HYENA (אִיִּימ׃֙, hyenas, RSV; wolves, ASV; wild beasts, KJV, Isa 13:22; 34:14 only; צָבוּעַ, H7380, hyena, LXX; speckled bird, KJV; speckled bird of prey, ASV, RSV, Jer 12:9; some commentators tr. Valley of Zeboim [1 Sam 13:18] from the same root, as Valley of Hyenas). The hyena is a scavenging carnivore larger than a wolf. Whether or not the hyena can be properly identified in these passages, it was then a common member of the Pal. fauna; it is still found in less populated areas, though much rarer than it once was. The striped hyena Hyaena striata ranges from India through SW Asia to N and E Africa; it is about forty inches long, with a very powerful head and forequarters and rather sloping back. It is largely a nocturnal scavenger, though where there is plenty of game it is now known to do more actual hunting than was thought possible. In some countries it was the custom to encourage hyenas to remove refuse from compounds and villages, and even human bodies were left exposed, with no trace being left in the morning. Hyenas must have been known to the Israelites to whom their habits would make them unspeakably unclean, but in a land peopled by a nation having a hygienic code far in advance of its times hyenas would have found fewer pickings than in the countries around.

Bibliography E. P. Walker, Mammals of the World, II, 1263-1267.