Baby news from the Beekse Bergen. Two young spotted hyenas were born in the Safari Park in Hilvarenbeek. Before giving birth, hyena mother Kipenzi dug a hole in the ground to put her pups, Dhakiya and Dayo, in.
The two were born in September, but the park is only now making it known. “We always want to wait and see how the animals are doing. In addition, young hyenas do not come out of their dens for the first few months, so we had no images,” explains a spokesperson.
Animal caretaker Mariska Vermeij-Van Dijk says that the two cubs are ‘going very well’, but also mother and father. “Dhakiya is a Kenyan name and means intelligent. For the other young we chose the Nigerian name Dayo which means ‘joy comes’.”
Aggressive
The spotted hyena is the largest, most aggressive and noisy hyena. They are found in the wild in sub-Saharan Africa, on deserts, savannas and in open forest areas. In the Beekse Bergen they can be seen during the walking safari.
The habitat of these animals is shrinking due to the building of cities and the construction of roads. formal it is not an endangered species, but the population is decreasing.