Are Hyenas More Closely Related To Cats Or Dogs?
Is hyena part of the cat family?
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Hyenas are not members of the dog or cat families. Instead, they are so unique that they have a family all their own, Hyaenidae. There are four members of the Hyaenidae family: the striped hyena, the “giggly” spotted hyena, the brown hyena, and the aardwolf (it’s a hyena, not a wolf).
What species are hyenas related to?
So the closest living relatives of hyenas include cats, mongooses, Malagasy mongooses, viverrids (e.g. civets, genets, the binturong…), and the African palm civet. The simple answer is that hyenas are more closely related to cats than dogs.
What family are hyenas related to?
Hyaenidae
How closely related are hyenas to cats?
It essentially means that the hyena isn’t a true feline like the tiger, leopard, and domesticated cat, which all belong to the family of Felidae. Instead, the hyena belongs to a separate grouping that’s more closely related to the feline branch than the canine branch.N
Are hyenas more closely related to cats and dogs?
The simple answer is that hyenas are more closely related to cats than dogs. Of course, hyenas, cats and dogs are mammals (Class: Mammalia) and all are carnivores (Order: CarnivoraOrder: CarnivoraCarnivora /kɑːrˈnɪvərə/ is an order of placental mammals that have specialized in primarily eating flesh, whose members are formally referred to as carnivorans. The order Carnivora is the fifth largest order of mammals, comprising at least 279 species.Carnivora – Wikipedia), but whereas hyenas and cats belong to the Suborder: Feliformia, dogs belong to a different Suborder: Caniformia.
