HYENA

HYENA (Heb. צָבוֹעַ), mammal. The striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena (striata) is found in Israel, the spotted species inhabiting Africa. One of the largest carnivores in Israel, its body length averages 109 cm and its average weight is 70 lbs (32 kg.), but large males can reach a weight of 90 lbs. (40 kg.). The males are slightly larger than the females. In the Bible the word occurs only as a place-name, "the valley of Seboim" (i.e., of the hyenas; I Sam. 13:18), apparently the Mount Ẓevoyim of the Mishnah (Ḥal. 4:10) in the Wadi el-Kelt region east of Jerusalem. Incapable of running swiftly, the hyena usually feeds on carcasses, and only occasionally attacks a straying lamb. In its search for food it can roam long distances. Hyenas maintain a permanent living area of a few dozen square kilometers. In the Tosefta (BK 1:4) the hyena is included among the carnivorous animals, the male hyena being, it is stated, "sometimes as fierce as a lion" (ibid., 16a; TJ ibid., 1:5, 2c). In the Talmud it was said that the male hyena becomes a female (TJ, Shab. 1:3). In the folklore of the Bedouin, the hyena is said to be an animal dangerous also to man, whom it lures by its hypnotic laugh to its lair. This legend has its origin in the hyena's strange appearance, its stiffening crest, and especially its howl, which resembles an alternating laugh and wail. However, there is no evidence of hyena attacks on people in Israel. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Bodenheimer, Ha-Ḥai be-Ereẓ Israel (1953), 240. (Jehuda Feliks / Gideon Biger (2nd ed.)