Hyena_butter

Hyena butter

Hyena butter

Secretion from the anal gland of hyenas used to mark territory and identify other animals

Hyena butter is a secretion from the anal gland of hyenas used to mark territory and to identify individuals by odor. The gooey substance is spread onto objects within the territory of the hyena by rubbing their posterior against the object they mark.[1][2][3]

Folk beliefs in some regions of East Africa state that witches would ride hyenas and use a gourd full of hyena butter as fuel for the torches that they carried through the night.[4]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Livingstone's Africa: Perilous Adventures and Extensive Discoveries in the Interior of Africa By David Livingstone Page 41 published 1872 by Hubbard bros. No ISBN
  2. [2]
    With Forks and Hope: An African Notebook By Elspeth Joscelin Grant Huxley Page 84 1964 published by W. Morrow Original from the University of California Digitized Feb 15, 2007. Accessed July 10, 2007
  3. [3]
    Chemical Ecology of Vertebrates By Dietland Müller-Schwarze Page 154 2006 Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-36377-2
  4. [4]
    Witchcraft and Sorcery in East Africa By Edward Henry Winter, John Middleton, Dr John Beattie Published by Routledge 2004 Page 167 ISBN 0-415-33073-4

This article about a carnivoran is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Hyena_butter, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.