The hyena story: from ancient fossils to folktales and witchcraft

Hyaenidae is a carnivore family with only four extant species, yet a diverse and abundant presence in the fossil record. Today's generalized antagonistic attitudes towards hyenas may be the product of entangled hyena–hominin geographies since the origin of humanity. These shaped ecocultural relationships and may well have affected the convergent evolution of salient traits like complex social systems. In fact, spotted hyenas have been proposed as models of early human evolution. Björn Kurtén had a great interest in fossil hyenas as study objects, having written several publications on this group, including pioneering and comprehensive studies that laid the foundation for major works to follow. Thus, in tribute to Björn Kurtén, we provide an encapsulated overview of his contributions and review recent developments in the understanding of Hyaenidae evolution and ecologies. We conclude with a synopsis of hyenid and hominid interactions from ecological, evolutionary and cultural perspectives.