At Home with the Hyenas

Bone-crunching.

Skulls shining

in shimmering moonlight

in the corner of the graveyard

where the hyenas hang.

Who's that

blood slurping?

Don't mind her,

that's old Granny Hyena

with her craggy face and 'tache,

like Mark Lawrenson.

I guess

you had to be there.

B.R. 24.03.2021

Both hyenas and canines are non-arboreal, cursorial hunters that catch prey with their teeth rather than claws. Both eat food quickly and may store it, and their calloused feet with large, blunt, nonretractable claws are adapted for running and making sharp turns. However, hyenas' grooming, scent marking, defecation habits, mating and parental behaviour are consistent with the behaviour of other feliforms.
(Hans Kruuk (1972). "The Spotted Hyena: A Study of Predation and Social Behaviour". University of California Press.)