What kind of animals are hyenas?

Hyenas may have been seen on TV, obviously look like dogs, also called dogs, why not canines? So what kind of animals are hyenas?

What kind of animals are hyenas?

Hyenas are medium-sized terrestrial carnivores of the hyena family. Hyenas are small, striped and mostly live alone, relying on a well-developed sense of smell to feed on carrion. Brown hyenas are large and distributed on the coast of southwestern Africa, often looking for crabs and fish on the beach. Spotted hyenas, found only in Africa, are large and hunt in groups. In addition to carrion, they can hunt antelopes.

Second, morphological characteristics

The body is canine-like, with a long neck, shorter hind legs, shorter body, higher shoulders and lower buttocks, long hyena hairs on the midline of the back of the neck, large teeth, stout conical premolars, cleft teeth and degenerated molars. The jaws are thick and strong and can bite open bones. It looks a little like a dog, with a shorter and rounded head than a dog, with tan or tan fur and many irregular dark brown spots. Because its hindquarters are lower than the forequarters, it does not walk and run gracefully, but it runs quite fast and has endurance. They can run at speeds of up to 50-60 kilometers per hour, and can run long distances without tiredness. African spotted hyenas have an average bite force of 460 kilograms, compared with the lion bite force of the King of Africa, which is only 360 kilograms.

Hyenas have been included in the protection of animals, is a kind of protected animals.