5 ms·
Weird bit: Hyenas are genetically felines, but behave more like dogs than the cats we're used to.
by benjohnson 5y ago
Weird bit: Hyenas are genetically felines, but behave more like dogs than the cats we're used to.
- GordonS 5y ago> Hyenas are genetically felines Huh, I didn't know that, I'd always seen hyenas as cousins of dogs/wolves.
- theluketaylor 5y agoHyenas are inverse foxes. Hyenas are dog software on cat hardware and foxes are cat software on dog hardware.
- ttraub 5y agoYes, and weirdly, hyenas didn't get the sharp, retractable claws that all true cats possess. I wonder what advantage this adaptation gave them.
- rightbyte 5y agoYou can probably keep retractable claws sharper? Easier too sneack without hard claws touching ground?
- hellbannedguy 5y agoThey couldn't kill each other easier?
- gweinberg 5y agoRetractable claws stay sharper and make better weapons. The non-retractable kind give you better traction when running.
- m463 5y agowell, except for the whole "run up a tree" bit. :)
- JonathonW 5y agoFor what it's worth, foxes are much closer to dogs and wolves (and other canids) than hyenas are to cats. The relationship between cats and hyenas is more like the relationship between dogs and bears, raccoons, or seals, which are classified as caniforms but are obviously distinct from actual canid species.
- averagemedian 5y agoHyenas aren't genetically feline, they are "genetically" feliform. Felines are part of the Felidae family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felidae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felidae Hyenas are part of the Hyaenidae family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyena https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyena Both felines and hyenas are of the Feliformia order and they share a common ancestor but that doesn't mean hyenas are felines. Hyenas are more closely related to felines than dogs, but hyenas are not felines.