Thread:Dinowolf56/@comment-3562042-20170114150020/@comment-26818010-20170117175802

Hyenas look like dogs don’t they? That’s because they’re morphologically closer to Dogs than Cats. They’re also behaviourally closer to Dogs.

But according to animal classification hierarchy, they’re closer to Feliforms and Viverrids like Civets that live on trees. Hyenas ancestors were these cat-like tree dwelling animals. So in short, Hyenas are closer to cats.

But Hyenas have their own classification that is different from cats and dogs. Hyenas belong to a family called Hyaenidae.

There are many similarities between Hyenas and Dogs and many differences between Hyenas and Cats too. Hyenas have many qualities of both dogs and cats.

Hyenas groom like cats, they mate like cats, have babies and raise a family like cats even mark their territories like cats.

But Hyenas hunt like dogs. They use their teeth as their primary weapon like wolves and dogs. They don’t climb trees very well because their front legs are longer than their rear legs. Hyenas don’t have retractable claws like Cats. Hyenas also hunt in packs like Canines.  Hyenas are in fact, in the cat branch of the Carnivora family tree (the other branch being the bear/dog branch). 