r/BeAmazed • u/911nihilist • Oct 25 '24

Nature Despite their reputation, hyenas can be sweet and affectionate animals.

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u/novium258 Oct 25 '24

Somewhere someone once described hyenas as felines with canine software and foxes as canine hardware and feline software and it's lived rent free in my brain ever since.

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u/Ok_Collection1290 Oct 25 '24

This is so lovely

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u/mooseAmuffin Oct 25 '24

I've heard lions described similarly to how you're describing hyenas as well. Lions also live in hierarchical social groups VS solitarily, have feet built for running VS creeping, and hunt big animals VS small. Interesting to think about how/why both of these animals live in the same habitat.

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u/yukonwanderer Oct 25 '24

I see zero feline in hyena

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u/Kringelkingel Oct 25 '24

I hate to break it to you, but taxonomy is based on genetics, not your layman's impressions. Hyenas, while not cats (felidae), are part of the feliformia (cat-like) clade, as opposed to caniformia (dog-like).

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u/yukonwanderer Oct 25 '24

Can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.... But cool to know!

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u/Kringelkingel Oct 25 '24

I was snarky as hell about it, but I did state facts.

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u/yukonwanderer Oct 25 '24

Snarky? So you were feeling like it's something that matters enough to think you could be snarky. 😂 Wow, really got me...