Spotted hyena in Egypt was noticed for the first time in 5000 years
Scientists have found a spotted hyena in southeastern Egypt. It was the first unexpected find recorded in the last 5000 years.
However, the animal was found dead. The spotted hyena was caught and killed by local residents after it strangled two goats in the Elba National Park, Newsweek reports.
A hyena has been killed after it strangled two goats being herded by locals in the Elba National Park.
Source: Nagy et al./Mammalia/De Gruyter Brill
"My first reaction was disbelief until I checked the photos and videos of the remains. When I saw the evidence, I was surprised. It was more than we expected to find in Egypt," said ecologist Abdullah Nagy of Egypt's Al-Azhar University.
The animal, which is native to sub-Saharan Africa, was caught and killed by locals in Wadi Yahmib, about 30 kilometers miles from the Egyptian-Sudanese border. This is about 500 kilometers north of the known range of spotted hyenas in Sudan, experts say.
The map shows where the spotted hyena has been seen in the Elba Protected Area in southeastern Egypt, as well as the predator's known range.
Source: Nagy et al./Mammalia/De Gruyter Brill
Researchers suggest that rare weather events have opened up a migration corridor that has allowed the predator to move beyond its normal hunting grounds.
Abdullah Nagy and his colleagues believe that a once-a-decade weather cycle associated with the Active Red Sea trough is causing more rain on the Egyptian-Sudanese border. This, in turn, accelerated the growth of plants, paving the migration corridor along which they traveled in search of grazing animals to feast on.
An analysis of historical satellite imagery of the region confirmed that over the past five years, this corridor has seen higher levels of plant growth, potentially enough to support prey that could be of interest to the hyena, ecologists say.
"The fact that the corridor area has become less ecologically harsh, offering easier passage, may explain how the hyena reached this far north," Nagy said.
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