Hyenas Eat Poop—And It's Actually a Smart Survival Move

Yes, hyenas really do eat poop. While these powerful carnivores are famous for their bone-crushing jaws and haunting laughs, they're also opportunistic scavengers that will consume just about anything—including the feces of other animals. It sounds disgusting, but this behavior, called coprophagy, is actually a smart survival strategy.

Hyenas aren't picky eaters. Spotted hyenas consume practically every part of their prey: skin, hooves, bones, teeth, and yes, even droppings they encounter. Their incredibly powerful bite can exert 1,140 pounds of force per square inch—40% more than a leopard—allowing them to crack open the largest bones and digest them completely. Unlike most carnivores that leave behind carcass remnants, hyenas waste nothing.

Why Eat Poop?

Coprophagy isn't just about being gross—it serves real nutritional purposes. Feces can contain valuable nutrients that weren't fully absorbed during the first trip through an animal's digestive system. For opportunistic feeders like hyenas, this represents extra calories and hard-to-find nutrients like vitamins and minerals.

Even more importantly, poop contains beneficial gut bacteria. These microorganisms act like natural probiotics, helping animals maintain healthy digestive systems. Baby elephants actually rely on eating the feces of their mothers and herd members to acquire the gut bacteria they need to properly digest vegetation. Similarly, predator feces can be surprisingly protein-rich, coming from their meat-based diets. Scientists in Tanzania observed hooded vultures showing more interest in protein-packed lion droppings than a freshly killed carcass.

Hunters First, Scavengers Second

Despite their reputation as skulking scavengers, hyenas are actually skilled hunters. Research shows that about 70% of a spotted hyena's diet comes from animals they hunt and kill themselves, not from scavenging. Dutch wildlife ecologist Hans Kruuk's groundbreaking 7-year study in Tanzania's Ngorongoro and Serengeti revealed that spotted hyenas hunt as much as lions do.

Their preferred prey includes:

• Blue wildebeest (most common)
• Zebras
• Thomson's gazelles
• Other ungulates weighing 123-401 pounds

But when fresh kills are scarce, hyenas fall back on their remarkable adaptability. They'll scavenge carrion, consume vegetation, and yes, eat the droppings of other animals. This flexibility is key to their success across Africa's varied ecosystems.

So while it might make us wrinkle our noses in disgust, a hyena's willingness to eat poop is just another example of nature's efficiency. In the wild, nothing goes to waste—and hyenas have turned that principle into an evolutionary advantage. Their powerful digestive systems can extract value from things other predators leave behind, making them one of Africa's most successful carnivores.