Original subtitles

(dramatic music)

The Masai Mara.

One of Africa's most iconic landscapes.

A vast of sea of grass within Kenya's Great Rift Valley.

And home to one of the greatest wildlife spectacles

on earth.

The great migrations.

(elephant vocalizations)

The rich grasslands attract vast herds of grazes.

And they also attract some of Africa's largest predators.

(building dramatic music)

The lion.

The strongest and most powerful of all.

And the cheetah.

The fastest and most agile hunter on the Savanna.

But the most successful hunter of them all

is too often overlooked.

The hyena.

Hyenas have a reputation as cowardly theives

and scavengers.

But in fact, they are highly intelligent

and efficient predators.

Working together as a pack,

they can bring down animals many times their size.

In a team, they are arguably the most successful

predator of all.

Dry season in the Masai Mara.

It's a difficult time for the hyenas.

Prey is scarce on the ground

and their young cubs need food.

There has been no rain for over three months.

And only the heartiest will survive.

(slow dramatic music)

Hyenas usually hunt in packs.

And if they do not find food,

the whole clan goes hungry.

This time, they're lucky.

They found a carcass of a hippo.

Ample food for the entire pack.

Their powerful teeth and jaws can tear the toughest skin

and crush bones to get to the nutritious marrow.

They will consume every part of the carcass.

A lion has brought down a wild boar.

It's a meager meal, but the large herds of zebra

and wilderbeast will not arrive until after the rains.

The fresh kill is eyed enviously by others.

A hyena takes the opportunity

to make off with a piece of the bounty.

In fact, more often

it's lions who steal prey from hyenas.

But this time, the big cats have to watch their backs.

(hyena vocalizations)

The lions have had their fill,

and now the hyena pack can finish off the rest.

There's a change in the air.

(dramatic music building tempo)

Rain clouds gather above the Masai Mara.

The parched land and its inhabitants have been waiting

for this moment.

Overnight, the life giving waters will transform

the African Savanna.

(birds chirping)

Biologist Kay Holycamp from Michigan State University

has been studying spotted hyenas in the Masai Mara

for over 20 years.

Today, she's on a mission to sedate one of them

with a tranquilizer dart in order to measure and examine it.

If Tracy's actually able to get a shot, do not move.

Do not turn your camera.

Do not make a sound.

Do not to anything, just everybody has to freeze, okay,

so get the camera where you want it to be

'cause if she hits it, then we can't scare it.

Kay's student, Tracy, has been helping her

for nearly a year now and is proficient

with the tranquilizer gun.

Nevertheless, she is nervous.

It's crucial the animals don't realize the dart

was shot from the scientists car.

If they do, they'll no longer trust the approach

of the vehicle and the entire project will be in danger.

It usually takes around 10 minutes

for the tranquilizer to take effect,

but hyenas are tough,

and this animal will not go down easily.

After 20 minutes,

the young female finally collapses on the ground.

Tracy places a cloth over the hyena's eyes

to shield it from the sun.

And Kay take a blood sample for testing in the lab.

(scientists whispering)

They measure the animal's teeth to check its general

health and growth.

Then Kay carefully removes the dart.

16.5.

Hyenas scent mark their territories

with an oily secretion from their anal gland.

A sample is taken for further analysis.

And finally the young female is weighed.

Okay, (mumbles).

Kay and her team load the sedated hyena

onto the jeep to take it to a safe spot.

She wouldn't survive for long out here in the open.

Temperatures on the plains rise to over 40 degrees in

the midday sun.

And the sedated animal would be an easy target

for other hungry predators.

Kay knows the Masai Mara like the back of her hand,

and has found a shady place to release the young hyena.

They place her under the bushes and cool her down

with water.

(mumbles)

Then the hiding place is camouflaged

with twigs and branches.

The young hyena is starting to wake up.

She will not remember anything of what has happened.

Or so, the biologists hope.

(car engine starts up)

Kay Holycamp spends two to three months every year

in the Masai Mara.

She has tagged a few hyenas from one particular group

with radio transmitters and has called them the Talek Clan

after a nearby river.

Each morning, she and her team set off at dawn

to track down and follow the family.

She's fat.

Yeah.

The researchers have given every animal

a name.

We might have to check the other side.

There is a Reagan and an Obama.

And each one has its own unique pattern of spots

like a fingerprint.

So she has this really horizontal line across her side,

and then a wishbone shape there.

We've got the adult female still walking to the south.

Southeast maybe.

About 20 meters away is Jeeves,

and about 60 meters away is Puma.

All walking the same direction.

Yeah, sometimes the youngsters use the adults.

The main focus of Kay's research

is to unravel the complex social system of spotted hyenas.

The scientists follow the animals for up to five hours

each day.

And record every movement and interaction.

Back in camp, all the data is put onto the computer

and painstakingly analyzed.

The camp is on the northern edge

of the Masai Mara National Park.

Deep inside the African bush.

It's an unlikely place for modern day techniques,

but in their makeshift lab,

the team somehow manage to analyze the samples

they collect.

With patience and dedication,

the team have gathered vast amounts of data

and gained a unique insight into the lives

of spotted hyenas.

Their research have revealed that the animals reputation

as mean and dimwitted scavenger

is far from the truth.

Behind the seemingly ugly exterior,

lies a highly intelligent and complex creature.

I think it's become clear that hyenas

are much more interesting and complex animals

than anyone had previously assumed.

They had a very bad reputation

up until the 1990s, I think, in terms of being

sculking carrion-eaters that would steal food from the

real hunters, quote on quote.

Like cheetahs and lions and leopards.

But in fact, we now know these animals are extraordinarily

good hunters.

They kill animals that are three or four times

their body mass on their own.

We know that they live in a primate-like society.

And they recognize one another

and they remember their social interactions,

and they can solve social problems

that, as far as we know,

only primates have been shown to be able to solve

in the past.

Spotted hyenas live in large clans of up to

80 individuals.

It's a matriarchal society

with females out ranking the males.

(hyena vocalizations)

Hyena mothers suckle their cubs for nearly 18 months.

It's an unusually long time,

but probably a necessity as most kills are made

far from the den.

Not until they're four years old,

can the young hyenas hunt for themselves.

(soft classical music)

The Masai Mara is remarkable for its great concentration

of large grazes.

Over two million buffalo, zebra,

wilderbeast, and antelope feed on the endless seas

of grass.

It's a rich supply of food for predators

and hyenas thrive here.

They will tackle almost any kind of prey.

One of the reasons for their success.

Zebras have a fiery temperament

and sharp hooves.

And it can take a team of 10 to 20 hyenas to bring one down.

They way hyenas hunt is actually very different

from any of the other animals here in terms of

how they hunt.

The hyenas actually will be wandering across the plain,

come across a group of potential prey,

rush it, and then send them into a flurry of flight

and confusion and then the hyena somehow

can actually pick out a vulnerable individual.

Those tend to be either animals that are quite elderly

that have some sort of physical problem like a limp

or sometimes very pregnant females who are carrying

a heavy fetus and have a hard time running quickly.

The topi, a large Savanna antelope

is a favorite prey of spotted hyenas.

It's breeding season, and the males have gathered

to fight for mating rites.

The strongest will have their pick of the females.

The losers will go without.

(Topi vocalizations)

(birds chirping)

It's hard work during the midday heat,

and the animals take a rest from their exertions.

But down on the ground,

they may not see approaching danger.

(upbeat music)

The hyenas are taking a cooling mud bath.

It's pleasant in the sweltering heat,

and it rids the fur of parasites.

It may also help to cool down before embarking on a hunt.

Hyenas usually hunt under cover of darkness.

But this female just emerged from her bath

has other plans.

Kay has noticed that some animals will hunt Topi

during the day, particularly in the rainy season

when the antelopes congregate to mate.

The hyena strolls by with a casual careless gait.

Apparently showing no interest in the Topi

until the last minute.

No luck this time.

(ominous music)

A close shave for the Topi.

It has escaped with just a small wound.

On their own, hyenas have a much smaller chance

of making a kill.

Only one in five of all attempts is successful.

Yet when it comes to hunting Topi,

Kay Holycamp believes that alone they may stand

a better chance.

My observation of it suggest that it's usually

an individual affair and

this is one of those times where they prefer

not to hunt in groups.

They're usually tip-toeing very quietly among the dozing

Topis individually,

and that's a case where if they can actually

take a Topi by surprise, they may be able to just grab it.

Lake Nakuru,

one of the Rift Valley's many soda lakes.

150 kilometers northeast of the Masai Mara.

It attracts millions of flamingos

that feed on the abundance of algae in its waters.

The lake lies within a national park

and is a haven for water birds.

(bird vocalizations)

Hyenas also live on the shores of the lake.

The females with cub spend most of the day playing

and lounging on the sandy beach.

(bird vocalizations)

But these hyenas have a rather unusual diet.

They hunt flamingos on the lake.

It's a remarkable scene and even Kay has never seen hyenas

go for this kind of prey before.

Love that swimming.

You don't get to see them swim here often enough.

The biologists are excited to witness a hunt

in the water.

(mumbles)

I know. That's really cute.

But Kay is not overly surprised.

It's just more evidence of the hyenas adaptability.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised at all if you had

hyenas that lived around these Rift Valley lakes

that were actually

flamingo specialists,

'cause it's such an abundant food source when the

flamingos are present, so

I think it would be totally expected for them to actually be

specializing on flamingos.

They're clearly pretty good at it,

so (mumbles) trouble at all.

(flamingo vocalizations)

(dramatic music)

Back in the Masai Mara,

its a greater struggle for survival.

Here, the hyenas have to face competition from other

big predators.

The cheetah is the fastest hunter on the open plains

reaching speeds of over 100 kilometers an hour.

This athletic cat can outrun any predator

or prey.

These three cheetah brothers

hunt as a team and they share their spoils.

They are unaware that they're being watched.

(dramatic music)

The hyena has robbed the cheetahs of their bounty.

But that's not all.

The rest of the clan have arrived

and they look like they mean business.

(hyena vocalizations)

The pack have driven one of the brothers

up a tree.

Cheetahs are not good climbers.

But the young male has little choice.

He is no match for the powerful and aggressive hyenas.

His brothers can do little, but watch anxiously

from a safe distance.

It's not until nightfall that the hyenas finally move on.

(birds chirping)

Another hippo has fallen victim to two male lions.

One and a half tons of fresh meat out on the grassland

are a major attraction for other predators and scavengers.

The lions can't consume a carcass this size

in one sitting, so they will feed on it

for the next few days.

For now, the hyenas keep a respectful distance

as do other interested parties.

A jackyl

and a flock of vultures.

Challenging two adult lions could prove to be fatal.

The hyenas wait for the lions to withdraw

for an afternoon nap.

Then, they take their chance.

But this will be a short-lived feast.

(ominous music)

They were lucky.

The lion's pursuit was half hearted.

With a full belly, defending his prize is quite an effort.

Now the vultures seize the opportunity too.

Like vultures, hyenas can eat and digest almost anything.

Meat, bones, and (mumbles).

They are both hunter and scavenger,

taking whatever is on offer.

The lion decides to defend his kill after all.

And the lion is not giving up so easily.

A close encounter for the hyena.

Lions do not usually tolerate such competition

and frequently kill their rivals.

Over half of all hyena deaths are from interactions

with lions, usually at kills such as this.

The relationship between hyenas and lions

generally not very good.

It's uneasy as best and downright murderous at worst.

For the most part, these animals are relying on exactly

the same resource base.

Hyenas and lions feed on the same size and same

diversity of antelope, and yet the lions are.

Well, a lion (mumbles) four times the size

of an adult hyena and

a single adult male lion can actually

kill a hyena with just a swat of its paw.

Every evening, the research team

check on the hyena den by the Talek River.

The communal den houses all the youngsters

from the clan of varying ages

and from different mothers.

So at 18:08 we arrive at riverbed den.

We have one cub sacked out and one cub stand look

about 15 meters from the den.

And one, two, three, four cubs

(mumbles) about eight meters from the den.

(hyena vocalizations)

The den is the center of clan activity.

It's here where friendships and alliances are forged.

The younger cubs are still safely below ground,

but the older ones are already busy

exploring their surroundings.

So the communal den hole is just right ahead

of the vehicle there.

You can see three cubs sacked out in front of the den hole,

and this is actually a big aardvark

den complex that the hyenas have modified a bit,

and they're using this den hole as well as

a couple of others off to the sides.

And the cubs move among them fairly freely

'cause they're old enough to do that without danger.

They're pretty well able to run out of trouble

if they get into it,

and at this particular den right now,

we have 15 cubs ranging in age

from about 2 months to

almost nine months, actually.

The young hyenas are looked after

not just by their mothers,

but also by older siblings, aunts, and other females

in the clan.

Teamwork and co-operation are key to the hyena success.

These hunters have got their eye on the kill

of a female lion.

It's a risky operation and their only chance

is to work as a team.

The pack attack with lightning speed.

The lioness knows she is outnumbered.

It takes at least four hyenas to drive a lioness

from her kill.

Against an adult male,

they would stand little chance.

As night falls on the Talek River,

the scientists get ready for the late shift.

Hyenas are mainly noctural

and as more and more animals emerge,

the activity activity around the den increases.

With the help of spotlights,

the team observe and record the interactions between

clan members.

Endor, who is the subordinate twin to Alderon

is also wondering 15 meters from the den.

Hyena societies are complex

and it's all about who you know

and who is your ally.

It's a lesson the young cubs have to learn quickly.

(mumbles)

The clan are used to the research vehicle

and take little notice of its inhabitants.

Indeed something else

seems to have attracted their attention.

The recent rains have triggered the emergence

of termites.

It's a natural midnight snack for the hyenas,

but the young cubs seem slightly disconcerted.

(laughter)

Yeah, it's great watching them eat the termites.

It's not easy the first time you try it.

And it takes some practice catching the flying prey.

(laughter)

Spotted hyenas are born apparently

ready for action with a sharp set of teeth

and wide open eyes.

Nonetheless, these youngsters are no where near ready

to hunt and will catch little more than a mouthful

of termites in the coming year.

Hyena mothers care for their cubs for up to four years.

Much longer than most predators.

Why is this so?

Maybe a complex social system

requires a longer period of learning.

Or maybe their bone crushing jaws take several years

to mature.

One thing is certain,

not until they're three to four years old,

can young hyenas hunt and crack open bones.

Kay believes that this could be the reason

for their matriarchal society.

Maybe females evolve to be dominant

and more aggresive to protect and feed their cubs.

So, we're leaving at 7:48.

The team decide to head back to camp.

In just a few hours, they'll be setting off once more

to rejoin the hyenas at dawn.

(pleasant classical music)

In the early hours of the morning,

mothers and cubs share intimate moments.

And the indigestible remains of the evening meal

are disposed of as small pellets.

(hyena calls)

The pellets have a pungent smell.

And mother and sun roll in it to take on the scent.

It seems to impress the other members of the clan.

(hyena vocalizations)

And social rank in the clan affects every aspect

of hyena life.

Cubs fight from birth for their place in the hierarchy.

The status quo is regularly challenged.

Pecking orders constantly change.

Whatever may have caused this argument,

it's all about power and status,

and shifting alliances.

(hyena vocalizations)

It's a noisy affair.

A complex social arrangement requires

a complex language.

And the huge variety of whoops, grunts, and giggles

communicates their intentions.

(hyena vocalizations)

The power struggle is over.

Having re-established their positions,

the rivals bury the hatchet.

At the end of the day, their survival depends on teamwork.

Kay has learned the method behind the bickering.

Yeah, I think if you actually look closely

at the decisions that individual hyenas make about,

for example, whether or not to help another animal

when it needs helps.

That tells you

what complicated decision making processes

are taking place in their heads.

They're actually taking into consideration

who the potential recipient of their help is.

They're taking into consideration

the other hyenas that are immediately present

in their social environment for fear, perhaps,

if they help this guy,

then that guy will retaliate and bite me.

They're taking into consideration

the local ecological situation.

They behave very differently when there's a lot of food

versus when there's not.

They're actually taking into consideration

a phenomenal number of variables.

It's really surprising.

Hyena cubs have much to learn

aside from social and political etiquette.

This youngster is making his first encounter

with potential prey, but it may still be

slightly out of his league.

His mother looks on anxiously.

The tusks of a wild boar can inflict fatal injuries

even on a fully grown lion.

The youngster will do better to watch the adults

and see how it's done.

An adult female is eyeing up the situation.

She's heading towards a herd of Topi.

Most of the large grazers have seen the predator

approach and are keeping a watchful eye.

(ominous music)

Her short sprints cause them little concern.

They can easily outrun her with their long legs.

But now, the hyena has detected an inattentive animal

in the grass.

This is her chance.

A last minute escape for the Topi.

It can run at speeds of 70 kilometers per hour

and the hyena finally gives up the futile chase.

But with a piece of skin ripped from its flanks,

the antelope is lucky to have got away with its life.

(slow classical music)

Life in the African Savanna has been wooed for millenia

by the cycles of rain and drought,

of predators and prey.

Today, the Masai Mara is a National Park.

A protected island of grassland within a landscape

of fields and villages.

But neither the wildlife nor the Masai nomads

and their cattle have enough space here.

Not surprisingly, the Masai take their livestock

into the protected areas

because there's still enough grass here.

It's a recipe for disaster.

In the early hours of dawn,

the Talek clan attack a herd of cattle.

Kay Holycamp is following the hyenas

and witnesses the event.

The clan try to separate a single animal from the herd.

The Masai herders arrive just in time

to scare off the predators,

but not all encounters end this way.

If the hyenas had killed one of their cattle,

the Masai would have sought revenge.

There has been an enormous change with respect

to livestock in the park.

When we first started working here in the late 1980s,

there was the occasional herd of 20 or 30 cows

tucked very carefully and secretively

down in the riverbed, and now there are tens of thousands

of cows and

tens and thousands of goats and sheep as well

every single day out here on the plain.

It's really tremendously disturbing to see it.

The agricultural fields push right up

to the park boundaries.

And since the reserve was created in the 1960s,

Kenya's population has grown from eight

to over 40 million people.

There are now suggestions to let the Masai into the park

for periods of time.

But whether this will help is not clear.

They think we've started a very

bad cycle in which the local pasturalists

bring their livestock into the park.

That drives the wild antelope away.

The hyenas are left with very little food

other than the livestock to prey upon

and this is not only true for the hyenas,

but also for the other large carnivores in the area.

They either have to move, which is very difficult,

because they all defend territories,

and they can't just go where they want to.

Or, they actually have to find something else to eat,

and if the only thing to eat is livestock,

that's going to cause more and more trouble, I'm afraid.

The hyenas will ultimately lose this battle.

We can be sure of that.

National parks, such as the Masai Mara,

are more than a nature reserve and tourist attraction.

They are the last stronghold of Africa's true wilderness.

If these final frontiers should fall,

then Africa's large predators, including the hyena,

have little chance of survival.

(slow music)

The Talek clan are attempting another attack

on the herd of Topi.

The persistent hunters are not easily discouraged

and appear to have all the time in the world.

They know they will eventually strike lucky

when one of the antelope dozes for a second too long.

(Topi vocalizations)

Nearly, but not quite.

This time, the hunter approaches from behind

in the animal's blindspot.

(ominous music)

Whilst trying to break free, the unfortunate Topi

has broken one of its hind legs.

It's fate is now sealed.

The Topi is down

and reinforcement is on its way.

(hyena vocalizations)

The battle is over.

But now, a different struggle begins.

Dominant clan members get first choice at the kill,

starting with the alpha female.

But in the initial excitement,

the buffet turns into a scrum, as everyone

tries to get a piece of the meal.

The mothers now need to assert their position

at the kill and ensure their older cubs get a share.

Hyenas don't carry food back to the den.

And the growing youngsters need more

than just their mother's milk.

(hyena vocalizations)

News of the feast spreads quickly

and clan members now appear from every direction.

(hyena vocalizations)

The lowest ranking members of the clan

especially the males, wait anxiously on the sidelines,

hoping eventually, to get a turn at the dinner table.

In less than an hour, the Topi has been entirely dismantled

down to the last bone.

It's hard to imagine a more efficient form

of food processing.

It's the uniqueness of hyena societies

that so intrigue scientists like Kay Holycamp.

To me they pose a very interesting biological puzzle.

They actually appear to violate a lot of the basic rules

of mammalian biology and I'm putting rules there

in quotes because the fact that the hyenas appear

to violate those rules suggest that those really

aren't the rules at all, so

what we thought historically makes a male mammal

a male mammal, and a female a female.

The hyenas appear to violate.

The females are very heavily masculinized in some ways,

but not others.

What appears to be a typical mammalian carnivore

social system is completely violated in a hyenas

because they live in societies like baboon societies,

not like lion societies or canid societies,

or mongoose societies.

So they violate these rules and a lot of ways that makes

them a really fascinating puzzle.

But how intelligent are hyenas.

Kay's experiments are revealing that the much maligned

scavengers are, in fact, rather clever.

Maybe as clever as primates.

Marked with a radio collar, Gucci,

is a particularly intelligent female.

This experiment is designed to test the problem

solving skills and the memory of hyenas.

Kay places a steel cage in the grass.

Then she puts a piece of meat inside and the latch

is bolted securely.

The hyenas will smell the meet,

but won't be able to reach it.

The solid latch can't be opened accidentally.

The animal has to know how it works.

Then Kay drives the jeep to a safe distance to observe

what happens.

(mumbles) puzzle box at 8:10.

Within a few minutes,

Gucci approaches the cage.

She learned to solve this problem a few years ago.

Kay is intrigued to see whether she remembers.

Many scientists believe that humans and primates

and maybe also hyenas are more intelligent

because they live in large social groups.

Dealing with the challenges of a complex society

requires social intelligence and the ability to learn.

Gucci clearly knows there is a way into the cage

and that the latch is the key to the solution.

Come on Gucci.

She's got the bolt (mumbles).

Gucci has not only solved the problem,

she's done it considerably quicker than the first time.

It's an extraordinary achievement.

A lion or cheetah would never have succeeded.

But not all hyenas have managed either.

So are they really as clever and resourceful as primates?

Or are there just exceptional individuals?

That's a question scientists have been trying to answer

for years.

Kay is convinced the hyenas have more surprises

in store for her and her team

and she has achieved much already.

Thanks to Kay and others, the hyenas reputation

as a primitive scavenger has been overturned.

We now know them to be surprisingly social animals,

and tender parents.

There may be faster, bigger, and more powerful predators

in the Savanna, but as a team, hyenas are one of Africa's

most successful hunters.

The hyena is truly the queen of the Masai Mara.

(slow music)