Have you ever heard the phrase "laughing hyenas"? Do they really laugh? In a word, no. There are four kinds of hyenas _ aardwolf, brown, spotted and striped _ but only the spotted hyena makes sounds ...

Of the hundred or so known species of hyena—living and extinct—that stalked the earth, all have been meat eaters or omnivores except one, the aardwolf, which, mysteriously, eats termites. What ...

The fossilized upper jaw of the Gansu hyena, seen from top (left) and from below. The palate is broad and similar to that of the aardwolf, which has a more muscular tongue for slurping termites.