Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta) Fact Sheet: Population & Conservation Status

Global Population
(Bohm and Höner 2015)

• Tentative estimate: 27,000-47,000 individuals.
• Largest known populations in Serengeti (Tanzania, Kenya) and Kruger National Park
• Most stable populations in protected areas in southern Africa; also several populations in eastern Africa
• Population declining in eastern, central and western Africa
  • Human-wildlife conflict
    • Poisonings
    • Hunting/culling

IUCN Status

• Least Concern (2014 assessment) (Bohm and Höner 2015)
  • Widespread in Africa
  • Global population exceeds 10,000 mature individuals
  • Declines outside protected areas not sufficient to warrant listing in a threatened category

CITES Status

• Not listed (UNEP 2019)

Persecuted by humans (from Honer et al. 2008 unless otherwise noted)

• Primary threat (IUCN Hyaena Specialist Group)
  • Classified as "vermin" in Ethiopia
  • Often driven by fear or by conflict over livestock
  • Frequently trapped, poisoned, and shot; both inside and outside protected areas
    • Incidental catch in wire snares set to trap herbivores for their meat is a significant contributor to adult mortality in the Serengeti
      • Accounts for over 50% of adult mortality
      • Incidents increasingly common since the 1970's
    • Entire clans may be killed by poisoning

Sport/game hunting uncommon (from Honer et al. 2008 unless otherwise noted)

• Hunted for sport
  • Considered an unattractive species
  • Hunted "for fun" or used as "target practice" (Honer et al. 2008; IUCN Hyaena Specialist Group)
• Killed as a source of food
  • Not a typical source of bushmeat
• Portions of the animals used for medicine

Decline in prey abundance (from Honer et al. 2008)

• Habitat loss indirectly impacts prey
  • Driven by expansion of human settlements and overgrazing by livestock

Populations within protected areas

• Numerous areas across their range
  • Particularly in southern Africa
• Partial list of protected areas
  • Kruger National Park, South Africa
  • Kgalagai Transfrontier Park, Botswana and South Africa
  • Etosha National Park, Namibia

Needed actions

• Education and outreach
  • Efforts to conserve the species often run into poor public perceptions of the animal (IUCN Hyaena Specialist Group)
  • African Wildlife Foundation mitigates human-wildlife conflict by helping construct livestock enclosures to protect property from predators (AWF website)
• Research
  • Studies to examine behavioral plasticity
    • Needed to determine the extent to which hyena are able to respond to changing ecological conditions (East and Hofer 2013; IUCN Hyaena Specialist Group)
  • Botswana Predator Conservation Trust directs research and education efforts to preserve Africa's large predators and their habitats (BPCT website)
    • Piloting Shorobe Livestock Insurance Initiative; goal is to address conflicts between humans and large carnivores through a community administered insurance program to compensate for livestock loss

AWF website
BPCT website
Honer et al. (2008)
IUCN Hyaena Specialist Group