From time to time we come across animals that have died from unnatural causes, and we always make efforts to investigate these where possible. We keep records of roadkills and take hair samples for DNA to store for future use. This week has seen the sad demise of a Bat-eared Fox, which was killed on the road, and a much more mysterious death of a Brown Hyaena. It was called in as roadkill, but when investigating the carcass, it was apparent that the animals was in almost perfect condition with no sign any impact at all. Not even a rib was broken. The only thing not in perfect order was the tail, which was completely missing. Azwafarwi informed us that the tail of the Brown Hyaena is highly valued for traditional medicine by the Venda people, but we can’t see how anyone could have killed this individual. There was no sign of poisoning, and even skinning the animal showed no evidence of any bruising or punctures. It seems more likely that someone was driving past, saw the dead animal and took the tail as an unexpected bonus, than that it was killed deliberately, so the death of this hyaena remains a mystery.
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Mar 28th Walter T USD 27.50
7 Comments
I know you are the experts but that looks like a small striped hyena … are you sure it’s a bat eared fox?
The photo is of a Brown Hyaena, which are also very stripy on their legs. We did have a bat eared fox killed on the road, but this photo is of the hyaena whose death we could not explain. We use the stripes on the legs to identify individuals, as each pattern is unique. If you hover your cursor over the picture, it throws up the caption. Apologies for the confusion caused.
Thanks Rox. Where’s Snoopy and Barclay? In in USA and everyone is in love with your dogs and the concept that they are working for conservation!
It look to me that more then his tail is missing…poor baby.
It really was just his tail that was missing. Their hindquarters are remarkably small in comparison to thier front half. It is an adaptation to being able to cover long distances, most noticably also seen in the Blue Wildebeest. There is such a difference in the size of the front paws and back paws, that people often report an adult with a cub from tracks, when really it is a just a normal adult Brown Hyaena.
Very interesting about this adaptation, to enable them to cover long distances. Hopefully, this mystery killer, won’t strike again (rabies?).
Rabies is a possibility though due to the progressive inability to swallow that comes with it, I would have expected a rabid animal to be more dehydrated. I am a zoologist, not a vet though, and only a brain tissue analysis could confirm or rule out rabies.