A letter from your resident nerd:
Spotted Hyena are actually in no way related to dogs. In fact the closest relative the Crocuta crocuta has, is the mongoose and the meerkat. An animal built for hunting, despite its undeserved reputation as a scavenger, the spotted hyena makes up for more kills typically than lions do. The spotted hyenas are also built for eating, as well.
I could be mistaken, but I believe that the spotted hyena's jaw is proportionately the strongest jaw of any mammal, able to crush every bone in an animals body...as well as digest it. It's front legs are longer than the rear, primarily for leverage needed in dragging food for incredibly long distances. They also utilize mud pits to preserve food for later consumption. [Spotted]Hyenas are also able to eat disease stricken animals without risk. They are, without a doubt, the biological cleanup of Africa. A good reason to let hyenas eat your livestock suspected of harboring communicable diseases.
They have an incredible sense of smell, able to tell how long ago an animal has brushed past single blades of grass. Along with their unrivaled stamina, they can track a herd, or single animal for days, sometimes weeks. Most clans, which can be up to 70 hyenas or so, stay in a scent-marked territory, with occasional lone males wondering through....to be killed or temporarily adopted. All clans are run by a Alpha/Beta female heirarchy system. Females are up to 10% larger than males. Females also have a "fake penis", a elongated clitoris that resembles the male's. This has evolved to be for a number of sociologial reasons having to do with the heirarchy. This also is a drawback fro the females, as they give birth through this "appendage". As most females' birth canals run straight from the uterus to its opening between the legs, hyenas' birth canal has an unfortunate, 90 degree turn to connect to the clitoris, from which pups are painfully born, sometimes to the fatality of the mother. If more than one female is born, pups will most likely commit infanticide to be the successor to her mother. They are reared by her and the other hyenas in , sometimes vast, intricate, burrowed dens.
Sorry for the geek-out, folks. I'm in no way or shape in consorts with PETA or any other "group", but I hate it when people use an incredible creature like a spotted hyena for display, let alone as pit dogs. They make great pets, as Hans Kruuk learned when he spent his days studying the spotted hyenas in the Ngorogoro Crater. But, I seriously doubt that these "owners" are dedicated enough to care for these magnificent creatures....or well off enough to feed them the average of 6 lbs of meat per day.
I personally think a baboon would be a much scarier animal to confront, considering the ability to attack you at shoulder-height and rip your face off in one gnash of their 3-5 inch canine teeth.
This concludes your nerdy-nerd tidbit of the day.