Q 01/05

How many living hyena species are there?

A) Two

B) Six

C) Nine

D) Four

Answer · why

D) Four

Spotted, striped, brown and the aardwolf, each in its own genus, making Hyaenidae one of the smallest mammal families.

Q 02/05

Hyenas are more closely related to which animals, despite looking dog-like?

A) Wolves and jackals

B) Bears

C) Mongooses only

D) Cats and civets

Answer · why

D) Cats and civets

They are feliforms; their dog-like build and hunting style are convergent evolution.

Q 03/05

Which of the four hyena species is the odd one out, being an insect-eater?

A) The aardwolf

B) The brown hyena

C) The striped hyena

D) The spotted hyena

Answer · why

A) The aardwolf

It laps up termites with a long, broad tongue and is the last survivor of the ancient dog-like hyena lineage.

Q 04/05

How many termites can the insect-eating hyena species lap up in a single outing?

A) 3,000

B) 300,000

C) 30,000

D) 3 million

Answer · why

B) 300,000

Its ability to digest the toxic terpenes of soldier termites is a leftover of ancestors that ate fetid carrion.

Q 05/05

What does the name of the termite-eating hyena mean in Afrikaans and Dutch?

A) Night-wolf

B) Ant-wolf

C) Little wolf

D) Earth-wolf

Answer · why

D) Earth-wolf

It is also called maanhaarjakkals, 'mane-jackal', and the termite-eating hyena.