Parahyaena brunnea

The brown hyena, also called the strandwolf, is a species of hyena found in Namibia, Botswana, western and southern Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique, western Eswatini, and South Africa. It is the only extant species in the genus Parahyaena. It is currently the rarest species of hyena. The largest remaining brown hyena population is located in the southern Kalahari Desert and coastal areas in Southwest Africa. The global population of brown hyena is estimated by IUCN at a number between 4,000 and 10,000 and its conservation status is marked as near threatened in the IUCN Red List.

Parahyaena brunnea

Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
brown hyaenaPBDB
Sits inside
ParahyaenaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Hyaenidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Hyaenidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 27 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 27 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 27 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 24 of 27 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 7 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 6 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 9 occurrences2.58 Mya – 11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

27 occurrences of Parahyaena brunnea on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

27 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Swartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EBredasdorp & Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EGuadix — 37.42°N, 3.17°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Parahyaena brunnea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 17 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Parahyaena brunnea and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Parahyaena brunnea and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

305 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 25 sites for Parahyaena brunnea, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

7 references

Each of the 27 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Parahyaena brunnea

Credit
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Parahyaena brunnea · amnh:mammals:83590

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itParahyaena through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Thunberg 1820)