Spotted hyena sighted in Egypt for first time in 5,000 years
The first encounter with a spotted hyena in southeastern Egypt in 5,000 years has been reported by scientists.
“My first reaction was disbelief until I checked the photos and videos of the remains,” ecologist Adbullah Nagy of Al-Azhar University, Egypt’s oldest degree-granting university, said. “Seeing the evidence, I was completely taken aback. It was beyond anything we had expected to find in Egypt.”
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The spotted hyena was captured and killed by locals in Wadi Yahmib, near the border with Sudan. They are native to sub-Saharan Africa. That means it was found 310 miles further north of their known range in Sudan. Researchers believe that a rare weather phenomena has opened a migration corridor, allowing the spotted hyena to look beyond its typical hunting ground for prey.
The Active Red Sea Trough is a rare bout of low-pressure that heads up the Red Sea from the south as easterly winds blow over the adjacent mountains. This has been known to lead to extreme rainfall and flash flooding.
Nagy and his team believe that a once-in-a-decade weather cycle, linked to this phenomenon has led to more rain over the border between Egypt and Sudan. This has increased plant growth, creating a migration corridor that the spotted hyena travelled through as it sought prey.
Looking at historic satellite images of the area confirmed that it has seen more plant growth over the last five years. This could be enough to support enough prey for predators like a spotted hyena.
“The fact that the corridor area has become less environmentally harsh, offering easier passage along ‘the highway,’ may explain how the hyena reached this far north,” Nagy said. “However, the motivation for its extensive journey into Egypt is still a mystery that demands further research,” he added.
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