appearance

If you look at them, you probably think hyenas look a lot like dogs and maybe a bit like cats. They're actually most closely related to the viverridae family (civets, mongooses, and genets) than to either dogs or cats however. One similarity they share with civets are highly developed anal glands that they use for marking territory and for olfactory communication. Of the four types of hyena, the aardwolf is the closest to the civet because the aardwolf eats only insects.

The hyena is a medium-sized animal, with males and females being generally about the same size, excepting the spotted hyena. They have very powerful jaw muscles, excepting the aardworlf, and it has been said that the hyena has the most powerful bite of all mammals. They have 32-34 teeth, and their jaws are so powerful that they can crack bone (including the leg bone of a rhinoceros!). They have large ears that can be round or pointed. Hyena genitalia have no baculum (which is a bone commonly found in the penis of carnivores), but they do have small, backwards facing spines at the base of the penis, similar to cats.