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Today I got the chance to visit a spotted hyena research center. It was incredibly awesome! I've never been so close to large, powerful carnivores before! And the hyenas themselves were all gorgeous! Since the climate here is much, much colder than their native land of Africa, they all had these beautiful fluffy coats! Like this: [link] [link] [link] [link]

Anything that I might've considered even slightly canid-like in a hyena was apparently completely wrong; there's nothing dog-like about them even their noses are completely unlike anything I've ever seen in person.

Their leg anatomy is really interesting; their front legs are almost divided in half by their wrist joints (which they can turn and loaf on , very much like a cat). Their hind legs have this extra flexible ankle joint that allows the leg to bend in a way that would look broken on any other animal.
Their ears are awesome and huge! And unlike cats and dogs, their ears don't fold at the base of the outer edge when they turn them.
Their feet looked kind of club-like, the toes don't seem to be able to move or spread much. Take a look: [link] [link] [link] [link]

The researcher who was showing us around (myself and other docents from the zoo) gave some of the hyenas bones with meat on them, and those bones disappeared in less than a minute (they weren't exactly small bones, either!)

I did get to touch one, even though we were technically not allowed to . One of the hyenas was pressing itself against the fence, demanding attention. I stuck the tip of my finger in the fur that was sticking out through the chain link, and it was surprisingly rough at first, but much softer just a little further into the fur. The animal didn't even notice(? or care?) and I left with all fingers intact. Plus bragging rights.

Apparently that research center is where most of the spotted hyenas in North American zoos came from. It's also where Disney artists went to study hyenas when they made The Lion King. The researcher said that at that time, they had blunted the hyenas' canines to try and deal with some aggressive behavior (this practice is now illegal and not done anymore) but they forgot to mention that to the Disney artists. As a result, the TLK hyenas had teeny tiny teeth .

I did do some sketching while I was there, but I haven't scanned them yet. Have some inspired doodles instead. For now, at least.

As far as I'm concerned, hyenas are the most beautiful and awesome animals in the whole world right now

My sister's version of these [link]

art © 2013 *nekonotaishou do not use in any way without permission

Description
Today I got the chance to visit a spotted hyena research center. It was incredibly awesome! I've never been so close to large, powerful carnivores before! And the hyenas themselves were all gorgeous! Since the climate here is much, much colder than their native land of Africa, they all had these beautiful fluffy coats! Like this: [link] [link] [link] [link]

Anything that I might've considered even slightly canid-like in a hyena was apparently completely wrong; there's nothing dog-like about them even their noses are completely unlike anything I've ever seen in person.

Their leg anatomy is really interesting; their front legs are almost divided in half by their wrist joints (which they can turn and loaf on , very much like a cat). Their hind legs have this extra flexible ankle joint that allows the leg to bend in a way that would look broken on any other animal.
Their ears are awesome and huge! And unlike cats and dogs, their ears don't fold at the base of the outer edge when they turn them.
Their feet looked kind of club-like, the toes don't seem to be able to move or spread much. Take a look: [link] [link] [link] [link]

The researcher who was showing us around (myself and other docents from the zoo) gave some of the hyenas bones with meat on them, and those bones disappeared in less than a minute (they weren't exactly small bones, either!)

I did get to touch one, even though we were technically not allowed to . One of the hyenas was pressing itself against the fence, demanding attention. I stuck the tip of my finger in the fur that was sticking out through the chain link, and it was surprisingly rough at first, but much softer just a little further into the fur. The animal didn't even notice(? or care?) and I left with all fingers intact. Plus bragging rights.

Apparently that research center is where most of the spotted hyenas in North American zoos came from. It's also where Disney artists went to study hyenas when they made The Lion King. The researcher said that at that time, they had blunted the hyenas' canines to try and deal with some aggressive behavior (this practice is now illegal and not done anymore) but they forgot to mention that to the Disney artists. As a result, the TLK hyenas had teeny tiny teeth .

I did do some sketching while I was there, but I haven't scanned them yet. Have some inspired doodles instead. For now, at least.

As far as I'm concerned, hyenas are the most beautiful and awesome animals in the whole world right now

My sister's version of these [link]

art © 2013 *nekonotaishou do not use in any way without permission