A mother hyena will do anything to protect her babies -- even, in this case, when she’s fighting for her own life.

A pregnant brown hyena was walking along the Savé River in Zimbabwe when she became caught in a hunting snare set by poachers. Reacting to the trauma, the hyena delivered three cubs on the spot -- but she was still stuck (it’s worth noting that hyena birth is notoriously painful, and many mothers don’t even make it through the experience).

Despite fighting for her own life, the mother’s instinct was still to protect her babies, so she dug a small den under herself to keep them safe. This was when rescuers from the African Wildlife Conservation Fund came across her, having been tipped off of a wounded hyena in the area. They darted her with a tranquilizer and approached to find a surprise -- two cubs squirming around in the dirt, just a few days old (sadly, one of the cubs had died before they arrived).

Immediately, the workers removed the snare, treated the mother’s wounds (which, luckily, weren’t deep) and gave her antibiotics and an IV to stave off dehydration.


They nugded the pups toward their mother and, stunningly, they began to suckle.

The rescuers moved away to watch an incredible moment in mothering history. They wrote on their Facebook page:


We swiftly moved away, and out of sight, so as not to alarm the hyaena when she woke up. We watched from a distance and were elated when we saw the female back on her feet and acknowledging the pups! What we witnessed yesterday was testament to the resilience of wild animals.

The team returned later to find that the dedicated mother had moved along to another den, bringing her cubs along with her, all of them living through a near-fatal saga.
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"Hyenas are intelligent animals that are full of surprises and this film shares these surprises so that you'll understand these powerful animals better"

This documentary is part of a series that takes the viewer inside the family life of wild animal species to observe the relationships, habits, duties, and benefits of each family member.

In this film, a Spotted Hyena family goes about its tasks of securing food, shelter, and offspring. The alpha member of the pack is the female, who leads the way in hunting, mating, and migrating.

Outstanding wildlife photography shows the highly socialised Hyena community at work, rest, and play. The viewer is put right into the natural habitat of these fearless hunters, the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.


Hyenas have relatively short torsos and are fairly massive and wolf-like in build, but have lower hind quarters, high withers and their backs slope noticeably downward toward their croups. The forelegs are high, while the hind legs are very short and their necks are thick and short. Their skulls superficially resemble those of large canids, but are much larger and heavier, with shorter facial portions. Hyenas are digitigrade, with the fore and hind paws having four digits each and sporting bulging pawpads. Like canids, hyenas have short, blunt, non-retractable claws. Their pelage is sparse and coarse with poorly developed or absent underfur. Most species have a rich mane of long hair running from the withers or from the head. With the exception of the spotted hyena, hyaenids have striped coats, which they likely inherited from their viverrid ancestors