The spotted hyena stopped biologists cold for a reason. Here was an animal whose females were larger, more dominant, and anatomically so unusual that centuries of observers genuinely could not categorise what they were seeing. In our previous feature on the hyena matriarchy, we explored how high…

There is an animal roaming the savannahs of sub-Saharan Africa that has confused, fascinated, and at times horrified naturalists for centuries. The spotted hyena — Crocuta crocuta — looks, at first glance, like a rough-edged cousin of the dog. But look more carefully and you are looking at one of…