How much does a spotted hyaena eat? Perspective from the Namib Desert

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Abstract
Summary: The amount of food consumed by a clan of spotted hyaenas in the Namib desert was determined gravimetrically for 19 nights and the amount consumed by each individual was calculated according to its feeding time budget. At large, fleshy ungulate carcasses, each adult clan member ate about 8.7kg nightly, except for the bottom‐ranking male, who obtained only half that amount per night. Skin and bone remains were consumed at a slower rate of 2kg/hyaena/night. Medium‐sized ungulates were devoured rapidly so that each hyaena obtained more during such feeding nights than at large carcasses. Over a 29 day period, a hyaena clan consumed five cacasses at a rate of 4.0kg/hyaena/day, which compared well with previous estimates of average daily consumption in large social carnivores studied elsewhere. Annually, sixteen Namib hyaenas ate some 4.8% of the ungulate bio‐mass, removing, in terms of numbers 14.3% of the gemsbok and 2.2% of the mountain zebra. This depletion did not appear to limit these populations.