Editing Hyena (section)

===Folklore, mythology and literature===
[[File:20,000 Year Old Cave Paintings Hyena.png|left|thumb|[[Cave hyena]] (''Crocuta crocuta spelaea'') painting found in the [[Chauvet Cave]] in 1994]]
[[File:Hyenamosaic.jpg|thumb| A depiction of the legendary striped hyena, Krokottas of Kytheros Island, from the [[Nile mosaic of Palestrina]]]]
Spotted hyenas vary in their folkloric and mythological depictions, depending on the ethnic group from which the tales originate. It is often difficult to know whether spotted hyenas are the specific hyena species featured in such stories, particularly in West Africa, as both spotted and striped hyenas are often given the same names. In West African tales, spotted hyenas are sometimes depicted as bad [[Muslim]]s who challenge the local [[animism]] that exists among the [[Beng language|Beng]] in [[Côte d’Ivoire]].<ref name="magic"/> In [[East Africa]], [[Tabwa]] mythology portrays the spotted hyena as a solar animal that first brought the sun to warm the cold earth, while West African folklore generally shows the hyena as symbolizing immorality, dirty habits, the reversal of normal activities, and other negative traits. In [[Tanzania]], there is a belief that [[witch]]es use spotted hyenas as [[Riding animal|mounts]].<ref name="magic"/> In the [[Mtwara Region]] of Tanzania, it is believed that a child born at night while a hyena is crying will likely grow up to be a thief. In the same area, hyena feces are believed to enable a child to walk at an early age, thus it is not uncommon in that area to see children with hyena dung wrapped in their clothes.<ref name="m97">{{Harvnb|Mills|Hofer|1998|p=97}}</ref> The [[Kaguru]] of Tanzania and the [[Kujamaat]] of southern [[Senegal]] view hyenas as [[Food and drink prohibitions|inedible]] and greedy hermaphrodites. A mythical African tribe called the [[Bouda]] is reputed to have members able to transform into hyenas.<ref name="AP">{{cite web| url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-17909878.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811101045/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-17909878.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=2011-08-11| title=The spotted hyena from Aristotle to the Lion King: reputation is everything - In the Company of Animals| work=Stephen E. Glickman| access-date=2007-05-22}}</ref> A similar myth occurs in [[Mansôa]]. These "[[werehyena]]s" are killed when discovered, and do not revert to human form once dead.<ref name="m97"/>

Striped hyenas are often referred to in [[Middle East]]ern literature and folklore, typically as symbols of treachery and stupidity.<ref name="ABI">Mounir R. Abi-Said (2006) ''Reviled as a grave robber: The ecology and conservation of striped hyaenas in the human dominated landscapes of Lebanon'' Ph.D. thesis, University of Kent (Biodiversity management)</ref> In the Near and Middle East, striped hyenas are generally regarded as physical incarnations of [[genie|jinn]]s.<ref name="magic">Frembgen, Jürgen W. ''[http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/364 The Magicality of the Hyena: Beliefs and Practices in West and South Asia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412175143/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/364 |date=2016-04-12 }}'', Asian Folklore Studies, Volume 57, 1998: 331–344</ref> Arab writer [[Abu Yahya Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini|al-Qazwīnī]] (1204–1283) spoke of a tribe of people called ''al-Ḍabyūn'' meaning "hyena people". In his book ''‘Ajā’ib Al-Makhlūqāt'' he wrote that should one of this tribe be in a group of 1,000 people, a hyena could pick him out and eat him.<ref name="ABI" /> A [[Persia]]n medical treatise written in 1376 tells how to cure cannibalistic people known as ''kaftar'', who are said to be "half-man, half-hyena".<ref name="magic" /> [[Al-Damiri|al-Damīrī]] in his writings in ''Ḥawayān al-Kubrā'' (1406) wrote that striped hyenas were [[vampiric]] creatures that attacked people at night and sucked the blood from their necks. He also wrote that hyenas only attacked brave people. Arab folklore tells of how hyenas can mesmerise victims with their eyes or sometimes with their pheromones.<ref name="ABI" /> In a similar vein to al-Damīrī, the [[Greek people|Greeks]] until the end of the 19th century believed that the bodies of werewolves, if not destroyed, would haunt battlefields as vampiric hyenas that drank the blood of dying soldiers.<ref name="Woodward">{{cite book| last=Woodward|first=Ian| title=The Werewolf Delusion| year=1979| page=256|publisher=Paddington Press | isbn=0-448-23170-0 }}</ref> The image of striped hyenas in [[Afghanistan]], India and [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] is more varied. Though feared, striped hyenas were also symbolic of love and fertility, leading to numerous varieties of love medicine derived from hyena body parts. Among the [[Baluch people|Baluch]] and in [[northern India]], witches or magicians are said to ride striped hyenas at night.<ref name="magic" />

The striped hyena is mentioned in the [[Bible]]. The [[Arabic]] word for the hyena, ''ḍab`'' or ''ḍabu`'' (plural ''ḍibā`''), is alluded to in a valley in [[Israel]] known as Shaqq-ud-Diba` (meaning "cleft of the hyenas") and Wadi-Abu-Diba` (meaning "valley of the hyenas"). Both places have been interpreted by some scholars as being the Biblical Valley of [[Zeboim (Hebrew Bible)|Tsebo`im]] mentioned in 1 [[Book of Samuel|Samuel]] 13:18. In modern [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], the word for hyena and hypocrite are both the same: [[wikt:צבוע|''tsavua'']]. Though the [[Authorized King James Version]] of the Bible interprets the term "''`ayit tsavua`''" (found in [[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]] 12:9) as "speckled bird", [[Henry Baker Tristram]] argued that it was most likely a hyena being mentioned.<ref name="BOTF">{{cite book| last=Bright|first=Michael| title=Beasts of the Field: The Revealing Natural History of Animals in the Bible| year=2006| pages=[https://archive.org/details/beastsoffieldrev0000brig/page/127 127–129]|publisher=Pavilion Books | isbn=1-86105-831-4| url=https://archive.org/details/beastsoffieldrev0000brig/page/127 }}</ref>

The vocalization of the spotted hyena resembling hysterical human [[laughter]] has been alluded to in numerous works of literature: "to laugh like a hyæna" or a "hyen" was a common [[simile]], and is featured in ''The Cobbler's Prophecy'' (1594), Webster's ''[[The Duchess of Malfi|Duchess of Malfi]]'' (1623) and [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[As You Like It]]'', Act IV. Sc.1.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025|reason=Cobbler's Prophecy}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2232/2232-h/2232-h.htm |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=As You Like It: Entire Play |url=https://shakespeare.mit.edu/asyoulikeit/full.html |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=shakespeare.mit.edu}}</ref>

''Die Strandjutwolf'' (The [[brown hyena]]) is an [[allegory|allegorical]] poem by the renowned South African poet, [[N. P. van Wyk Louw]], which evokes a sinister and ominous presence.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.55i3.5506 |title=Symbolic values of the dog in Afrikaans literature |date=2018 |last1=Taljaard-Gilson |first1=Gerda |journal=Tydskrif vir Letterkunde |volume=55 |issue=3 }}</ref>