The sibling pair, named Flo and Quinn, arrived from Hamerton Zoo Park on Tuesday 15 July. At just under two years old, the young hyenas are already exploring their new home – a specially adapted enclosure which previously housed the zoo’s lions, who are now thriving at sister site Paignton Zoo.
Brown hyenas (Parahyaena brunnea), also known as strandwolves, are the rarest of the four hyena species, with as few as 5,000 estimated to remain in the wild. Endemic to southern Africa, they play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem health as nature’s cleanup crew, consuming carcasses that prevent disease spread and help recycle nutrients back into the environment.
With their shaggy coats, powerful jaws and incredible sense of smell, they are perfectly adapted scavengers, consuming almost every part of a carcass, including bone, while also supplementing their diet with fruit, eggs and insects. Compared to their spotted and striped relatives, brown hyenas are far less studied and represent the most endangered of all hyena species.
