Striped hyenas have a very distinctive look: creamy-grey fur with black stripes on their legs and body, a mane of long hair along their back that stands up when they are alarmed, and enormous, powerful jaws. Those jaws are among the strongest of any land animal relative to body size - striped hyenas can crush and eat bones that other animals leave behind.
Rather than hunting, striped hyenas prefer to find animals that have already died and eat the remains. This makes them excellent recyclers of the natural world - by eating carcasses, they prevent rotting meat from spreading disease and return nutrients to the soil. Scientists call animals that do this 'ecosystem engineers'.
Striped hyenas are largely nocturnal, coming out after dark to forage across their territory. They have excellent night vision and a strong sense of smell. They communicate with each other through scent markings left on rocks and bushes. Although they can make sounds, they are much quieter than spotted hyenas - they do not have the famous 'laugh'.
In some ancient cultures of the Middle East, hyenas were considered magical or powerful creatures and appear in old stories and folklore. In Syria, hyenas have traditionally been part of the local ecosystem for thousands of years, moving quietly through the hills and valleys at night.