Officials from the Hattiesburg Zoo have announced the death of one of the two hyena cubs that were born at the zoo in mid-October.
Rick Taylor, executive director of the Hattiesburg Convention Commission – which operates the zoo – said the cub died as a result of wounds that were inflicted during a fight with its sibling. The infighting had been occurring between the cubs since shortly after their birth as the pair competed for dominance, which is usual among hyenas in the wild.
“We knew that this is a frequent occurrence in hyena births when there is more than one (cub born), and typically there are more than one (in a litter) – they’re twins or sometimes quadruplets,” Taylor said. “The (cub) that died, it had some wounds already, from aggression from the sibling, and we had prepared a sign to put on the exhibit to explain the wounds that the public would see.
“We hoped it wouldn’t continue, but we were wrong – it did. We’ve looked at the cameras and we can see the animals at a certain point, but then they kind of go out of view, and we don’t see the cubs come back into view. So we’re unclear (of exactly when it happened).”
Shortly after the cub’s death, one of the zoo’s veterinarians performed a necropsy on the animal to determine the cause and manner of its death. That procedure showed the hyena’s health was fine, other than the wounds inflicted by the fighting.
“All (the vet) could find is that the cub suffered severe blood loss,” Taylor said. “So it all points toward what we expect, which was some aggression from its sibling that resulted in its death.”
Hyenas – which are found throughout Africa and parts of the Middle East and India – usually give birth to litters of two to four cubs. Early in the cubs’ life, the animals establish a hierarchy which becomes more and more aggressive as they grow.
Hyena cubs have a survival rate of approximately 40 percent.
“When the first one was born, we learned that it’s a tough time getting them from a cub to a young juvenile, in the wild and in captivity,” Taylor said. “They’re born with their teeth and their eyes open, and there are even records of some scars on some of the cubs born from inside the womb. So it’s a tough life for a hyena – they come out ready to go.”
As the cubs continued to grow, gain weight and meet expected milestones, the zoo’s animal care team closely monitored the pair and catalogued wounds on the second-born cub, which was the smaller of the pair. The team separated that cub from its mother Pili and its sibling long enough to check the wounds and treat them to prevent infection.
On the evening of November 15, fighting between the pair intensified and the second-born cub attained extensive wounds from which it did not recover.
Long-term separation is not an option for hyenas, because they cannot successfully be reintroduced to their clan.
“Our keepers have taken it pretty hard, and we understand that,” Taylor said. “They had really been looking after all of the animals – the mom and the cubs. We had a discussion when we began to see some of the wounds early on, whether to try to pull that cub and hand-raise it, but you can’t, because at that point the clan will not take them back.
“If they’re gone too long and you put them back with the clan, the clan will kill them; they don’t recognize them. Even if you raised it to adulthood, you can’t put it in with any other group, so it’s a little bit of ‘all or nothing’ with hyena groups.”
The two hyena cubs were born on the evening of October 13 to mother Pili and father Neru. During the birthing process, zoo officials collaborated with staff from the Species Survival Program, which was established in 1981 by the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help ensure the survival of selected species in zoos and aquariums, most of which are threatened or endangered in the wild.
Zoo staff then informed SSP members of the death of the hyena cub.
“They had been discussing this internationally about what you can do (in this situation), and they agreed there wasn’t anything you could do,” Taylor said. “You hope that (the animals) make it through and get a little stronger.
“The irony was, both of the cubs were putting on weight – they were healthy and they were growing, but I guess this one didn’t grow fast enough to fend off a cranky sibling.”
Pili and Neru had previously borne another cub, Kito, on October 17, 2022.
In September, zoo officials announced that Kito had been relocated to the Rolling Hills Zoo in Kansas, where he is currently one half of a breeding pair at that facility as part of SSP.
