Even if you’re a well-trained scientist, sometimes you see something that leaves you breathless. For a team of ecology researchers, the February 2024 sighting of a spotted hyena in southeastern Egypt prompted them to comb through the history books.
The large carnivore had not been spotted in the region for the last few thousand years. The event was documented in an article in Mammalia, a bimonthly publication dedicated to the analysis of mammalian diversity.
The sighting happened just 30 kilometers, or 19 miles, from the Sudan border — but over 300 miles from the hyena’s well-known habitat range.
Unfortunately, the spotted hyena was tracked down and killed by a band of locals who were concerned about the animal’s presence. The spotted hyena is reported to have killed two goats in Wadi Yahmib, which is located in the Elba Protected Area. According to the locals, each of the goat attacks occurred at night.
After being killed, the spotted hyena was recorded and photographed. Its carcass was left for scavengers to eat.
According to Abdullah Nagy of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, lead author of the article, the sighting originally left him skeptical. “My first reaction was disbelief until I checked the photos and videos of the remains,” Nagy said. “Seeing the evidence, I was completely taken aback. It was beyond anything we had expected to find in Egypt.”
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Once the shock wore off, the team of researchers got to work to determine why the spotted hyena had ventured so far from its normal habitat. They theorized that a particularly rainy weather cycle that promoted plant growth in a typically arid region could have been the cause. This increase in vegetation may have encouraged the spotted hyena to make a journey to stalk prey feeding on the vegetation.
The research team also speculated that the emergence of the spotted hyena in southeastern Egypt could disrupt the balance of the food chain. If more spotted hyenas trek there, they would likely become the apex predators, which could wreak havoc on livestock. This would do untold financial damage to the local economy.
Despite this threat, the research team believes that human interaction will be enough to prevent the spotted hyenas from becoming established.
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