Crocuta crocuta

Spotted hyenas live in complex, female-dominated social groups called clans, which may contain more than 100 individuals but frequently separate into smaller foraging groups. They are skilled cooperative hunters rather than primarily scavengers and communicate through whoops, growls, giggles, scent markings, and body postures.

Breeding can occur throughout the year in equatorial regions, while births may be more seasonal farther south, and gestation lasts approximately 110 days. Females usually produce one or two cubs in an isolated den before moving them to a communal den, and males provide no parental care.

Spotted hyenas have sloping backs, rounded ears, powerful necks and forequarters, strong jaws, and coarse coats marked with irregular dark spots that often fade with age. Females are generally larger and socially dominant, and their unusually elongated external genital structure closely resembles that of males.

Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben formally described the species in 1777 as Canis crocuta, and it was later placed in the genus Crocuta, established by Johann Jakob Kaup in 1828. Fossil relatives commonly known as cave hyenas once inhabited large parts of Eurasia during the Pleistocene, giving the genus a much broader historical distribution than it has today.

The spotted hyena is classified as Least Concern, with a tentative global population estimate of approximately 27,000–47,000 individuals. However, the overall population trend is decreasing, particularly outside well-protected areas, because of habitat loss, poisoning, snaring, deliberate persecution, and conflict over livestock.