To cite this paper: Mohamed Ahmed F.A., Takona N.Y., Yousif R.A. and Mohamed Salih R.R. 2012. Some Behavioraltraits of Striped Hyaena under Captive Conditions. J. Life Sci. Biomed. 2(5):196-199. Journal homepage:http://jlsb.science-line.com/ 196 JLSB Journal of Life Science and Biomedicine J. Life Sci. Biomed. 2(5): 196-199, 2012 © 2011, Scienceline Publication ISSN 2251-9939 Some Behavioraltraits of Striped Hyaena under Captive Conditions F.A. Mohamed Ahmed 1*, N.Y. Takona 1 , R.A. Yousif 1 and R.R.Mohamed Salih 2 1 Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Science College of Animal Production Science and Technology, Sudan University of Science and Technology P.O.BOX204,Khartoum North, Sudan 3 Department of Clinical Medicine College of Veterinary Medicine University of Khartoum P.O. Box 32, Khartoum North, Sudan *Corresponding author’s e-mail: fawziali38@yahoo.com ABSTRACT This study was conducted to observe some behavioral traits of Striped Hyaena under captive conditions. The observations have been carried during the period 5- 15 July, 2009, for 8 equal time period, extending for 24 hours from 0600 p.m hour to 0600 p.m hour next day. The Hyaena flack consisted of two adult males, kept in the Collage farm (Kuku zoo) Khartoum north, in a cage joined to a fence to not allow for free movement. The recorded behavioral activities included: sleeping and rest, movement, clean other, eating, drinking, urination and gonad secretion. It was noticed that the most time consuming activities were sleeping and rest, movement, drinking, and urination. The longest period of the time budget was taken in sleeping and rest (6.7%), (11.15%) respectively in 12hours and 24 hours systems. The shortest fraction of the time budget was spent in gonad secretion maneuvers (0.22%), (0.29%) respectively in the two systems. The main objective of the study was to provide hyena breeders with useful information for better management. Keywords: Behavior, Budget, Hyena, Captive Conditions INTRODUCTION Botswana has the world’s largest population of wild ostriches, indicating that the local climate is suitable for ostrich production (Moreki and Koloka, 2010), The Striped Hyaena (Hyaena hyaena) is a carnivorous mammal of the family Hyaenidae. It lives in Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and western India. It is extinct in Europe, but can occasionally be spotted in Anatolia, Turkey. Striped Hyenas are largely scavengers, but will also eat small animals, fruit and insects. Larger subspecies are known to hunt animals as large as wild boar. They are nomadic, moving from water hole to water hole, but never straying more than 6 miles from one. Striped hyenas hunt in solitude but do congregate in small family groups (Wozencraft, 1993 and Di Silvestre, 2000). Although establishing pairs of striped hyenas is generally easy, the female being dominant over the male, establishing a pair of brown hyenas can be difficult. Brown hyenas have a unique social order in nature that is seldom broken in captivity (Mills, 1982; Owens and Owens, 1979). In nature some young males leave the "clan" to live solitary lives. Other males remain with their natal group. Those males that remain with the natal clan become non-breeders, tolerating periodic visits of nomadic males. Conversely, nomadic males periodically visit various clans to breed with estrus females. In captivity, most males assume the role of a clan male. If breeding does occur, reproduction usually ceases long before either animal is old, the male showing little interest in mating (East et al., 2001). Although very hardy under the simplest of husbandry regimes, hyena exhibits must be stout enough to withstand their destructive tendencies. Longevities exceeding 20 years are not uncommon. Spotted hyenas have reached 41 years of age (Jones, 1982). In the wild, striped hyenas have been studied during their day and two nightly activity foraging peaks. The activity budget is highly variable for these social animals depending on the social status the individual has in its clan. A radio-collared Ngorongoro female spent 84% of the time inactive (lying down), with the rest of the time spent sharing kills by other clan members. In the Kalahara, inactivity was less than 70% with the rest of the time involving extensive travel of over 15 miles and foraging Hyena (Specialist Group, 2000).