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Turkish Journal of Zoology

Abstract

The striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) is widely distributed across the northern half of Africa, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of Asia. However,  numerous studies indicate that this carnivore is in decline, and it is currently classified  as near threatened on the IUCN Red List of threatened species. In North  Africa, the Hyaena hyaena barbara subspecies has been extirpated from many  areas. This article summarizes data collected from observations of the striped hyena  in North Africa between 2004 and 2024. Among the 418 striped hyenas recorded in  North Africa between 2004 and 2024, 18.4% (n = 77) were confirmed road kills, 9.6%  (n = 40) were mortalities caused by locals, hunters, or poachers (retaliatory killing  and poaching), and 4.1% (n = 17) were captured. Human activity (e.g., road  collisions, intentional kills, and captures) directly removed 134 hyenas (32.1% of all  hyenas recorded). Road traffic collisions were the primary cause of death (77  hyenas), followed by intentional killings by residents, hunters, or poachers (40  hyenas) and captures (17 hyenas). These findings show the detrimental effects that  human-caused threats—specifically traffic, persecution, and live capture—have on  striped hyena populations across North Africa. This study provides conservation  suggestions to protect the remnant populations in various parts of North Africa based  on the primary risks to the species.

Author ORCID Identifier

ABDERRAZAK EL ALAMI: 0000-0002-0274-1430

ABDERRAZZAK FATTAH: 0000-0003-1146-0291

ILYAS EL ALAMI: 0009-0003-9507-6429

ZIAD EL ALAMI: 0009-0006-3024-9060

DOI

10.55730/1300-0179.3256

Keywords

Striped hyena, North Africa, recent records, population decline, conservation

First Page

106

Last Page

120

Publisher

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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