, Keith Somerville aims to repair the predator’s undeserved reputation in human eyes. Somerville’s title might be slightly misleading: he clearly regards the monster of the human imagination as misunderstood. Through an extensive overview of scientific, historical and popular literature, Somerville uncovers the roots of the misconceptions around the three species of hyena – the striped, spotted and brown – and makes a compelling case for the cause of their conservation.
Associations of hyenas with witchcraft and the occult are a common theme. In North Africa, Somerville notes that the spotted hyena historically “… was persecuted where it was blamed by pastoral and farming communities for attacks on stock , supposed threats posed to children and the aura of the occult surrounding it because of its digging up and consumption of human corpses from graveyards.
The predators’ place in people’s pecking order has produced some perplexing sagas. In Namibia, a population of feral horses has been a source of conflict, with conservationists who regard them as rare pushing for protective measures such as the elimination of the region’s spotted hyenas, which prey on the equines.
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