Nearly threatened Striped Hyena searches for food in Rajasthan

From the archive record

They whoop, rumble, low, and laugh when they are excited or on sensing danger. But not so much in the last few years when hyenas are rarely heard. Hyenas have almost vanished into thin air. Not much loved, the striped hyenas or Hyaena hyaena of India are staring at an uncertain future. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has categorised it as ‘Near Threatened’ species on a global scale. After a gap of five years, the largest-ever range mapping and assessment of the hyenas is being done by IUCN involving several regional partners. A mammal of the Carnivora order and Hyaenidae family, hyenas, like wild dogs, are top predators that compete with other species in the unforgiving landscapes of India, Central Asia, North and East Africa and West Asia. Source: thehindu This f