For a long time, people thought hyenas just followed lions to scavenge their leftovers. But new research using GPS collars shows the opposite. When lions and hyenas meet, it's often the lions, especially males, that approach the hyenas. The hyenas then move away.
Studying these animals is tough because they cover vast areas and move quickly through difficult terrain. GPS collars help researchers track their movements and understand their interactions.
Mapping Movements
Dr. Nancy Barker from the University of KwaZulu-Natal led this research. She spent months in Etosha National Park in Namibia and Chobe National Park in Botswana. She learned about the lion prides and hyena clans, identifying their social structures.
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Start Your News DetoxBarker chose high-ranking individuals for GPS collaring because they were less likely to leave their territory. The study included collars from 17 lions and 14 spotted hyenas over four years. She also used camera traps and observed the animals at night.
GPS devices on the collars recorded each animal's location every five minutes during their most active hours. This data helped Barker and her team map their movements. They identified 23 pairs of animals tracked at the same time, including 10 lion-hyena pairs.
For every moment a lion and a hyena had a simultaneous GPS fix, researchers asked if each animal was moving toward, away from, or to the side of the other. The results showed a clear pattern: hyenas mostly moved away, while lions, especially males, mostly moved toward them.
The Power Dynamic
The data suggests that male lions actively approach hyenas. Female lions, however, seemed to react differently depending on other pride members present. Barker noted that more data is needed to confirm this finding.
Tracking many large carnivores at once is very difficult. The study had a relatively small number of collared animals. Also, only moments with simultaneous GPS fixes were used, which reduced the data available for analysis. Because of this, some of the more detailed findings are considered trends rather than firm conclusions.
Barker hopes to expand this research to other carnivores to understand how different species share space and manage risk. Ultimately, she wants to connect these movement patterns to how animals survive and reproduce. The goal is to understand how these behaviors help animals thrive.
Deep Dive & References
Predators in Motion: Fine-scale dyadic movements reveal interference competition and asymmetric coordination in African lions and spotted hyenas - Frontiers in Ethology, 2026
