Built For The Kill.