The Annual Paul L. Errington Memorial Lecture was held Thursday, honoring Dr. Paul L. Errington, a wildlife biology professor and pioneer of animal ecology.
This lecture has been held every year since 1964. For this year’s event, Kay Holekamp, a distinguished professor at Michigan State University, spoke about her 35 years of research on the spotted hyena
“I had started this project years before I took the job at Michigan State, and I made it a condition of my employment that they continued to let me go back to Africa for some months each year,” Holekamp said. “They let me do my teaching in a single semester so that I could spend as many months as I needed to in the field with my students.”
Holekamp worked on countless hypotheses as a behavioral ecologist regarding spotted hyenas. She continues to question everything about spotted hyenas. Holekamp stated that if you like puzzles and games, you’ll like hyenas, because they’re so weird.
“I went out there to address one specific research question in the beginning, and that led to another one,” Holekamp said. “My graduate students are all interested in different things, so I became really interested in what they were finding out.”
Holekamp and her team’s current hypothesis revolves around social behavior and biological responses of hyenas in northern Ethiopia; specifically Mekelle, Ethiopia and the difference in size of wild versus city hyenas due to behavioral differences.
“We want to test the hypothesis, because there’s been relaxed selection on leg length,” Holekamp said. “It’ll be really interesting, because it could be phenotypic plasticity or it could be some evolutionary response.”
Holekamp explained that unlike typical mammals where the males tend to dominate the females, female spotted hyenas dominate males, holding higher class rankings within their clans. Females also display more aggressive tendencies, resulting in them becoming clan leaders, leading hunts, picking mates and keeping track of and nurturing the cubs.
Holekamp also mentioned the spotted hyena’s “important ecosystem services” as a reason why hyenas are great creatures.
Spotted hyenas are naturally immune to anthrax, tuberculosis and rabies. Holekamp explained that all of these diseases commonly spread throughout many regions of Africa due to animal carcasses, and spotted hyenas are responsible for the disposal of over 200 tons of carcasses every year. Their impact on the ecosystem is largely due to their unique physical features.
For more information, visit the Paul L. Errington Memorial Lecture webpage.