Spotted hyena are remarkable intelligent predators and it is unfortunate that not enough people get to spend as much time as I do watching these animals interact in and around the floodwaters of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. If they did, the negative perception that too many people have just wouldn't be there. This is not the correct forum for it but do yourself a favor and get hold of some of the latest research papers on hyena and prepare to turn your whole understanding of these animals up side down.
The larger image of a hyena in the water is of a really amazing individual. This hyena was blind in both eyes, was severly crippled and only managed to get along with a limp, yet this animal was able to survive alone out in the wild for many months. At the particular moment that this image was taken he/she had stashed a kudu carcas beneath the water in amongst a bloat of hippos and was feeding at his/her leisure. All these animals grow up with the ebb and flow of the Okavango and so water is not a big deal to them. It is merely something to play fight in, cool off in, or it is a great place to hide ones food so that another hyena, with his phenomanal sense of smell can't locate it quiet so easy.
