Hyaenidae

Hyenas or hyaenas are feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the family Hyaenidae. With just four extant species, it is the fifth-smallest family in the order Carnivora and one of the smallest in the class Mammalia. Despite their low diversity, hyenas are unique and vital components of most African ecosystems.

Hyaenidae

Termininja · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
hyaenaPBDB
Sits inside
ViverroideaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 746 occurrencesMiocene — about 257 of 746 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 151 of 746 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 328 of 746 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 4 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 4 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 5 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 6 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 7 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 17 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 20 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 20 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 23 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 35 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 35 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 32 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 31 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 35 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 34 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 48 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 68 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 97 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 77 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 137 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

746 occurrences of Hyaenidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

746 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

94 formations

Vogel River Series — 3.22°S, 35.21°EVogel River Series — 3.01°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.26°S, 35.20°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.70°ENachukui — 4.15°N, 35.74°ENachukui — 4.05°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 4.21°N, 35.78°ENachukui — 3.89°N, 35.75°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.27°N, 36.29°EKoobi Fora — 3.94°N, 36.25°EKoobi Fora — 4.15°N, 36.40°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°ENea Messimvria — 40.77°N, 22.79°ENea Messimvria — 40.74°N, 22.86°EAlfambra — 40.35°N, 2.60°WAlfambra — 40.50°N, 1.02°WMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EC1/LR — 33.58°N, 7.65°WYuanmou — 24.87°N, 100.94°ERavin de Ratavoux — 43.78°N, 5.45°ERavin de Ratavoux — 43.78°N, 5.42°ESahabi — 30.14°N, 20.75°ESahabi — 30.00°N, 20.00°ELukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°ELukeino — 0.76°N, 35.88°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°EKhapry — 47.24°N, 39.71°EKhapry — 47.22°N, 38.91°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ELantian — 34.15°N, 109.33°ELithostratigraphic Unit B — 39.42°N, 22.65°ENagri — 32.77°N, 72.50°EHadar — 11.14°N, 40.58°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Hyaenidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 70 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 443 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hyaenidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Hyaenidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,024 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 512 sites for Hyaenidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

331 references

Each of the 746 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 319 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Hyaenidae

Credit
Termininja
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itViverroidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1821