After suffering decades of character assassination keepers at Longleat are hoping a new display will help rehabilitate the reputation of the lowly laughing hyena.
The renowned Wiltshire safari park is the only one in the UK to look after laughing, or spotted, hyenas and they’re determined the new feature will redress the balance.
The sub-Saharan hunters get their common name from the high-pitched giggling sounds they make when excited.
The ‘laugh’ is one of up to 12 different vocalisations the species can make, most of which can be further adapted by individuals to alter their meaning.
Longleat keeper Amy Waller, Said: "Far rom being mindless scavengers, spotted hyenas are highly intelligent animals who are extremely social.
“Contrary to popular belief, they’re also extremely effective predators; hunting up to 95% of the animals they eat.
“In fact research from wild populations in Tanzania revealed lions actually scavenged far more from predator kills made by hyenas than the other way around.
"Of the four surviving members of the hyena family the spotted hyena has by far the largest brain with particularly enlarged forebrains, the region involved with complex decision-making.
“As far as we can tell they’re every bit as intelligent as lions and other big cats and certainly have a much bigger vocabulary, which is often an indication of superior intelligence,
“Our group, or cackle as it’s known, is a bachelor group made up of a quartet of males from different collections across Europe.
“The aim is to introduce visitors to a species they hardly ever get the opportunity to see and to highlight they’re just as impressive and worthy of our respect as big cats like lions and tigers."
The new hyena enclosure is located within the safari park’s Carnivore Reserve; between the cheetahs and the wolves.
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