What Are the Adaptations of Hyenas?

The hyena has many adaptations that allow it to survive in the grasslands, such as a set of powerful jaws, a strong digestive system and keen senses. For instance, the hyena uses its keen hearing to listen for other kills that it can scavenge.

One of the hyena’s adaptations is its strong jaws and teeth. This allows it to hunt and bring down prey that is much larger than itself as well as pulverize hard bones when eating. The bones are an important part of the hyena diet, giving it many vitamins and minerals. The fact that the hyena eats all sorts of food leads to its adaptive digestive system. Because it eats all parts of the animal, it is able to digest almost anything, only regurgitating the most inedible parts of the hooves and horns. It can also get important nutrients from fruits and vegetables when meat is scarce.

The hyena has a striped, spotted or solid-colored golden brown coat that helps it to camouflage itself in the savanna. The long ruff on the back of its neck blends in with the long grasses of its habitat. When the hyena feels threatened, it raises the long hair on its back to make itself look bigger and more aggressive to scare predators away.