Brown hyena
Parahyaena brunnea (Thunberg, 1820)
The brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea), also called the brown hyaena or fuscous hyena, is a mammal in the family Hyaenidae, order Carnivora. It is a large, terrestrial and nocturnal scavenger whose main food is carrion, with an adult body mass of 43 kg.
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Quick facts about the brown hyena
Gestation lasts 94 days, a litter has 2.3 young, and sexual maturity comes at 2.7 years. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Near Threatened, which is not an IUCN threatened category.
- Weight
- 43 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 23 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Scavengersrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 31.9 years
- Main food
- carrionsrc for Main food
- Habitat
- coastal, desertsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 93.7 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.3src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 2.74 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 0.4src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the brown hyena
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the brown hyena live?
Not recorded
What is the brown hyena?
The brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea), 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.
From the Wikipedia article “Brown hyena” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brown_hyena&oldid=1383920742), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the brown hyena endangered?
The brown hyena is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species.
How is the brown hyena classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyHyaenidae
- genusParahyaena
- SpeciesParahyaena brunnea (Thunberg, 1820)
Synonyms Hyaena brunnea
Other names and names in other languages (50)
- Brown hyaenaEnglish
- Brown hyaenaEnglish
- Brown hyaenaEnglish
- Fuscous hyenaEnglish
- StrandjutAfrikaans
- BruinhiënaAfrikaans
- StrandwolfAfrikaans
- ضبع بنيArabic
- ضبع غثراءArabic
- Бурая гіенаBelarusian
- hyena čabrakováCzech
- Brun hyæneDanish
- Braune HyäneGerman
- Langhaarige HyäneGerman
- SchabrackenhyäneGerman
- Καστανή ΎαιναGreek
- Hiena caféSpanish
- Hiena MarronSpanish
- Hiena pardaSpanish
- Pruun-vööthüäänEstonian
- ruskohyeenaFinnish
- Hyène bruneFrench
- צבוע חוםHebrew
- barna hiénaHungarian
- Iena brunaItalian
- Iena MarroneItalian
- カッショクハイエナJapanese
- მენაპირე აფთარიGeorgian
- 갈색하이에나Korean
- Rudoji HienaLithuanian
- BrunhyeneNorwegian Bokmål
- Bruine HyenaDutch
- Straand WolfDutch
- Hiena brunatnaPolish
- Hiena-marromPortuguese
- Hiena-castanhaPortuguese
- Hiena‑castanhaPortuguese
- Бурая гиенаRussian
- Береговая гиенаRussian
- Brun hyenaSwedish
- ไฮยีนาสีน้ำตาลThai
- Çöl SırtlanıTurkish
- Kahverengi sırtlanTurkish
- PhiriTswana
- mosonokwaneTswana
- PhiritshwanaTswana
- PhiritswaneTswana
- setinikwanaTswana
- TlonkanaTswana
- Гієна бураUkrainian
Relatives of the brown hyena
Other species in the same family Hyaenidae.
Spotted hyena
Crocuta crocuta
Striped hyena
Hyaena hyaena
Aardwolf
Proteles cristata
CompareBrown hyena vs Spotted hyenaBrown hyena vs Striped hyenaBrown hyena vs AardwolfBrown hyena vs Adcrocuta eximia
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the brown hyena?
The brown hyena is a mammal in the family Hyaenidae, subfamily Hyaeninae, within the order Carnivora.
How heavy is a brown hyena?
An adult brown hyena has a body mass of 42.98 kg, which places it in the large size class (25 to 250 kg).
What does the brown hyena eat?
The brown hyena is a scavenger, and its main food is carrion.
Is the brown hyena endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Near Threatened, which is not an IUCN threatened category.
How long does a brown hyena live?
The brown hyena has a lifespan of 23 years, with values up to 31.9 years reported.
How many young does a brown hyena have?
A brown hyena litter has 2.3 young, with 0.4 litters per year and a gestation period of 93.74 days.
Who named the brown hyena?
The scientific name Parahyaena brunnea is credited to (Thunberg, 1820).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-hyena
“Brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-hyena.
@misc{brown_hyena_2026,
title = {Brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-hyena},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}