[Arusha, Tanzania] My gut reaction to hyenas is that they’re hideous; my least favorite animal on the planet. It must be their natural demeanor: slumped hind quarters and head, nervously skulking around to steal their next blood meal, or maybe it’s the way they look: mouth agape, a drooling, foaming cavern of teeth. I could go on, but whatever the reason, hyenas are thoroughly unattractive and without a single redeeming quality.
So imagine my excitement when someone mentioned that a hyena had been seen around the camp for more than a week. We decided to take a walk to where it was last seen. I had yet to photograph a wild hyena and this might prove to be a good opportunity. We entered the general area and carefully surveyed the grounds. There was nothing but open space, a large cardboard box tipped on its side, and a folding chair. If a hyena had been here, it wasn’t obvious. We would have to try our luck and wait a while; and if we had to wait, I was going to wait sitting down…
Sitting was my first mistake. There was a slight rustle from the cardboard box and that’s all the warning we had before all hell broke loose. The hyena had been sleeping in the box and, sensing our close proximity, rushed out and clamped onto Walt’s hand. With what must have been super human strength, Walt turned the hyena on its back and fended it off the best he could, trying to stay clear of its snapping jaws. My eyes were fixed on the attack, but I had the presence of mind to roll my video camera. The animal righted itself, ran around Walt and headed straight towards me! It lost its footing and stumbled slightly. I dropped my camera to free my hands, but it was too late. The crazed beast was on me and started tearing viciously at my pants, my boot, growling and hissing ferociously as it tried to get a hold of my leg. I was helpless. All I could do was sit there and think how surreal it was to watch a hyena trying to rip my leg from my body.
With more instinct than thought, I reached down with my left arm and hoisted the animal up off the ground and away from my body. Miraculously, the hyena suddenly went limp as if someone had unplugged it. It just laid there, draped on my arm looking absolutely helpless…
Hyenas aren’t so tough and this one was pretty darned cute. Fisi (Swahili for hyena), our attacker, was a two week old stripped hyena that barely had her baby teeth. She was taken to Snake Park after her mother and litter mate were found dead, probably poisoned. After spending a couple days playing with Fisi and seeing her spotted brethren in action in the Serengeti, I have a new found appreciation for hyenas and it only took this pint-sized ambassador 2.38 seconds to change my thinking. Photos and video by Eric Lian.
