The Strongest Lion

Chapter 98 Giant Hyena

Chapter Ninety-Eight Giant Hyena

It was only because this hyena's body shape had changed that it felt it could contend with the lion before it. Because it saw that this lion didn't appear to be an adult, but rather a small, half-grown cub.

Seeing that it was no match for the lion cub, the coyote prepared to run away. It thought that if it ran away, Chu Ye probably wouldn't chase after it.

But how could Chu Ye let it escape? So, Chu Ye began to chase after it again.

The coyote thought that even if it couldn't beat Chu Ye, escaping shouldn't be too difficult.

But things didn't go as he expected. When the coyote tried to escape again, Chu Ye quickly caught up with it.

The coyote ran only a few dozen meters before Chu Ye caught up with it. Because the coyote was already injured, and seriously so, it no longer had the strength to run.

After catching up with the hyena, Chu Ye bit its neck again. This time, the hyena was completely powerless to fight back. It could only struggle and let out some pitiful howls as Chu Ye bit its neck.

Chu Ye didn't hold back this time, keeping his teeth firmly on the coyote's neck until they pierced the coyote's throat.

The coyote struggled for a few more moments, then stopped moving. It had already been killed by Chu Ye.

"Hmph, I actually managed to kill such a large hyena. It seems my combat strength is quite remarkable."

Looking at the enormous hyena in front of him, Chu Ye became even more confident in his fighting abilities.

Originally, Chu Ye was already about the size of a leopard. And he was also incredibly strong. If it weren't for his lion-like appearance, other animals would definitely mistake him for a fully grown leopard.

After all, Chu Ye's appearance is quite different from that of an ordinary lion. There is a white stripe on Chu Ye's back that runs from his neck to his tail.

Chu Ye is a super lion cub with the abilities of a badger. Now its size has mutated again, and it is much larger than an ordinary lion cub. Its current size is probably only slightly smaller than its mother, Lisa.

Chu Ye's size is already much larger than Xiao Hei, Xiao Mao Hua Hua, and Mei Mei; it is at least twice the size of these little lions.

"Alright, now that I've killed this coyote, I'll taste what it's like to be one!"

Thinking of this, Chu Ye wanted to eat the hyena in front of him. After all, he hadn't eaten for several days and his stomach was growling with hunger!

Just as Chu Ye was about to devour the hyena in front of him, a cry of an animal suddenly came from afar.

"oh!--"

Chu Ye was taken aback when he heard the sound. However, he immediately realized that it was the howl of a hyena.

Chu Ye was already very familiar with the hyena's howl, after all, he had fought with hyenas several times.

"Hmph, so what if hyenas want to steal my food? I'm not afraid of them. When I was a lion cub, I wasn't afraid of them, let alone now that I'm almost the size of a full-grown leopard. I can easily defeat many hyenas."

Although Chu Ye heard the hyenas howling, he wasn't afraid at all and continued eating. After all, his body had grown larger and his strength had increased significantly, so why would he take such a dog as a hyena seriously?

Although Chu Ye heard the hyena's howl, it continued eating the hyena and didn't pay any attention to it.

But what happened next left Chu Ye feeling a bit overwhelmed. While Chu Ye was eating, a huge animal suddenly darted in front of him.

Chu Ye was startled the moment he saw the animal. He felt it was an animal he had never seen before.

This animal does resemble a hyena, but it's much larger, about the size of a male lion. It looks truly terrifying, completely unlike any real animal.

Upon seeing the animal, Chu Ye was completely dumbfounded. The animal was significantly larger than Chu Ye and looked like a terrifying monster.

"What... what kind of animal is this? How come I've never seen one before!" Chu Ye looked at the monster in front of him, feeling extremely puzzled.

The monster approached Chu Ye, staring at him in surprise. Clearly, it too was somewhat wary of Chu Ye, who appeared to be a ferocious animal, not someone to be trifled with.

Seeing that the monster didn't dare to attack it, Chu Ye took the opportunity to carefully examine the monster.

After scanning the monster with his own eyes, Chu Ye quickly figured out what kind of monster it was.

"Ah! So it really is a hyena!" Chu Ye now knew that the monster in front of him was a hyena.

"But how can this hyena be so big! It's terrifying! A hyena growing to the size of a lion is really strange."

Although Chu Ye knew that the monster in front of him was a hyena, he couldn't understand how it could grow so big.

"Damn, what's going on? Is this hyena atavistic?!"

Looking at the giant hyena in front of him, Chu Ye suddenly thought of a prehistoric large carnivore—the giant hyena.

Giant hyenas were an extinct group of enormous and fearsome carnivores. They had very robust skulls with thick, extended nasal bones, powerful zygomatic arches, a prominent domed forehead, and huge cheek teeth.

It is estimated that it weighed over 380 kilograms, four times the size of the largest modern African spotted hyena, and 60-70 kilograms heavier than a modern African lion. Although the head and appearance of hyenas are more similar to dogs or wolves, they are actually members of the suborder Feliformes and are closely related to civets.

Early estimates by scholars placed the giant hyena at 210 kg, but this now appears to be a significant underestimation. Closer research suggests their weight was likely comparable to that of an adult brown bear. Modern spotted hyenas typically weigh around 70 kg.

The ancient giant hyena was estimated to weigh over 300 kilograms, with a body length (including tail) of about 2.5 meters and a shoulder height of about 120 centimeters. This is equivalent to the weight of an adult brown bear. Such a large carnivore would have been uncommon in any era.

Spotted hyenas inhabit the open grasslands south of the Sahara Desert in Africa. They are the largest living hyena species and the most famous in the hyena family. Their terrifying cry is particularly striking, resembling a human's maniacal laughter.

The journal *Science Bulletin* reported fossil skeletal evidence of the giant hyena's active hunting behavior, showing traces of an attack by a giant hyena on the skull of a female *Rhinoceros viviparus*.

In contrast to the aggressive behavior of modern spotted hyenas towards African black rhinoceroses, the healed scars of female large-lipped rhinoceroses are interpreted as a consequence of attacks by Late Miocene giant hyenas.

The hunting paleoecological behavior of giant hyenas has long been a focus of attention, but clear evidence has not yet been found to indicate the hunting habits of this carnivore.

This specimen of the Great Lippi provides evidence that the giant hyena exhibited hunting behaviors similar to those of the modern spotted hyena.

Despite its specialized bone-eating skull and teeth morphology giving the giant hyena a powerful ability to process bones from carrion, it remained an active predator. The research material comes from Late Miocene Liushu Formation red clay at the Shuanggongbei site in the Linxia Basin, GS Province.

Based on the biochronology of mammalian fossils and paleomagnetic dating data, the Shuanggongbei site dates to the early Late Miocene, approximately 92 million years ago.

Modern spotted hyenas are often thought to be scavengers, but detailed studies have revealed that they are actually highly efficient predators.

Little is known about the feeding behavior of fossil carnivores, but the giant hyena of Eurasia is one of the most studied. Many questions remain regarding the giant hyena's hunting behavior: Was it an active and versatile predator like the spotted hyena, or was it primarily a scavenger?

This specimen of the Great Lip Rhinoceros is a complete skull with the mandible. Moderate wear on all the teeth and the relatively small lower second incisor indicate that this skull belongs to an adult female of the Great Lip Rhinoceros Victorie.

The specimen has a prominent scar on the upper margin of the right orbit, which, in contrast to the left side of the skull, clearly shows the loss of bone tissue. In this area, the bone is deeply indented and partially eroded.

The healed scar has a rather steep curvature, indicating that a curved object caused the scar. The scar has a rough, granular healing surface with replacement of fibrocartilaginous bone tissue. The thick, wavy undulations indicate a pathological healing process, followed by the formation of new bone tissue at the scar's edges.

Further observation revealed signs of Haver system regeneration at the healed site, indicating that the injury did not cause the rhinoceros's death.

Based on the corresponding traces of the wounds, the size of the upper canines of the carnivores can be inferred. This led to the discovery that the upper canines of the giant hyena fossil unearthed in Shuanggongbei almost perfectly match the biting position on the large-lipped rhinoceros specimen.

In particular, the measured width of these canine teeth matches precisely with the scars studied, suggesting that the wound may have been caused by canine tooth marks from a large hyena.

The lower incisors of the large-lipped rhinoceros have straight main cutting edges, so they cannot produce scars of this curvature. Moreover, the abrasion surface from the incisors to the alveolar groove exposes the dentin, and its low hardness makes it difficult to damage the bone.

These findings rule out the possibility that intraspecific competition between different individuals of the Victory's rhinoceros caused the scar.

The saber-toothed tiger of Ba's was the second largest carnivore in the three-toed horse fauna of the Linxia Basin. However, the gouging scar on the upper edge of the rhinoceros's eye socket was much wider than the width of the saber-toothed tiger's canines. The saber-toothed tiger's long and thin upper canines could not withstand the unpredictable force generated by a large-lipped rhinoceros in a fight or running. Therefore, the saber-toothed tiger could not have been the attacker.

The morphological features and direction of the scar on this giant rhinoceros skull indicate that the giant hyena attack occurred from the left front side, and the scar was caused by the giant hyena's upper right canine tooth.

Based on measurements of the spacing between the canines of the giant hyena and reconstruction of the thickness of the head muscles of the great lip rhinoceros, the bite marks of the corresponding upper left canine and two lower canines of the giant hyena should be located on the facial muscles of the great lip rhinoceros, thus leaving no marks of injury on the bones.

The giant hyena is one of the largest known schizopod carnivores in the fossil record, with an estimated weight exceeding 380 kg based on its similar body proportions to other hyenas. Its powerful dentition is unmistakably hyena-type, demonstrating its exceptional bone-crushing ability.

For such large carnivores, hunting or scavenging of rhinoceroses is likely possible, possibly very similar to that of the highly opportunistic spotted hyena. Furthermore, the giant hyena's enormous size enables it to hunt fairly large mammals, including giraffes, rhinoceroses, and occasionally elephants.

This explanation is theoretically consistent with statistical observations of the 21.5 kg critical weight for carnivores. Carnivores with a weight less than this usually hunt prey that is 45% or less of their own body weight, while carnivores with a weight greater than this tend to hunt prey that is greater than their own body weight. This is a result of energy constraints.

The examples above suggest that giant hyenas were likely apex predators of their time, occupying the top of the trophic pyramid and taking a niche later replaced by large cats. This, of course, does not contradict their ability to crush and scavenge bones.

Based on evidence of attacks on large prey, combined with the skull-teeth morphology of its fragmented bones and its enormous size, it is suggested that the giant hyena was a highly versatile apex predator, possessing greater dominance in the Late Miocene of the Linxia Basin than modern spotted hyenas were in the African savanna.

Looking at the enormous hyena in front of him, Chu Ye suddenly remembered some information about the prehistoric monster, the giant hyena.

"Damn, could it be that this giant hyena in front of me is a prehistoric animal that has traveled to the grasslands?!" Chu Ye looked at the giant hyena in front of him and started to have wild thoughts.

However, Chu Ye immediately dismissed his idea. After all, the idea of ​​prehistoric animals traveling to the modern era was rather far-fetched.

"It's unlikely that a prehistoric animal traveled to the modern era; it's more likely the result of a mutation in a modern animal."

Chu Ye realized that the hyena he had just encountered had undergone a physical transformation, and his own size had also increased significantly. This giant hyena, Liu Ming, wasn't a prehistoric giant hyena that had traveled to the modern era; it was simply a modern hyena whose size had mutated.

Chu Ye looked at the enormous hyena in front of him and felt a little scared. After all, this giant hyena was almost the size of a male lion, so how could Chu Ye, a small lion, not feel afraid?