Hyena Passes Out

A male hyena makes a fool of himself when trying to impress his lady. He thinks his on top of things but is left embarrassed. 36-year-old tour director Calden Smith for Tauck Travel was left laughing after this amusing sighting in Chobe National Park.

"My guests had been very fortunate with numerous predator encounters. We decided to take a quiet waterhole road to see if we could spot anything out of the ordinary. Upon arriving at the waterhole, there was a herd of elephants and two hyenas."

"I had initially thought that the hyenas were trying to retrieve something from the waterhole, but after about an hour and a half of watching the two run around in and out of the water it became very apparent that the smaller male was keen for something else."

Hyenas live in matriarchal clans. This means that a dominant female will run the clan and hold the highest rank. Female hyenas don’t only have the upper hand over males in the hierarchy but also in size. They are considerably larger than males. This is one way to tell male and female hyenas apart.

"At this point, the female hyena eventually stopped her antics and submitted to the male. And so began the laughter. He attempted to mount the female and struggled to do so. The female is significantly larger than the male, making the act challenging to get right for him. At last, success. He was on her back with his back legs just touching the ground."

A sight like this is incredibly rare, as hyenas will often seek out quiet areas to perform the mating act. They are very vulnerable in this position. Being able to witness this out in the open is truly special.

Hyenas have a gestation period of roughly 110 days, after which a female will give birth to a litter of generally two and sometimes three cubs.

"The male began mating very eagerly, and we thought he looked extremely awkward and quite hilarious because of the absurd angle he was at. As if it couldn't get any funnier, when the male reached his climax, the ecstasy became too much and the angle became too tight. He fell over!"

"The silent, tranquil bush was pierced with the laughter of 10 of my guests . This was just hilarious, to say the least. For us, it was a happy ending. For the male, I’m not sure if you can call it a successful ending, but he continued to try his luck for quite some time."