Porcupines and warthogs are often prey for spotted hyenas, but the three species have now been observed bedding down together in the same dens in northern Kenya.
at York University in Toronto and his colleagues were monitoring spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) dens as part of a wider carnivore study in the Lewa wildlife conservancy when they stumbled upon evidence of den sharing between predator and prey, the first time such a phenomenon has been noted in Africa.
Camera trap footage from Lewa showed that, for periods lasting several weeks between 2016 and 2019, two spotted hyena dens harboured members of all three species, sometimes simultaneously. One den was used by two crested porcupines (Hystrix cristata), three common warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) and seven hyenas; the other was shared by two porcupines, six warthogs and 11 hyenas.
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The astonishing part is that all three species were nearly meeting at the door, says Dupuis-D茅sormeaux. His team noted that the animals were all using the same entrance, sometimes just 2 minutes apart. 鈥淚t was like a party,鈥� he says.
But the same den probably doesn鈥檛 mean the same bed. The researchers surmise that the dens in question had branches and chambers, and that each species probably had its own quarters, though there is no way to confirm this without digging up the dens.
Examination of hyena droppings near the two cohabited dens in Lewa found that they contained no traces of porcupine or warthog. But the pellets of hyenas that lived elsewhere in the conservancy and weren鈥檛 cohabiting did contain warthog hair. 鈥淭his raised questions about dietary preferences among certain hyena clans,鈥� says Dupuis-D茅sormeaux.
There are several possible reasons why the hyenas didn鈥檛 eat their roommates. Warthogs and porcupines are well-armed with tusks and spines and, in the confines of a den, hyenas are unable to launch a surprise attack as a group.
Furthermore, while there were peak traffic moments, it is likely that the warthogs tended to vacate the den during the day, while the porcupines and hyenas, which are mostly nocturnal, would have left the den at night.
Communal living may have added benefits for porcupines, which love to crunch on bones 鈥� a food that hyenas are likely to frequently bring back to the dens.
But it doesn鈥檛 appear that the den-shares were a long-term arrangement: while there was repeated evidence of them between 2016 and 2019, they haven鈥檛 been seen since.
鈥淢aybe it was just a freak thing,鈥� says Dupuis-D茅sormeaux. 鈥淚t may happen every now and then, when the conditions are such that they provide a small window of opportunity.鈥�
African Journal of Ecology
