title: XCOM

text: The X-COM IP is currently owned by Take-Two and its subsidiaries; by 2007, first rumors emerged that Irrational Games (who are owned by Take-Two) were developing a new" X-COM" title (this game eventually became "The Bureau: XCOM Declassified"). In May 2007, 2K Games (a subsidiary of Take-Two) inherited the "X-COM" franchise and re-released "Terror from the Deep" on Steam. In September 2008, "UFO: Enemy Unknown", "Apocalypse", "Interceptor" and "Enforcer" were also re-released as downloadable titles. 2K Games' "XCOM", which had been in development since 2003 (prior to the IP acquisition), was finally completed and released in 2012.


title: XCOM

text: Because of the series' popularity, various other developers have created spiritual successor games similar in theme and tone of the "X-COM" games (sometimes called ""X-COM" clones"; Julian Gollop also himself called turn-based tactical game genre in general as "sons of "Rebelstar"" in a reference to one of his earlier games). The level to which they borrow from the original series varies.


title: XCOM

text: The franchise was also referenced in the "Civilization" series of strategy video games that had partially inspired "X-COM" in first place. The original game received an unofficial sequel in the 1997 expansion set "Civ II: Fantastic Worlds" for MicroProse's "Civilization II", in a scenario set on the Phobos moon of Mars. Firaxis' "Civilization V" features a unit type named XCOM Squad.


title: XCOM

text: Fan-remake projects for "UFO: Enemy Unknown" have included "X-com - Last Hope" (a mod of "Half-Life 2" released in 2006), "UFO: The Two Sides" (development halted in 2011 due to copyright issues), "UFO: Cydonia's Fall" (canceled in 2012), "X-COM: Origin" (canceled in 2013), and "The Rebel Squad" (an also defunct project by Sam Liu).


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: What Remains of Edith Finch is a first-person adventure game developed by Giant Sparrow and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released in April 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One; for Nintendo Switch in 2019; for iOS in 2021; and for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2022.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: The story follows the seventeen-year-old Edith Finch, the last surviving member of her family, as she returns to her ancestral home for the first time in seven years. Reexploring the house, she uncovers her family's mysterious past and learns about the series of deaths that eventually caused the complete collapse of her family structure. The game is presented as an interconnected anthology, and, utilizing unique mediums from varying perspectives, the story is told through a series of vignettes; however, the player is made to doubt the authenticity of each story being told.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: "What Remains of Edith Finch" received critical acclaim, receiving praise for its immersive storytelling, characters, and presentation; and is considered an example of video games as an art form. Among other awards and nominations, It won British Academy Games Award for Best Game 2017 and the Best Narrative category at both The Game Awards 2017 and the 2018 Game Developers Choice Awards.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: "What remains of Edith Finch" is a narrative-focused walking simulator. As Edith, the player explores the Finch house and surrounding wilderness through a semi-linear series of rooms, footpaths, crawlspaces, and secret passages. Edith's narration guides the player, providing commentary on her own thoughts, experiences, and relations to each character; and therefore provides exposition and nuance relating to many of the semi-self-contained sequences in the game. Various narrative-related objects including books, clutter, and decorations provide Edith this opportunity; which is framed as the vocalization of Edith's own writings in her journal revealed chronologically as she makes her way through the house. Throughout which, the player encounters the former bedrooms of deceased family members which have been memorialized and preserved since the time of the respective individual's death. However having the option to skip multiple sequences, the player interacts with objects placed at these memorials to progress through the story, each of which inspire a unique vignette revealing the circumstances of each person's death. These vignettes vary wildly in medium, perspective, genre, stylization, and gameplay mechanics, as well as intent and veracity of their source; therefore providing a series of unique and semi-self-contained stories throughout the game, oftentimes evoking themes of magical realism, the total accuracy of which the player is made to doubt.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: The player character takes a ferry to Orcas Island, Washington carrying the journal of Edith Finch. The journal details Edith's experience returning to her ancestral home on the island for the first time in seven years. As a 17-year-old, Edith writes that she is the last surviving member of her family. The player then takes the perspective of Edith as she reexplores the house and discovers information relating to the circumstances of each relative's death; however which are confused in authenticity by the unique mediums and perspectives of each source.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: Edith explains that her family is believed to be cursed because of the untimely deaths they frequently experience. In 1937, in an effort to escape the curse after the death of his wife Ingeborg and newborn son Johann, Edith's great-great-grandfather Odin Finch emigrates from Norway to the United States. Alongside his family (his daughter Edith (Edith Sr., or 'Edie'), her husband Sven (né Hoffstad), and their newborn daughter Molly), he ferries his family house with them. However, waves off the shore of Orcas Island, Washington capsize the house and Odin drowns. The remaining family builds a new home and accompanying graveyard nearby. Here, Edie then gives birth to Barbara, Calvin and Sam, and Walter.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: For a while, Edie believes they have left the curse behind, but unusual tragedies begin to befall her family. At 10 years old, Molly dies after ingesting fluoridated toothpaste and holly berries; at 16, Barbara is murdered during a home invasion or implied domestic dispute; at 11, Calvin falls to his death after swinging off the edge of a cliff; at 49, Edie's husband Sven dies during a construction accident at the house; and, at 53, after having spent 30 years living as a recluse in a bunker beneath the house and traumatized at witnessing Barbara's death, Walter is hit by a train after stepping outside for the first time since. Edie memorializes each death by turning their respective bedrooms into shrines.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: Sam marries a woman named Kay Carlyle, and they have three children: Dawn, Gus, and Gregory. However, Dawn is the only one to live to adulthood. At 22 months, Gregory drowns in the bathtub after being left unattended by his mother; and, at 13, Gus is crushed by a totem pole during a storm. Sam and Kay get a divorce, and, at 33, whilst on a hunting trip with Dawn, Sam falls to his death after being bucked from a cliff by a deer.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: Traumatized, Dawn moves to Kolkata, India, marries Sanjay Kumar, and they have three children: Lewis, Milton, and Edith (Jr.). In 2002 Sanjay dies in an earthquake and Dawn returns with her children to the Finch home. At 11 years old, Milton inexplicably disappears, and Dawn becomes paranoid. She seals off the memorialized bedrooms of the deceased and forbids her children from learning about their family history in an effort to save them from a similar fate.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: In late 2010, after battling with substance abuse and mental illness, Lewis commits suicide at the age of 21. Now desperate, Dawn decides they must all leave the house. Edie, however, refuses to go, and, after a heated argument, Dawn and Edith flee the house without her, leaving most of their possessions behind. The next day, Edie is found dead at the age of 93, the cause of which implied to be complications due to consuming alcohol alongside her prescription medication.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: Seven years later, Dawn succumbs to an undisclosed illness, and 17-year-old Edith inherits the property. Returning to the house, Edith discovers for herself the stories of her family's unique history, documenting her own thoughts and experiences in her journal. Edith reveals that she is pregnant and that the journal is intended for her unborn child in case she should die before she is able to tell them the stories herself.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: In the final scene, the player character is revealed to be Edith's son Christopher, and that Edith has died during childbirth in 2017. In an unspecified time in the future, Christopher places flowers on his mother's grave.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: "What Remains of Edith Finch" is the second game developed by the team at Giant Sparrow, led by creative director Ian Dallas. Their debut effort was the BAFTA-award-winning "The Unfinished Swan". The concept of "What Remains of Edith Finch" grew out from trying to create something sublime, as described by Dallas, "an interactive experience that evokes what it feels like to have a moment of finding something beautiful, yet overwhelming". Dallas embodied this concept by using his own experience as a scuba diver while he had lived in Washington State, and seeing the ocean fall off into darkness into the distance. The game initially was based on this scuba diving approach, but this created a number of problems with conveying narrative. While the game was in this state, they came up with the idea of using floating text captions of the narrative to be seen by the player, which remained as a key gameplay element through the game's ongoing changes. The team struggled on the diver idea until Dallas came up with the idea of a shark falling into a forest with a child uttering the line "and suddenly I was a shark", which sparked the idea of moving into more strange and unnatural scenarios; this specific one would eventually become the mini-experience for Molly, who died after eating poisonous holly berries and whose bedroom is the first the player explores in the game. While the Molly scenario was fleshed out further, the team broke out to develop other scenarios that captured the same sense, giving the player something interesting to watch or do but knowing that their characters were about to die, creating the type of experience they wanted to evoke.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: To link these mini-experiences, they had to come up with a framing device. Initially, they considered a scenario similar to "The Canterbury Tales" but set in a modern-day high school, but soon recognized that placing these deaths in context of a cursed family would work better, forming an anthology work like "The Twilight Zone", while borrowing concepts from the novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude", which similarly involved the overlapping stories of various family members. With this approach set, the team then only had to determine the genealogical nature of this family and how the house should be styled. For the house itself, Dallas stated they had three words they worked from, sublime, intimate and murky. Their goal was to make the house itself feel like "a natural force. It begins to look almost like the bark of a tree; something that has an order to it, but it’s too chaotic for us to be able to follow." While they had designed all the bedrooms in roughly the same order the player experienced them in the game, it was not until the second-to-last bedroom, that of Lewis who had been into marijuana use, that they realized that these bedrooms can be used to say much more about each family member by how they were decorated. Lewis' had been heavily decorated with posters and other items that indicated his drug addiction, and the team realized this shared a lot about his character they did not have to communicate via narration or the death sequence. Major changes were made to all the previous bedrooms to provide similar expository elements for each character over the last few months before release.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: The team also recognized that from some of these mini-experiences they created, they wanted to leave them open-ended as to exactly what happened, following the convention of weird fiction to leave the player questioning if the mini-experiences they had played through were grounded in reality or not. They did not want to make a horror game, where their purpose would be to intentionally scare the player, but wanted to borrow concepts common in the horror genre, such as Lovecraftian elements. The game had started out titled "The Nightmares of Edith Finch", and its greenlight trailer has a spookier nature to it, such as the protagonist exploring the house mostly in the dark with a flashlight, but the team eventually backed off on these elements to leave the more eerie elements, renaming the game to its final title. The game's ending was considered the most difficult part for the team, according to Dallas, as they did not know if they should end the game on a mini-experience that elevated the sense of unease from previous ones. Eventually, they opted to go with something completely different, a closure on the story that was intended to give time for the player to reflect on what they had just played through. Dallas credits suggestions made by Dino Patti of Playdead and Jenova Chen of thatgamecompany, following a playtest of the game, of inspiring the pregnancy and childbirth facets to close out the story after all the death that they had experienced. In an unusual move, the player is able to look down from the first-person view in-game at Edith's body and see her belly, hinting about her pregnancy. Though Dallas had not wanted to have the player see parts of the character's body, their tech artist Chelsea Hash insisted on keeping this in, which Dallas found later to be a pleasant surprise for players that discovered this on their own.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: The game had been in development since at least 2013, when Giant Sparrow partnered with Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first announced in an on-stage trailer at the 2014 PlayStation Experience, as a title to be published by Santa Monica Studio, with a subsequent trailer released prior to E3 2015. In the interim, Sony started to wane on its support for independently developed video games, and Santa Monica Studios dropped the title from its lineup. However, several people that had been at Santa Monica Studios working with Giant Sparrow left the studio to form Annapurna Interactive, which then became the game's new publisher. Annapurna relaxed some of the deadlines that Sony had originally had for the title, allowing Giant Sparrow to keep and refine some of the more significant mini-experiences they created and would have otherwise had to cut under a tighter schedule. These included the infant Gregory, who drowns while in the bath while his mother is distracted. The drowning sequence set to "The Waltz of the Flowers" from "The Nutcracker" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Lewis', a mini-adventure game taking place in Lewis' mind while at the same time decapitating fish at a cannery that was inspired by "The Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap" from "The Book of Wonder". Gregory's story was particularly one of concern since it involved the death of an infant, which raised concerns with their publisher. To help alleviate these, Giant Sparrow specifically brought in parents to help playtest as to make sure the story handled the topic in a sensitive manner.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: One of the most-changed stories was Walter's, Edie's son that withdrew after the death of his older sister Barbara and locked himself away in a basement bunker, only decades later deciding to leave via a tunnel and getting hit by a passing train. Originally, once in the bunker, Walter would have experienced still people that moved when he looked away, similar to "Doctor Who"s Weeping Angels or "The Prisoner", and then would imagine himself living on a model trainset where an invisible hand would move pieces around on the set. Both aspects were to represent the passage of time for the decades Walter lived there, and out of paranoia, Walter would then escape through the tunnel and to his demise. This was ultimately trimmed down to showing Walter going through the same routine each day, eating peaches from a can, until one day he decides to escape. Another scrapped idea for the game was to bring in "Weird Al" Yankovic to compose a song about Edie. Inspired by the story of Harry R. Truman, a man who had refused to leave his home prior to the eruption of Mount St. Helens, the team had envisioned a scenario that Edie would have also refused to leave her family home despite the threat of a nearby forest fire sometime in the 1980s. With this concept, her story made national news and made her a national icon that, in the timeline, Yankovic would have made a song about her that would have been included as part of Edie's story. However, this idea came too late in the development without enough time to follow up on it.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: Composer Jeff Russo, whose previous works include the soundtracks to the "Fargo" TV series, "The Night Of", and "Power", composed the soundtrack for "What Remains of Edith Finch". The sequence involving Barbara, who gained fame as an adolescent scream queen and who longs to return to Hollywood but dies on her birthday on Halloween night, is played out in the pages of a comic book styled after "Tales from the Crypt". Following several horror genre tropes, her boyfriend intends to inspire real fear to induce her to regain her famous scream, but they then seem to be stalked by a serial killer whom she disables, only to be scared to death by either friends throwing her a surprise birthday party or supernatural monsters or a band of hoodlums in costume. Dallas had Russo try to create a soundtrack similar to the theme from John Carpenter's "Halloween". Dallas had considered asking Carpenter to narrate this section, but at the time, the video game voice actor strike was ongoing, making this impossible, but Carpenter did agree to license the use of the "Halloween" theme for this sequence.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: "What Remains of Edith Finch" received "generally positive" reviews across Windows, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch platforms, while the Xbox One version received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: "Destructoid"s Brett Makedonski scored the game a 9/10 with the consensus "A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage."


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: Marty Sliva's 8.8/10 score on "IGN" stated that ""What Remains of Edith Finch" is a gorgeous experience and one of the finest magical-realism stories in all of games."


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: Andy Chalk's gave a score of 91 out of 100 on "PC Gamer" and said it was "Touching, sad, and brilliant; a story worth forgiving the limited interactivity to experience."


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: Josh Harmon of "EGMNow" awarded it 7/10, stating that "Edith Finch" is "a brilliant accomplishment. It's also a game that repeatedly fails to live up to its potential in serious, heartbreaking ways. Until now, I'd never realized it was possible to be both at the same time."


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: Griffin Vacheron from Game Revolution gave the game a score of 3.5 stars out of 5, saying that "If you're more like me, though, and deviate from the assessment of tragic events as an inherently higher form, then you may find the Finch's tale doesn't activate your almonds as much as it probably should. Still, as a spooky, logical evolution of the Gone Homes and Firewatches of the world, with an impressive short-story style to boot, "What Remains of Edith Finch" is ultimately worth your time if its premise grabs you."


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: "In "What Remains of Edith Finch", death is a certainty and life is the surprise. Its stories are enchanting, despite their unhappy ends. I was sad I never had the chance to know the Finches while they were alive, but thankful for the opportunity, however brief, to learn a bit about them. The final farewell left me crying, but "What Remains of Edith Finch" is, without doubt, love," was Susan Arendt's conclusion on "Polygon" with a score of 9/10.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: Colm Ahern's score of 9/10 on VideoGamer.com said that "First-person, narrative-driven games generally follow a pattern. "What Remains of Edith Finch" plays with those established conventions to create a beautiful story that breaks your heart, while making you smile just as much. A triumph in the genre."


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: "Eurogamer" ranked the game second on their list of the "Top 50 Games of 2017", while "GamesRadar+" ranked it fifth on their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017. In "Game Informer"s Reader's Choice Best of 2017 Awards, the game came at fourth place for "Best Adventure Game" with just 10% of the votes, about 4% behind "". The same website also gave it the award of "Best Adventure Game" in their Best of 2017 Awards, and of "Best Narrative" and "Adventure Game of the Year" in their 2017 Adventure Game of the Year Awards. "EGMNow" ranked the game at #25 in their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017, while "Polygon" ranked it 13th on their list of the 50 best games of 2017.


title: What Remains of Edith Finch

text: The game won the award for "Best Story" in "PC Gamer"s 2017 Game of the Year Awards, and was nominated for "Game of the Year". It was also nominated for "Best Xbox One Game" in "Destructoid"s Game of the Year Awards 2017; for "Best Adventure Game" and "Best Story" in "IGN" Best of 2017 Awards; and for "Best Moment or Sequence" (Cannery Sequence) in Giant Bomb's 2017 Game of the Year Awards.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), also known as the laughing hyena, is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus "Crocuta", native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUCN on account of its widespread range and large numbers estimated between 27,000 and 47,000 individuals. The species is, however, experiencing declines outside of protected areas due to habitat loss and poaching. The species may have originated in Asia, and once ranged throughout Europe for at least one million years until the end of the Late Pleistocene. The spotted hyena is the largest known member of the Hyaenidae, and is further physically distinguished from other species by its vaguely bear-like build, its rounded ears, its less prominent mane, its spotted pelt, its more dual-purposed dentition, its fewer nipples and the presence of a pseudo-penis in the female. It is the only placental mammalian species where females lack an external vaginal opening, having a pseudo-penis instead.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena is the most social of the Carnivora in that it has the largest group sizes and most complex social behaviours. Its social organisation is unlike that of any other carnivore, bearing closer resemblance to that of cercopithecine primates (baboons and macaques) with respect to group size, hierarchical structure, and frequency of social interaction among both kin and unrelated group-mates. However, the social system of the spotted hyena is openly competitive rather than cooperative, with access to kills, mating opportunities and the time of dispersal for males depending on the ability to dominate other clan-members. Females provide only for their own cubs rather than assist each other, and males display no paternal care. Spotted hyena society is matriarchal; females are larger than males, and dominate them.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena is a highly successful animal, being the most common large carnivore in Africa. Its success is due in part to its adaptability and opportunism; it is primarily a hunter but may also scavenge, with the capacity to eat and digest skin, bone and other animal waste. In functional terms, the spotted hyena makes the most efficient use of animal matter of all African carnivores. The spotted hyena displays greater plasticity in its hunting and foraging behaviour than other African carnivores; it hunts alone, in small parties of 2–5 individuals or in large groups. During a hunt, spotted hyenas often run through ungulate herds in order to select an individual to attack. Once selected, their prey is chased over a long distance, often several kilometres, at speeds of up to 60 km/h.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena has a long history of interaction with humanity; depictions of the species exist from the Upper Paleolithic period, with carvings and paintings from the Lascaux and Chauvet Caves. The species has a largely negative reputation in both Western culture and African folklore. In the former, the species is mostly regarded as ugly and cowardly, while in the latter, it is viewed as greedy, gluttonous, stupid, and foolish, yet powerful and potentially dangerous. The majority of Western perceptions on the species can be found in the writings of Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, though in relatively unjudgmental form. Explicit, negative judgments occur in the "Physiologus", where the animal is depicted as a hermaphrodite and grave-robber. The IUCN's hyena specialist group identifies the spotted hyena's negative reputation as detrimental to the species' continued survival, both in captivity and the wild.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena's scientific name "Crocuta", was once widely thought to be derived from the Latin loanword , which translates as 'saffron-coloured one', in reference to the animal's fur colour. This was proven to be incorrect, as the correct spelling of the loanword would have been "Crocāta", and the word was never used in that sense by Graeco-Roman sources. "Crocuta" actually comes from the Ancient Greek word (), which is derived from the Sanskrit , which in turn originates from (both of which were originally meant to signify the golden jackal). The earliest recorded mention of Κροκόττας is from Strabo's "Geographica", where the animal is described as a mix of wolf and dog native to Ethiopia.


title: Spotted hyena

text: From Classical antiquity until the Renaissance, the spotted and striped hyena were either assumed to be the same species, or distinguished purely on geographical, rather than physical grounds. Hiob Ludolf, in his , was the first to clearly distinguish the "Crocuta" from "Hyaena" on account of physical, as well as geographical grounds, though he never had any first hand experience of the species, having gotten his accounts from an Ethiopian intermediary. Confusion still persisted over the exact taxonomic nature of the hyena family in general, with most European travelers in Ethiopia referring to hyenas as "wolves". This partly stems from the Amharic word for hyena, (), which is linked to the Arabic word () 'wolf'.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The first detailed first-hand descriptions of the spotted hyena by Europeans come from Willem Bosman and Peter Kolbe. Bosman, a Dutch tradesman who worked for the Dutch West India Company at the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) from 1688 to 1701, wrote of (jackals or woodland dogs) whose physical descriptions match the spotted hyena. Kolben, a German mathematician and astronomer who worked for the Dutch East India Company in the Cape of Good Hope from 1705 to 1713, described the spotted hyena in great detail, but referred to it as a "tigerwolf", because the settlers in southern Africa did not know of hyenas, and thus labelled them as "wolves".


title: Spotted hyena

text: Bosman and Kolben's descriptions went largely unnoticed until 1771, when the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant, in his "Synopsis of Quadrupeds", used the descriptions, as well as his personal experience with a captive specimen, as a basis for consistently differentiating the spotted hyena from the striped. The description given by Pennant was precise enough to be included by Johann Erxleben in his by simply translating Pennant's text into Latin. "Crocuta" was finally recognised as a separate genus from "Hyaena" in 1828.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Unlike the striped hyena, for which a number of subspecies were proposed in light of its extensive modern range, the spotted hyena is a genuinely variable species, both temporally and spatially. Its range once encompassed almost all of Africa and Eurasia, and displayed a large degree of morphological geographic variation, which led to an equally extensive set of specific and subspecific epithets. It was gradually realised that all of this variation could be applied to individual differences in a single subspecies. In 1939, biologist L Harrison Matthews demonstrated through comparisons between a large selection of spotted hyena skulls from Tanzania that all the variation seen in the then recognised subspecies could also be found in a single population, with the only set of characters standing out being pelage (which is subject to a high degree of individual variation) and size (which is subject to Bergmann's Rule). When fossils are taken into consideration, the species displayed even greater variation than it does in modern times, and a number of these named fossil species have since been classed as synonymous with "Crocuta crocuta", with firm evidence of there being more than one species within the genus "Crocuta" still lacking.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Both Björn Kurtén and Camille Arambourg promoted an Asiatic origin for the species; Kurtén focussed his arguments on the Plio-Pleistocene taxon "Crocuta sivalensis" from the Siwaliks, a view defended by Arambourg, who nonetheless allowed the possibility of an Indo-Ethiopian origin. This stance was contested by Ficarelli and Torre, who referred to evidence of the spotted hyena's presence from African deposits dating from the early Pleistocene, a similar age to the Asian "C. sivalensis". Studies on the phylogeographic distribution of mtDNA haplotypes indicates three migration events from Africa to Eurasia, though neither the topology of the phylogenetic tree or the fossil record exclude the possibility of an Asian origin. The earliest migration of spotted hyenas from Africa to Eurasia began less than 3.5 million years ago, most probably from the area where the first spotted hyena fossils were discovered, reaching East Asia and most likely also Pakistan. The second migration of spotted hyenas occurred less than 1.3–1.5 million years ago and resulted in the first arrival of hyenas in Europe and a separation of African spotted hyenas into a southern and a northern population. The third spotted hyena migration took place 0.36 million years ago, starting from the northern African population and reaching both Europe and Asia. Unlike other African carnivores, with the exception of the leopard, there is no evidence to suggest that spotted hyenas underwent a genetic bottleneck during the Pleistocene.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The ancestors of the genus "Crocuta" diverged from "Hyaena" (the genus of striped and brown hyenas) 10 million years ago. The ancestors of the spotted hyena probably developed social behaviours in response to increased pressure from other predators on carcasses, which forced them to operate in teams. At one point in their evolution, spotted hyenas developed sharp carnassials behind their crushing premolars; this rendered waiting for their prey to die no longer a necessity, as is the case for brown and striped hyenas, and thus they became pack hunters as well as scavengers. They began forming increasingly larger territories, necessitated by the fact that their prey was often migratory and long chases in a small territory would have caused them to encroach into another clan's land. It has been theorised that female dominance in spotted hyena clans could be an adaptation in order to successfully compete with males on kills, and thus ensure that enough milk is produced for their cubs. Another theory is that it is an adaptation to the length of time it takes for cubs to develop their massive skulls and jaws, thus necessitating greater attention and dominating behaviours from females.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Its appearance in Europe and China during the Cromerian period coincided with the decline and eventual extinction of "Pachycrocuta brevirostris", the giant short-faced hyena. As there is no evidence of environmental change being responsible, it is likely that the giant short-faced hyena became extinct due to competition with the spotted hyena.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena has a strong and well developed neck and forequarters, but relatively underdeveloped hindquarters. The rump is rounded rather than angular, which prevents attackers coming from behind from getting a firm grip on it. The head is wide and flat with a blunt muzzle and broad rhinarium. In contrast to the striped hyena, the ears of the spotted hyena are rounded rather than pointed. Each foot has four digits, which are webbed and armed with short, stout and blunt claws. The paw-pads are broad and very flat, with the whole undersurface of the foot around them being naked. The tail is relatively short, being long, and resembles a pompom in appearance. Unusually among hyaenids, and mammals in general, the female spotted hyena is considerably larger than the male. Both sexes have a pair of anal glands which open into the rectum just inside the anal opening. These glands produce a white, creamy secretion which is pasted onto grass stalks by everting the rectum. The odour of this secretion is very strong, smelling of boiling cheap soap or burning, and can be detected by humans several metres downwind. The spotted hyena has a proportionately large heart, constituting close to 1% of its body weight, thus giving it great endurance in long chases. In contrast, a lion's heart makes up only 0.45–0.57 percent of its body weight. The now extinct Eurasian populations were distinguished from the modern African populations by their shorter distal extremities and longer humerus and femur.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The skull of the spotted hyena differs from that of the striped hyena by its much greater size and narrower sagittal crest. For its size, the spotted hyena has one of the most powerfully built skulls among the Carnivora. The dentition is more dual purposed than that of other modern hyena species, which are mostly scavengers; the upper and lower third premolars are conical bone-crushers, with a third bone-holding cone jutting from the lower fourth premolar. The spotted hyena also has its carnassials situated behind its bone-crushing premolars, the position of which allows it to crush bone with its premolars without blunting the carnassials. Combined with large jaw muscles and a special vaulting to protect the skull against large forces, these characteristics give the spotted hyena a powerful bite which can exert a pressure of 80 kgf/cm2 (1140 lbf/in²), which is 40% more force than a leopard can generate. The jaws of the spotted hyena outmatch those of the brown bear in bone-crushing ability, and free ranging hyenas have been observed to crack open the long bones of giraffes measuring 7 cm in diameter. A spotted hyena is estimated to have a bite force of 565.7 newtons at the canine tip and 985.5 newtons at the carnassial eocene. One individual in a study was found to exert a bite force of 4,500 newtons on the measuring instruments.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena is the largest extant member of the Hyaenidae. Adults measure in body length, and have a shoulder height of . Adult male spotted hyenas in the Serengeti weigh , while females weigh . Spotted hyenas in Zambia tend to be heavier, with males weighing on average , and females . Exceptionally large weights of and are known. It has been estimated that adult members of the now extinct Eurasian populations weighed .


title: Spotted hyena

text: Fur colour varies greatly and changes with age. Unlike the fur of the striped and brown hyena, that of the spotted hyena consists of spots rather than stripes and is much shorter, lacking the well defined spinal mane of the former two species. The base colour generally is a pale greyish-brown or yellowish-grey on which an irregular pattern of roundish spots is superimposed on the back and hind quarters. The spots, which are of variable distinction, may be reddish, deep brown or almost blackish. The spots vary in size, even on single individuals, but are commonly in diameter. A less distinct spot pattern is present on the legs and belly but not on the throat and chest. Some research groups (such as Ngorongoro Crater Hyena Project and MSU Hyena Project) often use the spot patterns to help identify individual hyenas). A set of five, pale and barely distinct bands replace the spots on the back and sides of the neck. A broad, medial band is present on the back of the neck, and is lengthened into a forward facing crest. The crest is mostly reddish-brown in colour. The crown and upper part of the face is brownish, save for a white band above both eyes, though the front of the eyes, the area around the rhinarium, the lips and the back portion of the chin are all blackish. The limbs are spotted, though the feet vary in colour, from light brown to blackish. The fur is relatively sparse and consists of two hair types; moderately fine underfur (measuring ) and long, stout bristle hairs (). European Paleolithic rock art depicting the species indicates that the Eurasian populations retained the spots of their modern-day African counterparts.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The genitalia of the female closely resembles that of the male; the clitoris is shaped and positioned like a penis, a pseudo-penis, and is capable of erection. The female also possesses no external vagina (vaginal opening), as the labia are fused to form a pseudo-scrotum. The pseudo-penis is traversed to its tip by a central urogenital canal, through which the female urinates, copulates and gives birth. The pseudo-penis can be distinguished from the males' genitalia by its somewhat shorter length, greater thickness, and more rounded glans. In both males and females, the base of the glans is covered with penile spines. The formation of the pseudo-penis appears largely androgen independent, as the pseudo-penis appears in the female fetus before differentiation of the fetal ovary and adrenal gland. When flaccid, the pseudo-penis is retracted into the abdomen, and only the prepuce is visible. After giving birth, the pseudo-penis is stretched, and loses many of its original aspects; it becomes a slack-walled and reduced prepuce with an enlarged orifice with split lips.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Spotted hyenas are social animals that live in large communities (referred to as "clans") which can consist of at most 80 individuals. Group-size varies geographically; in the Serengeti, where prey is migratory, clans are smaller than those in the Ngorongoro Crater, where prey is sedentary. Spotted hyena clans are more compact and unified than wolf packs, but are not as closely knit as those of African wild dogs.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Females usually dominate males, including in cases where low-ranking females generally dominate over high-ranking males, but they will also occasionally co-dominate with a male. There have also been cases in which a clan has been led by a male rather than a female. Cubs take the rank directly below their mothers at birth. So when the matriarch passes away (or, in rare instances, disperses into another clan), their youngest female cub will take over as matriarch. It is typical for females to remain with their natal clan (although there have been rare instances of them dispersing), thus large clans usually contain several matrilines, whereas males typically disperse from their natal clan at the age of 2½ years. Höner et al. say that when a male co-dominates with a female or is otherwise able to lead, this is because the male was born to the matriarch of the clan and has taken the rank directly below his mother.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The clan is a fission-fusion society, in which clan-members do not often remain together, but may forage alone or in small groups. High-ranking hyenas maintain their position through aggression directed against lower-ranking clan-members. Spotted hyena hierarchy is nepotistic; the offspring of dominant females automatically outrank adult females subordinate to their mother. However, rank in spotted hyena cubs is greatly dependent on the presence of the mother; low-ranking adults may act aggressively toward higher-ranking cubs when the mother is absent. Although individual spotted hyenas only care for their own young, and males take no part in raising their young, cubs are able to identify relatives as distantly related as great-aunts. Also, males associate more closely with their own daughters rather than unrelated cubs, and the latter favor their fathers by acting less aggressively toward them.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Spotted hyena societies are more complex than those of other carnivorous mammals, and are remarkably similar to those of cercopithecine primates in respect to group size, structure, competition and cooperation. Like cercopithecine primates, spotted hyenas use multiple sensory modalities, recognise individual conspecifics, are conscious that some clan-mates may be more reliable than others, recognise third-party kin and rank relationships among clan-mates, and adaptively use this knowledge during social decision making. Also, like cercopithecine primates, dominance ranks in hyena societies are not correlated with size or aggression, but with ally networks. In this latter trait, the spotted hyena further show parallels with primates by acquiring rank through coalition. However, rank reversals and overthrows in spotted hyena clans are very rare. The social network dynamics of spotted hyenas are determined by multiple factors. Environmental factors include rainfall and prey abundance; individual factors include preference to bond with females and with kin; and topological effects include the tendency to close triads in the network. Female hyenas are more flexible than males in their social bonding preferences. Higher ranking adult spotted hyenas tend to have higher telomere length and higher levels of some immune defense proteins in their blood serum.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Territory size is highly variable, ranging from less than 40 km in the Ngorongoro Crater to over 1,000 km in the Kalahari. Home ranges are defended through vocal displays, scent marking and boundary patrols. Clans mark their territories by either pasting or pawing in special latrines located on clan range boundaries. Clan boundaries are usually respected; hyenas chasing prey have been observed to stop dead in their tracks once their prey crosses into another clan's range. Hyenas will however ignore clan boundaries in times of food shortage. Males are more likely to enter another clan's territory than females are, as they are less attached to their natal group and will leave it when in search of a mate. Hyenas travelling in another clan's home range typically exhibit bodily postures associated with fear, particularly when meeting other hyenas. An intruder can be accepted into another clan after a long period of time if it persists in wandering into the clan's territory, dens or kills.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena is a non-seasonal breeder, though a birth peak does occur during the wet season. Females are polyestrous, with an estrus period lasting two weeks. Like many feliform species, the spotted hyena is promiscuous, and no enduring pair bonds are formed. Members of both sexes may copulate with several mates over the course of several years. Males will show submissive behaviour when approaching females in heat, even if the male outweighs his partner. Females usually favour younger males born or joined into the clan after they were born. Older females show a similar preference, with the addition of preferring males with whom they have had long and friendly prior relationships. Passive males tend to have greater success in courting females than aggressive ones. Copulation in spotted hyenas is a relatively short affair, lasting 4–12 minutes, and typically only occurs at night with no other hyenas present. The mating process is complicated, as the male's penis enters and exits the female's reproductive tract through her pseudo-penis rather than directly through the vagina, which is blocked by the false scrotum and testes. These unusual traits make mating more laborious for the male than in other mammals, while also ensuring that forced copulation is physically impossible. Once the female retracts her clitoris, the male enters the female by sliding beneath her, an operation facilitated by the penis's upward angle. Once this is accomplished, a typical mammalian mating posture is adopted. Copulation may be repeated multiple times during a period of several hours. Both partners usually lick their genitals for several minutes after mating.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The length of the gestation period tends to vary greatly, though 110 days is the average length of time. In the final stages of pregnancy, dominant females provide their developing offspring with higher androgen levels than lower-ranking mothers do. The higher androgen levels the result of high concentrations of ovarian androstenedione are thought to be responsible for the extreme masculinization of female behavior and morphology. This has the effect of rendering the cubs of dominant females more aggressive and sexually active than those of lower ranking hyenas; high ranking male cubs will attempt to mount females earlier than lower ranking males. The average litter consists of two cubs, with three occasionally being reported. Males take no part in the raising of young. Giving birth is difficult for female hyenas, as the females give birth through their narrow clitoris, and spotted hyena cubs are the largest carnivoran young relative to their mothers' weight. During parturition, the clitoris ruptures in order to facilitate the passage of the young, and may take weeks to heal.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Cubs are born with soft, brownish black hair, and weigh 1.5 kg on average. Unique among carnivorous mammals, spotted hyenas are also born with their eyes open and with 6–7 mm long canine teeth and 4 mm long incisors. Also, cubs will attack each other shortly after birth. This is particularly apparent in same sexed litters, and can result in the death of the weaker cub. This neonatal siblicide kills an estimated 25% of all hyenas in their first month. Male cubs which survive grow faster and are likelier to achieve reproductive dominance, while female survivors eliminate rivals for dominance in their natal clan. Lactating females can carry of milk in their udders. Spotted hyena milk has the highest protein and fat content of any terrestrial carnivore. Cubs will nurse from their mother for 12–16 months, though they can process solid food as early as three months. Mothers do not regurgitate food for their young. Females are very protective of their cubs, and will not tolerate other adults, particularly males, approaching them. Spotted hyenas exhibit adult behaviours very early in life; cubs have been observed to ritually sniff each other and mark their living space before the age of one month. Within ten days of birth, they are able to move at considerable speed. Cubs begin to lose the black coat and develop the spotted, lighter coloured pelage of the adults at 2–3 months. They begin to exhibit hunting behaviours at the age of eight months, and will begin fully participating in group hunts after their first year. Spotted hyenas reach sexual maturity at the age of three years. The average lifespan in zoos is 12 years, with a maximum of 25 years.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The clan's social life revolves around a communal den. While some clans may use particular den sites for years, others may use several different dens within a year or several den sites simultaneously. Spotted hyena dens can have more than a dozen entrances, and are mostly located on flat ground. The tunnels are usually oval in section, being wider than they are high, and narrow down from an entrance width of ½–1 metre (1.6–7.7 ft) to as small as . In the rocky areas of East Africa and Congo, spotted hyenas use caves as dens, while those in the Serengeti use kopjes as resting areas in daylight hours. Dens have large bare patches around their entrances, where hyenas move or lie down on. Because of their size, adult hyenas are incapable of using the full extent of their burrows, as most tunnels are dug by cubs or smaller animals. The structure of the den, consisting of small underground channels, is likely an effective anti-predator device which protects cubs from predation during the absence of the mother. Spotted hyenas rarely dig their own dens, having been observed for the most part to use the abandoned burrows of warthogs, springhares and jackals. Faeces are usually deposited away from the den, though they urinate wherever they happen to be. Dens are used mostly by several females at once, and it is not uncommon to see up to 20 cubs at a single site. The general form of a spotted hyena den is tunnel-shaped, with a spacious end chamber used for sleeping or breeding. This chamber measures up to in width, the height being rather less. Females generally give birth at the communal den or a private birth den. The latter is primarily used by low status females in order to maintain continual access to their cubs, as well as ensure that they become acquainted with their cubs before transferral to the communal den.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Compared to other hyenas, the spotted hyena shows a greater relative amount of frontal cortex which is involved in the mediation of social behavior. Studies strongly suggest convergent evolution in spotted hyena and primate intelligence. A study done by evolutionary anthropologists demonstrated that spotted hyenas outperform chimpanzees on cooperative problem-solving tests; captive pairs of spotted hyenas were challenged to tug two ropes in unison to earn a food reward, successfully cooperating and learning the maneuvers quickly without prior training. Experienced hyenas even helped inexperienced clan-mates to solve the problem. In contrast, chimps and other primates often require extensive training, and cooperation between individuals is not always as easy for them. The intelligence of the spotted hyena was attested to by Dutch colonists in 19th-century South Africa, who noted that hyenas were exceedingly cunning and suspicious, particularly after successfully escaping from traps. Spotted hyenas seem to plan on hunting specific species in advance; hyenas have been observed to engage in activities such as scent marking before setting off to hunt zebras, a behaviour which does not occur when they target other prey species. Also, spotted hyenas have been recorded to utilise deceptive behaviour, including giving alarm calls during feeding when no enemies are present, thus frightening off other hyenas and allowing them to temporarily eat in peace. Similarly, mothers will emit alarm calls when attempting to interrupt attacks on their cubs by other hyenas.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena is the most carnivorous member of the Hyaenidae. Unlike its brown and striped cousins, the spotted hyena is a predator, not a scavenger; this has been shown since the 1960s. One of the earliest studies to demonstrate their hunting abilities was done by Hans Kruuk, an African wildlife ecologist, and he showed through a 7-year study of hyena populations in Africa that spotted hyenas hunt as much as lions, and with later studies this has been shown to be the average in all areas of Africa. However spotted hyenas remain mislabeled as scavengers, often even by ecologists and wildlife documentary channels.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Wildebeest are the most commonly taken medium-sized ungulate prey item in both Ngorongoro and the Serengeti, with zebra and Thomson's gazelles coming close behind. Cape buffalo are rarely attacked due to differences in habitat preference, though adult bulls have been recorded to be taken on occasion. In Kruger National Park, blue wildebeest, cape buffalo, Burchell's zebra, greater kudu and impala are the spotted hyena's most important prey, while giraffe, impala, wildebeest and zebra are its major food sources in the nearby Timbavati area. Springbok and kudu are the main prey in Namibia's Etosha National Park, and springbok in the Namib. In the southern Kalahari, gemsbok, wildebeest and springbok are the principal prey. In Chobe, the spotted hyena's primary prey consists of migratory zebra and resident impala. In Kenya's Masai Mara, 80% of the spotted hyena's prey consists of topi and Thomson's gazelle, save for during the four-month period when zebra and wildebeest herds migrate to the area. Bushbuck, suni and buffalo are the dominant prey items in the Aberdare Mountains, while Grant's gazelle, gerenuk, sheep, goats and cattle are likely preyed upon in northern Kenya.


title: Spotted hyena

text: In west Africa, the spotted hyena is primarily a scavenger who will occasionally attack domestic stock and medium-size antelopes in some areas. In Cameroon, it is common for spotted hyenas to feed on small antelopes like kob, but may also scavenge on reedbuck, kongoni, buffalo, giraffe, African elephant, topi and roan antelope carcasses. Records indicate that spotted hyenas in Malawi feed on medium to large-sized ungulates such as waterbuck and impala. In Tanzania's Selous Game Reserve, spotted hyenas primarily prey on wildebeest, followed by buffalo, zebra, impala, giraffe, reedbuck and kongoni. In Uganda, it is thought that the species primarily preys on birds and reptiles, while in Zambia it is considered a scavenger.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Where spotted hyenas and lions occupy the same geographic area, the two species occupy the same ecological niche, and are thus in direct competition with one another. In some cases, the extent of dietary overlap can be as high as 68.8%. Lions typically ignore spotted hyenas, unless they are on a kill or are being harassed by them. There exists a common misconception that hyenas steal kills from lions, but most often it is the other way around, and lions will readily steal the kills of spotted hyenas. In the Ngorongoro Crater, it is common for lions to subsist largely on kills stolen from hyenas. Lions are quick to follow the calls of hyenas feeding, a fact demonstrated by field experiments, during which lions repeatedly approached whenever the tape-recorded calls of hyenas feeding were played.


title: Spotted hyena

text: When confronted on a kill by lions, spotted hyenas will either leave or wait patiently at a distance of 30–100 metres until the lions have finished eating. In some cases, spotted hyenas are bold enough to feed alongside lions, and may occasionally force lions off a kill. This mostly occurs during the nighttime, when hyenas are bolder. Spotted hyenas usually prevail against groups of lionesses unaccompanied by males if they outnumber them 4:1. In some instances they were seen to have taken on and routed two pride males while outnumbering them 5:1.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The two species may act aggressively toward one another even when there is no food at stake. Lions may charge at hyenas and maul them for no apparent reason; one male lion was filmed killing two hyenas on separate occasions without eating them, and lion predation can account for up to 71% of hyena deaths in Etosha. Spotted hyenas have adapted to this pressure by frequently mobbing lions which enter their territories. Experiments on captive spotted hyenas revealed that specimens with no prior experience with lions act indifferently to the sight of them, but will react fearfully to the scent.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Although cheetahs and leopards preferentially prey on smaller animals than those hunted by spotted hyenas, hyenas will steal their kills when the opportunity presents itself. Cheetahs are usually easily intimidated by hyenas, and put up little resistance, while leopards, particularly males, may stand up to hyenas. There are records of some male leopards preying on hyenas. Hyenas are nonetheless dangerous opponents for leopards; there is at least one record of a young adult male leopard dying from a sepsis infection caused by wounds inflicted by a spotted hyena. There is also a case of two spotted hyenas killing and eating a young male leopard in Timbavati Game Reserve, apparently in revenge after a young hyena was killed by the leopard.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Spotted hyenas will follow packs of African wild dogs in order to appropriate their kills. They will typically inspect areas where wild dogs have rested and eat any food remains they find. When approaching wild dogs at a kill, solitary hyenas will approach cautiously and attempt to take off with a piece of meat unnoticed, though they may be mobbed by the dogs in the attempt. When operating in groups, spotted hyenas are more successful in pirating dog kills, though the dog's greater tendency to assist each other puts them at an advantage against spotted hyenas, who rarely work in unison. Cases of dogs scavenging from spotted hyenas are rare. Although wild dog packs can easily repel solitary hyenas, on the whole, the relationship between the two species is a one sided benefit for the hyenas, with wild dog densities being negatively correlated with high hyena populations.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Black-backed and side-striped jackals, and African wolves will feed alongside hyenas, though they will be chased if they approach too closely. Spotted hyenas will sometimes follow jackals and wolves during the gazelle fawning season, as jackals and wolves are effective at tracking and catching young animals. Hyenas do not take to eating wolf flesh readily; four hyenas were reported to take half an hour in eating a golden wolf. Overall, the two animals typically ignore each other when there is no food or young at stake.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Though they readily take to water to catch and store prey, spotted hyenas will avoid crocodile-infested waters, and usually keep a safe distance from Nile crocodiles. Recent observations shows that African rock pythons can hunt adult spotted hyenas.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Spotted hyenas dominate other hyena species wherever their ranges overlap. Brown hyenas encounter spotted hyenas in the Kalahari, where the brown outnumber the spotted. The two species typically encounter each other on carcasses, which the larger spotted species usually appropriate. Sometimes, brown hyenas will stand their ground and raise their manes while emitting growls. This usually has the effect of seemingly confusing spotted hyenas, which will act bewildered, though they will occasionally attack and maul their smaller cousins. Similar interactions have been recorded between spotted and striped hyenas in the Serengeti.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Spotted hyenas have a complex set of postures in communication. When afraid, the ears are folded flat, and are often combined with baring of the teeth and a flattening of the mane. When attacked by other hyenas or by wild dogs, the hyena lowers its hindquarters. Before and during an assertive attack, the head is held high with the ears cocked, mouth closed, mane erect and the hindquarters high. The tail usually hangs down when neutral, though it will change position according to the situation. When a high tendency to flee an attacker is apparent, the tail is curled below the belly. During an attack, or when excited, the tail is carried forward on the back. An erect tail does not always accompany a hostile encounter, as it has also been observed to occur when a harmless social interaction occurs. Although they do not wag their tails, spotted hyenas will flick their tails when approaching dominant animals or when there is a slight tendency to flee. When approaching a dominant animal, subordinate spotted hyenas will walk on the knees of their forelegs in submission. Greeting ceremonies among clan-members consist of two individuals standing parallel to each other and facing opposite directions. Both individuals raise their hind legs and lick each other's anogenital area. During these greeting ceremonies, the penis or pseudo-penis often becomes erect, in both males and females. Erection is usually a sign of submission, rather than dominance, and is more common in males than in females.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena has an extensive vocal range, with sounds ranging from whoops, fast whoops, grunts, groans, lows, giggles, yells, growls, soft grunt-laughs, loud grunt-laughs, whines and soft squeals. The loud "" call, along with the maniacal laughter, are among the most recognisable sounds of Africa. Typically, very high-pitched calls indicate fear or submission, while loud, lower-pitched calls express aggression. The pitch of the laugh indicates the hyena's age, while variations in the frequency of notes used when hyenas make noises convey information about the animal's social rank.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Spotted hyenas may contract brucellosis, rinderpest and anaplasmosis. They are vulnerable to "Trypanosoma congolense", which is contracted by consuming already infected herbivores, rather than through direct infection from tsetse flies. It is known that adult spotted hyenas in the Serengeti have antibodies against rabies, canine herpes, canine brucellosis, canine parvovirus, feline calicivirus, leptospirosis, bovine brucellosis, rinderpest and anaplasmosis. During the canine distemper outbreak of 1993–94, molecular studies indicated that the viruses isolated from hyenas and lions were more closely related to each other than to the closest canine distemper virus in dogs. Evidence of canine distemper in spotted hyenas has also been recorded in the Masai Mara. Exposure to rabies does not cause clinical symptoms or affect individual survival or longevity. Analyses of several hyena saliva samples showed that the species is unlikely to be a rabies vector, thus indicating that the species catches the disease from other animals rather than from intraspecifics. The microfilaria of "Dipetalonema dracuneuloides" have been recorded in spotted hyenas in northern Kenya. The species is known to carry at least three cestode species of the genus "Taenia", none of which are harmful to humans. It also carries protozoan parasites of the genus "Hepatozoon" in the Serengeti, Kenya and South Africa. Spotted hyenas may act as hosts in the life-cycles of various parasites which start life in herbivores; "Taenia hyaenae" and "T. olnogojinae" occur in hyenas in their adult phase. "Trichinella spiralis" are found as cysts in hyena muscles.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena's distribution once ranged in Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the Urals, where it remained for at least one million years. Remains have also been found in the Russian Far East, and it has been theorised that the presence of hyenas there may have delayed the colonisation of North America. The causes of the species' extinction in Eurasia are still largely unknown. In Western Europe at least, the spotted hyena's extinction coincided with a decline in grasslands 12,500 years ago. Europe experienced a massive loss of lowland habitats favoured by spotted hyenas, and a corresponding increase in mixed woodlands. Spotted hyenas, under these circumstances, would have been outcompeted by wolves and humans which were as much at home in forests as in open lands, and in highlands as in lowlands. Spotted hyena populations began to shrink roughly 20,000 years ago, completely disappearing from Western Europe between 14 and 11,000 years ago, and earlier in some areas.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Historically, the spotted hyena was widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. It is present in all habitats save for the most extreme desert conditions, tropical rainforests and the top of alpine mountains. Its current distribution is patchy in many places, especially in West Africa. Populations are concentrated in protected areas and surrounding land. There is a continuous distribution over large areas of Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia and the Transvaal Lowveld areas of South Africa. During the 1770s and 1780s the species was still widespread in southern and western South Africa, being recorded on the Cape Peninsula and Cape Flats, and near present-day Somerset West, Riviersonderend, Mossel Bay, George, Joubertina, Gamtoos River, Jansenville, Cannon Rocks, Alice, Onseepkans and Augrabies Falls.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The species dwells in semi-deserts, savannah, open woodland, dense dry woodland, and mountainous forests up to 4,000 m in altitude. It is scarce or absent in tropical rainforests and coastal areas. Its preferred habitats in west Africa include the Guinea and Sudan savannahs, and is absent in the belt of dense coastal forest. In the Namib Desert, it occurs in riverine growth along seasonal rivers, the sub-desertic pro-Namib and the adjoining inland plateau. In ideal habitats, the spotted hyena outnumbers other large carnivores, including other hyena species. However, the striped and brown hyena occur at greater densities than the spotted species in desert and semi-desert regions. Population densities based on systematic censuses vary substantially, from 0.006 to 1.7 individuals per km.


title: Spotted hyena

text: In Africa, the spotted hyena is usually portrayed as an abnormal and ambivalent animal, considered to be sly, brutish, necrophagous and dangerous. It further embodies physical power, excessiveness, ugliness, stupidity, as well as sacredness. Spotted hyenas vary in their folkloric and mythological depictions, depending on the ethnic group from which the tales originate. It is often difficult to know whether or not spotted hyenas are the specific hyena species featured in such stories, particularly in West Africa, as both spotted and striped hyenas are often given the same names. In west African tales, spotted hyenas symbolise immorality, dirty habits, the reversal of normal activities, and other negative traits, and are sometimes depicted as bad Muslims who challenge the local animism that exists among the Beng in Côte d’Ivoire. In East Africa, Tabwa mythology portrays the spotted hyena as a solar animal that first brought the sun to warm the cold earth.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Spotted hyenas feature prominently in the rituals of certain African cultures. In the Gelede cult of the Yoruba people of Benin and Southwest Nigeria, a spotted hyena mask is used at dawn to signal the end of the ceremony. As the spotted hyena usually finishes the meals of other carnivores, the animal is associated with the conclusion of all things. Among the Korè cult of the Bambara people in Mali, the belief that spotted hyenas are hermaphrodites appears as an ideal in-between in the ritual domain. The role of the spotted hyena mask in their rituals is often to turn the neophyte into a complete moral being by integrating his male principles with femininity. The Beng people believe that upon finding a freshly killed hyena with its anus inverted, one must plug it back in, for fear of being struck down with perpetual laughter. They also view spotted hyena faeces as contaminating, and will evacuate a village if a hyena relieves itself within village boundaries. In Harar, Ethiopia, spotted hyenas are regularly fed by the city's inhabitants, who believe the hyenas' presence keeps devils at bay, and associate mystical properties such as fortune telling to them.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Traditional Western beliefs about the spotted hyena can be traced back to Aristotle's "Historia Animalium", which described the species as a necrophagous, cowardly and potentially dangerous animal. He further described how the hyena uses retching noises to attract dogs. In "On the Generation of Animals", Aristotle criticised the erroneous belief that the spotted hyena is a hermaphrodite (which likely originated from the confusion caused by the masculinised genitalia of the female), though his physical descriptions are more consistent with the striped hyena. Pliny the Elder supported Aristotle's depiction, though he further elaborated that the hyena can imitate human voices. Additionally, he wrote how the hyena was held in high regard among the Magi, and that hyena body parts could cure different diseases, give protection and stimulate sexual desire in people.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Natural historians of the 18th and 19th centuries rejected stories of hermaphroditism in hyenas, and recognised the differences between the spotted and striped hyena. However, they continued to focus on the species' scavenging habits, their potential to rob graves and their perceived cowardice. During the 20th century, Western and African stereotypes of the spotted hyena converged; in both Ernest Hemingway's "Green Hills of Africa" and Disney's "The Lion King", the traits of gluttony and comical stupidity, common in African depictions of hyenas, are added to the Western perception of hyenas being cowardly and ugly. After the release of "The Lion King", hyena biologists protested against the animal's portrayal: one hyena researcher sued Disney studios for defamation of character, and another who had organized the animators' visit to the University of California's Field Station for Behavioural Research, where they would observe and sketch captive hyenas suggested boycotting the film.


title: Spotted hyena

text: When targeting livestock, the spotted hyena primarily preys upon cattle, sheep and goats, though hyenas in the southern parts of Tigray Region of Ethiopia preferentially target donkeys. Reports of livestock damage are often not substantiated, and hyenas observed scavenging on a carcass may be mistaken for having killed the animal. The rate at which the species targets livestock may depend on a number of factors, including stock keeping practices, the availability of wild prey and human-associated sources of organic material, such as rubbish. Surplus killing has been recorded in South Africa's eastern Cape Province. Attacks on stock tend to be fewer in areas where livestock is corralled by thorn fences and where domestic dogs are present. One study in northern Kenya revealed that 90% of all cases of livestock predation by hyenas occurred in areas outside the protection of thorn fences.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Like most mammalian predators, the spotted hyena is typically shy in the presence of humans, and has the highest flight distance (up to 300 metres) among African carnivores. However, this distance is reduced during the night, when hyenas are known to follow people closely. Although spotted hyenas do prey on humans in modern times, such incidents are rare. However, attacks on humans by spotted hyenas are likely to be underreported. Man-eating spotted hyenas tend to be very large specimens; a pair of man-eating hyenas, responsible for killing 27 people in Mlanje, Malawi, in 1962, were weighed at after being shot. Victims of spotted hyenas tend to be women, children and sick or infirm men, and there are numerous cases of biologists in Africa being forced up trees to escape them. Attacks occur most commonly in September, when many people sleep outdoors, and bush fires make the hunting of wild game difficult for hyenas.


title: Spotted hyena

text: In 1903, Hector Duff wrote of how spotted hyenas in the Mzimba district of Angoniland would wait at dawn outside people's huts and attack them when they opened their doors. In 1908–09 in Uganda, spotted hyenas regularly killed sufferers of African sleeping sickness as they slept outside in camps. Spotted hyenas are widely feared in Malawi, where they have been known to occasionally attack people at night, particularly during the hot season when people sleep outside. Hyena attacks were widely reported in Malawi's Phalombe plain, to the north of Michesi Mountain. Five deaths were recorded in 1956, five in 1957 and six in 1958. This pattern continued until 1961 when eight people were killed. During the 1960s, Flying Doctors received over two dozen cases of hyena attacks on humans in Kenya. An anecdotal 2004 news report from the World Wide Fund for Nature indicates that 35 people were killed by spotted hyenas during a 12-month period in Mozambique along a 20 km stretch of road near the Tanzanian border.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Although attacks against living humans are rare, the spotted hyena readily feeds on human corpses. In the tradition of the Maasai and the Hadza, corpses are left in the open for spotted hyenas to eat. A corpse rejected by hyenas is seen as having something wrong with it, and liable to cause social disgrace, therefore it is not uncommon for bodies to be covered in fat and blood from a slaughtered ox. In Ethiopia, hyenas were reported to feed extensively on the corpses of victims of the 1960 attempted coup and the Red Terror. Hyenas habituated to scavenging on human corpses may develop bold behaviours towards living people; hyena attacks on people in southern Sudan increased during the Second Sudanese Civil War, when human corpses were readily available to them.


title: Spotted hyena

text: In some parts of Africa, spotted hyenas have begun to frequent metropolitan areas, where groups or "clans" of the animals have become a menace. The Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is estimated to have up to a thousand resident hyenas which survive by scavenging rubbish tips and preying on feral dogs and cats. There have also been attacks on homeless people. In 2013, a baby boy was killed by hyenas after being snatched from his mother as she camped near the Hilton Hotel. Some 40 of the animals were reportedly seen alongside a fence bordering the British Embassy compound. In December 2013, a cull was organised and marksmen killed ten hyenas which had occupied wasteland near the city centre.


title: Spotted hyena

text: The spotted hyena has been hunted for its body parts for use in traditional medicine, for amusement, and for sport, though this is rare, as the species is generally not considered attractive. There is fossil evidence of humans in Middle Pleistocene Europe butchering and presumably consuming spotted hyenas. Such incidences are rare in modern Africa, where most tribes, even those known to eat unusual kinds of meat, generally despise hyena flesh.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Several authors during the Scramble for Africa attested that, despite its physical strength, the spotted hyena poses no danger to hunters when captured or cornered. It was often the case that native skinners refused to even touch hyena carcasses, though this was not usually a problem, as hyena skins were not considered attractive.


title: Spotted hyena

text: In Burkina Faso, the hyena's tail is used for medicinal and magical purposes. In Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal, the animals' whole body is harvested for bushmeat and medicine. In Malawi and Tanzania, the genitalia, nose tips and tails are used for traditional medicine. In Mozambique, traditional healers use various spotted hyena body parts, particularly the paws. Oromo hunters typically go through ritual purification after killing hyenas. Kujamaat hunters traditionally treat the spotted hyenas they kill with the same respect due to deceased tribal elders, in order to avoid retribution from hyena spirits acting on behalf of the dead animal.


title: Spotted hyena

text: During the early years of Dutch colonisation in southern Africa, hyenas (referred to as "wolves" by the colonists) were especially susceptible to trapping, as their predilection for eating carrion, and lack of caution about enclosed spaces, worked against them. A feature of many frontier farms was the "wolwehok" (hyena trap), which was roughly constructed from stone or wood and baited with meat. The trap featured a trap-door, which was designed to shut once the bait was disturbed. In the Cape Colony, spotted hyenas were often hunted by tracking them to their dens and shooting them as they escaped. Another hunting method was to trap them in their dens and dazzle them with torchlight, before stabbing them in the heart with a long knife.


title: Spotted hyena

text: When chased by hunting dogs, spotted hyenas often attack back, unless the dogs are of exceptionally large, powerful breeds. James Stevenson-Hamilton wrote that wounded spotted hyenas could be dangerous adversaries for hunting dogs, recording an incident in which a hyena managed to kill a dog with a single bite to the neck without breaking the skin. Further difficulties in killing spotted hyenas with dogs include the species' thick skin, which prevents dogs from inflicting serious damage to the animal's muscles.


title: Spotted hyena

text: From a husbandry point of view, hyenas are easily kept, as they have few disease problems and it is not uncommon for captive hyenas to reach 15–20 years of age. One study of the hyena immune system showed that captive hyenas had lower levels for immune defenses than hyenas from the wild population that was used to establish the captive population. Nevertheless, the spotted hyena was historically scantily represented in zoos, and was typically obtained in order to fill empty cages until a more prestigious species could be obtained. In subsequent years, animals considered to be more charismatic were allocated larger and better quality facilities, while hyenas were often relegated to inferior exhibits.


title: Spotted hyena

text: In modern times, the species faces spatial competition from more popular animals, especially large canids. Also, many captive individuals have not been closely examined to confirm their sexes, thus resulting in non-breeding pairs often turning out to be same-sexed individuals. As a result, many captive hyena populations are facing extinction.


title: Spotted hyena

text: During the 19th century, the species was frequently displayed in travelling circuses as oddities. Alfred Brehm wrote that the spotted hyena is harder to tame than the striped hyena, and that performing specimens in circuses were not up to standard. Sir John Barrow described how spotted hyenas in Sneeuberge were trained to hunt game, writing that they were "as faithful and diligent as any of the common domestic dogs".


title: Spotted hyena

text: In Tanzania, spotted hyena cubs may be taken from a communal den by witchdoctors, in order to increase their social status. An April 2004 BBC article described how a shepherd living in the small town of Qabri Bayah about 50 kilometres from Jigjiga, Ethiopia managed to use a male spotted hyena as a livestock guardian dog, suppressing its urge to leave and find a mate by feeding it special herbs. If not raised with adult members of their kind, captive spotted hyenas will exhibit scent marking behaviours much later in life than wild specimens.


title: Spotted hyena

text: Although easily tamed, spotted hyenas are exceedingly difficult to house train, and can be very destructive; a captive, otherwise perfectly tame, specimen in the Tower of London managed to tear an long plank nailed to its recently repaired enclosure floor with no apparent effort. During the research leading to the composition of his monograph "The Spotted Hyena: A Study of Predation and Social Behavior," Hans Kruuk kept a tame hyena he named Solomon. Kruuk found Solomon's company so congenial, he would have kept him, but Solomon had an insatiable taste for "cheese in the bar of the tourist lounge and bacon off the Chief Park Warden's breakfast table", and no door could hold him back, so Solomon was obliged to live out his days in the Edinburgh Zoo.


title: Bianca Lawson

text: Bianca Jasmine Lawson is an American film and television actress. She is known for her regular roles in the television series "", "Goode Behavior", "Pretty Little Liars", and "Rogue". She has also had recurring roles in the series "Sister, Sister", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "The Steve Harvey Show", "Dawson's Creek", "The Secret Life of the American Teenager", "The Vampire Diaries", "Teen Wolf", and "Witches of East End". In 2016, Lawson began starring in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, "Queen Sugar".


title: Bianca Lawson

text: Lawson was born in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of Denise ( Gordy) and actor Richard Lawson, making her the step-daughter to Lawson's second wife Tina Knowles, and step-sister to singers Beyoncé and Solange Knowles. Lawson is also a grand-niece of Motown founder Berry Gordy. She attended the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and graduated from Marymount High School, a Catholic school in Los Angeles. She then went on to study film and psychology at University of Southern California. Lawson's parents are both African-American, and she also has Italian, Native American, Portuguese, and Creole ancestry.


title: Bianca Lawson

text: Lawson began acting at the age of nine, having appeared in commercials for Barbie and Revlon. In 1993, she was cast in the television series "" as series regular Megan Jones. She appeared in multiple episodes of The WB sitcoms "Sister, Sister" as Rhonda Coley and "The Steve Harvey Show" as Rosalind. In 1996, she co-starred in the UPN sitcom "Goode Behavior"—which lasted for just one season—as Bianca Goode, the teenage daughter of the titular family. In 1997, she appeared in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" as vampire slayer Kendra Young. In 1999, she appeared in The WB's "Dawson's Creek" as rival character Nikki Green.


title: Bianca Lawson

text: In 2009, Lawson was cast as Shawna in "The Secret Life of the American Teenager". That same year, she was cast in the CW television series "The Vampire Diaries", as witch Emily Bennett. In December 2009, she was cast as Maya St. Germain in the ABC Family series "Pretty Little Liars", based on the book series by Sara Shepard. She appeared in that show from June 2010 through August 2012. Since 2012, she has had a recurring role as Ms. Morell in the MTV television series "Teen Wolf", based on the original film from 1985. In 2014, Lawson had a recurring role as Eva in "Witches of East End". In 2015, she was cast as series regular Talia Freeman in season three of "Rogue".


title: Bianca Lawson

text: Lawson has made appearances in two different television miniseries. In 1998, she appeared in "The Temptations" as Diana Ross (whom Lawson is related to through Ross's daughter Rhonda Ross Kendrick); and in 2001, she was cast as Anna Bella Monroe in Anne Rice's "The Feast of All Saints". Some of Lawson's film credits to date include "Primary Colors" (1998), "Save the Last Dance" (2001), "Bones" (2001) and "Breakin' All the Rules" (2004). Aside from film and television, Lawson provided her voice to the 2011 video game "". In 2016, Lawson was cast in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, "Queen Sugar" created by Ava DuVernay.


title: Chile national football team

text: The Chile national football team () represents Chile in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Federación de Fútbol de Chile which was established in 1895. The team is commonly referred to as "La Roja" ("The Red One"). Chile have appeared in nine World Cup tournaments and were hosts of the 1962 FIFA World Cup where they finished in third place, the highest position the country has ever achieved in the World Cup.


title: Chile national football team

text: Chile won their first Copa América title on home soil at the 2015 Copa América, defeating Argentina in the final. They successfully defended their title in another final against Argentina won on penalties at Copa América Centenario the following year in the United States. Prior to this, Chile had been runners-up in the competition on four occasions. As a result of winning the 2015 Copa América, they qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, where they finished second, behind Germany, in their debut appearance.


title: Chile national football team

text: The Federación de Fútbol de Chile is the second oldest South American federation, having been founded in Valparaíso on 19 June 1895. Chile was one of the four founding member nations of CONMEBOL. Together with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, the four competed in the first South American Championship, later to be renamed the Copa América, in 1916. On 12 October 1926, Chile made the first corner-kick goal in Copa América history in a match against Bolivia. Chile was one of the thirteen national teams that competed in the inaugural World Cup in 1930. The team started off well, beating Mexico and France without conceding a goal. A 3–1 loss to Argentina in the final game left the Chilean team in second place within the group, eliminating it from the tournament. In the 1950 World Cup, Chile defeated the United States, 5–2, but nevertheless was eliminated in the first round.


title: Chile national football team

text: The best Chilean result in the World Cup was third place in 1962, as the host nation. Chile lost 4–2 to eventual champion Brazil in a semi-final but went on to defeat Yugoslavia 1–0 to earn third place. Chilean players made two World Cup firsts: the first player to miss a World Cup penalty kick was the Chilean Guillermo Subiabre, in a 1930 FIFA World Cup match against France, and Carlos Caszely of Chile became the first player to be sent off with a red card, during a match against West Germany at the 1974 World Cup.


title: Chile national football team

text: A scandal known as "El Maracanazo" occurred on 3 September 1989. At a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match at Rio de Janeiro's Maracanã stadium, Brazil led Chile 1–0 and "La Roja" needed to win. Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas fell to the pitch with an apparent injury to his forehead. A firework had been thrown from the stands by a Brazilian fan named Rosenery Mello do Nascimento and was smouldering about a yard away. After Rojas was carried off the pitch, the Chilean players and coaches claimed that conditions were not safe and they refused to return, so the match was abandoned. However, video footage of the match showed that the firework had not made contact with Rojas. FIFA forfeited the game to Brazil, Chile was banned from the qualifiers for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, and Rojas was banned for life, although an amnesty was granted in 2001.


title: Chile national football team

text: On 19 July 2007, the Chilean Football Federation banned six of the national team players, because of "internal indiscipline" during the Copa América tournament, for 20 international matches each as they destroyed the team hotel property while drunk. The players banned were captain Jorge Valdivia, defenders Álvaro Ormeño, Rodrigo Tello, Jorge Vargas, Pablo Contreras and striker Reinaldo Navia. Nelson Acosta's resignation as manager came after Chile were knocked out of the 2007 Copa América. After serving 10 matches from the ban, all players aside from Ormeno sent a letter of apology acknowledging their actions which lifted the ban. Chile had qualified to the quarter-finals after a 3–2 win against Ecuador, and a 0–0 draw against Mexico. But two losses, one of those being a 6–1 defeat against Brazil, sealed Acosta's fate. Former Argentina manager Marcelo Bielsa was given the task of becoming the Chile national team manager in preparation for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.


title: Chile national football team

text: On 16 October 2008, Chile beat Argentina 1–0 for the first time in a qualifying competition, making history. Marcelo Bielsa was acclaimed for this accomplishment by both Chilean and Argentinian people. This match was seen as one of the reasons that ended Alfio Basile's tenure as Argentina's coach.


title: Chile national football team

text: After finishing in second place of the CONMEBOL qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa and reaching the round of 16 at the tournament, head coach Marcelo Bielsa extended his contract with the Chilean national team until 2015.


title: Chile national football team

text: Bielsa stated that he would leave his position if Jorge Segovia were elected as President of the Chilean Football Board. He followed through on this threat, despite Segovia's election being annulled, and resigned in February 2011. Claudio Borghi then became Chile's manager in March 2011.


title: Chile national football team

text: After a string of bad performances and harsh criticisms, Claudio Borghi stepped down as Chile's manager in November 2012. A new manager, Jorge Sampaoli, was appointed in December 2012. A disciple of Marcelo Bielsa, Jorge Sampaoli broke new records for La Roja by winning 10, drawing 3, and losing only 3 of 15 games as the head of the Chilean national team.


title: Chile national football team

text: With Sampaoli, Chile were able to qualify for 2014 FIFA World Cup, reaching to the round of 16, where Chile lost to Brazil in penalties.


title: Chile national football team

text: In the 2015 Copa América, Chile won their first game against Ecuador, with 2–0 being the score. In their second game, Chile drew against Mexico. Chile advanced to the knockout stage as Group A winners with 7 points and most goals scored of any team in the tournament (10). Then they beat Uruguay in the quarterfinals and Peru in the semifinals. In the final, Chile defeated Argentina on penalties (4–1) after a 0–0 draw, to win their first Copa America title.


title: Chile national football team

text: In January 2016, just six months after winning the 2015 Copa America, Jorge Sampaoli stepped down as Chile's manager. A new manager, the Argentinean Juan Antonio Pizzi, was appointed at the end of the same month, who then led "La Roja" to a second Copa America Centenario 2016 victory after again beating Argentina in the final.


title: Chile national football team

text: In the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup held in Russia, for which they had qualified by winning the Copa America, Chile won their first group stage match against Cameroon with 2–0 being the score. In their second match against the Germany, Chile drew after a hard match and both team scored 1. In their final game of the group stage against Australia, Chile drew once again but qualified to the knockout stage on virtue of having more points than Australia, though having less points than Germany. In the semis, after a tense and exciting match, Chile came out on top, beating Portugal on Penalties, 3–0 and hence they qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup Final. In their first ever final in a FIFA-sanctioned tournament, Chile faced Germany and lost 1–0.


title: Chile national football team

text: On 10 October 2017, after losing 3–0 to Brazil, Chile failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, causing an end to what was perceived as their "golden generation". They ended up being the highest ranked team that failed to qualify at 9th, placing sixth in the round-robin after losing out on overall goal difference to Peru, the number of points being equal.


title: Chile national football team

text: The team kit consists of a red jersey, blue shorts, and white socks. The away jersey features a white jersey, white shorts, and blue socks. The color scheme of red, white, and blue that was featured in the 1947 South American Championship, the precursor of the Copa América, has remained in place since. In 2016, red shorts were introduced as an option for the first time.


title: Chile national football team

text: In August 2010, Puma acquired the contract to be the official kit supplier for the Chilean team from 2011 to 2015, paying US$ 3 million per year, also providing referees' kits and balls for domestic club competitions. The previous kit supplier, from 2004 to 2010 including the 2010 World Cup, was Brooks Sports.


title: Chile national football team

text: Puma company ended its link after the 2015 Copa América with the tender for the new brand that will outfit the team since August 2015. This procedure was won by the American company Nike. The contract with Nike was supposed to last until the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but ended prematurely when the Chilean Football Federation sued Nike for missing payments in 2021. This dispute lead to Chile blocking the Nike patch with a flag during the 2021 Copa América. On 1 September 2021, Adidas were announced as the national team kit supplier until 2026.


title: Chile national football team

text: The Chilean national team plays their qualifying matches at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos located in Santiago, Chile and can be found at the commune of Ñuñoa. The construction of the stadium began in February 1937, and opened on 3 December 1938. The current official registered capacity is of 49,000 spectators, but has surpassed the 75,000 mark on many occasions when the match is of high demand. An example would be the 1962 FIFA World Cup semi-final match Chile vs. Brazil, where over 76,000 spectators viewed the game. The maximum attendance ever was 85,262 on 26 December 1962, for a game between Universidad Católica and Universidad de Chile.


title: Chile national football team

text: It has hosted four Copa América finals, the final of the 1962 FIFA World Cup and the final to the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship.


title: Chile national football team

text: Chile has no special rivalry, however, two matches are considered important: those against Argentina, and Peru.


title: Chile national football team

text: With 90 games played, is the most played fixture in the history of the Chilean national team and the third most played for Argentina after their encounters with Uruguay and Brazil. The teams' first meeting was in Buenos Aires on 27 May 1910, and matches always draw large crowds in Chile. Only 1 of the 6 victories on the 90 games played, was in an official competition, which occurred in 2010 World Cup qualification.


title: Chile national football team

text: The Chile–Peru football rivalry is known in Spanish as the "Clásico del Pacífico" ("Pacific Derby"). The rivalry is considered to be one of the fiercest rivalries in the world, with CNN World Sport editor Greg Duke ranking it among the top ten football rivalries in the world. The rivalry between Chile and Peru stems from historical politics, border disputes, and the War of the Pacific, with the rivalry producing some of the most intense matches in South American footballing history.


title: Chile national football team

text: The following players were called up to the squad for the friendly matches against Poland and Slovakia on 16 and 20 November 2022, respectively.


title: Stellar classification

text: In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the rainbow of colors interspersed with spectral lines. Each line indicates a particular chemical element or molecule, with the line strength indicating the abundance of that element. The strengths of the different spectral lines vary mainly due to the temperature of the photosphere, although in some cases there are true abundance differences. The "spectral class" of a star is a short code primarily summarizing the ionization state, giving an objective measure of the photosphere's temperature.


title: Stellar classification

text: Most stars are currently classified under the Morgan–Keenan (MK) system using the letters "O", "B", "A", "F", "G", "K", and "M", a sequence from the hottest ("O" type) to the coolest ("M" type). Each letter class is then subdivided using a numeric digit with "0" being hottest and "9" being coolest (e.g., A8, A9, F0, and F1 form a sequence from hotter to cooler). The sequence has been expanded with classes for other stars and star-like objects that do not fit in the classical system, such as class "D" for white dwarfs and classes "S" and "C" for carbon stars.


title: Stellar classification

text: In the MK system, a luminosity class is added to the spectral class using Roman numerals. This is based on the width of certain absorption lines in the star's spectrum, which vary with the density of the atmosphere and so distinguish giant stars from dwarfs. Luminosity class "0" or "Ia+" is used for "hypergiants", class "I" for "supergiants", class "II" for bright "giants", class "III" for regular "giants", class "IV" for "subgiants", class "V" for "main-sequence stars", class "sd" (or "VI") for "subdwarfs", and class "D" (or "VII") for "white dwarfs". The full spectral class for the Sun is then G2V, indicating a main-sequence star with a surface temperature around 5,800 K.


title: Stellar classification

text: The conventional colour description takes into account only the peak of the stellar spectrum. In actuality, however, stars radiate in all parts of the spectrum. Because all spectral colours combined appear white, the actual apparent colours the human eye would observe are far lighter than the conventional colour descriptions would suggest. This characteristic of 'lightness' indicates that the simplified assignment of colours within the spectrum can be misleading. Excluding colour-contrast effects in dim light, in typical viewing conditions there are no green, cyan, indigo, or violet stars. "Yellow" dwarfs such as the Sun are white, "red" dwarfs are a deep shade of yellow/orange, and "brown" dwarfs do not literally appear brown, but hypothetically would appear dim red or grey/black to a nearby observer.


title: Stellar classification

text: The modern classification system is known as the "Morgan–Keenan" (MK) classification. Each star is assigned a spectral class (from the older Harvard spectral classification, which did not include luminosity) and a luminosity class using Roman numerals as explained below, forming the star's spectral type.


title: Stellar classification

text: Other modern stellar classification systems, such as the UBV system, are based on color indices—the measured differences in three or more color magnitudes. Those numbers are given labels such as "U−V" or "B−V", which represent the colors passed by two standard filters (e.g. "U"ltraviolet, "B"lue and "V"isual).