Claudette Dubreuil, age 13, of Co Niagentic, Quebec, for her question;

Where does the hyena live?

The laughing hyena is the spotted bone crusher of Africa. His smaller cousin, the striped hyena, is found in India, Arabia and also in Africa. The brown hyena haunts the shores and coastlines of Africa. So we might say that most of the world’s hyenas are at home in Africa, the Dark Continent

The byana cousins vary somewhat in size and color. But all of them sire ugly in looks and character, The big one is the spotted hyena, over five feet tall,  weighing 175 pounds. His stringy hair is buff colored and dotted with dark spots, His striped cousin is grey with buff stripes and the brown hyena is a dirty drab color all over.

The hyena is strong enough to be a hunter in his own right. But he prefers to dine on left‑overs from the lion hunt. His sharp nose tells him of the kill and he hangs around until the real hunters have fed and gone, Then he yowls with a grizzly laughing sound and moves in, He uses his powerful jaws and teeth to chomp up the bones and chew them to pieces.

As to character, the hyena is a coward. He will not stand and fight his enemies fair and square. He prowls alone and gangs up only when his relatives join him to share a lion kill.  He could hunt fair game if he wanted. But the only hunting he does is to attack the weak, the sick and the old herd animals once in a while and he will attack cattle and small domestc animals. Altogether, the hyena is not a very pleasant fellow.