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Artwork (Digital) / Portraits
Species Hyena
Size 750 x 1125
File Size 835.8 kB
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I’m glad it wasn’t the last time.
Finally I’m back to making paintings again! (:
Category Artwork (Digital) / Portraits
Species Hyena
Size 750 x 1125px
File Size 835.8 kB
This is lovely--it reminds me of one of my own characters, Madame Jade, who is a wealthy striped hyena "lady of negotiable virtue" in my comic strip "Carry On." They even both have blue-green eyes!
I've noticed that striped hyenas usually get drawn as "pretty" hyenas, while spotted hyenas are drawn as "ugly" thug hyenas.
I've noticed that striped hyenas usually get drawn as "pretty" hyenas, while spotted hyenas are drawn as "ugly" thug hyenas.
Yeah, there's something to that. It might be connected to the pop culture appearances of hyenas. Spotted hyenas are usually what appear in media. A big influence are the spotted hyenas from Lion King which are the kind of ugly thugs of the story. For people to know striped hyenas, they usually need to learn a bit more about them and then inevitably find out that they're very different from what they're often portrayed as. I'm glad that you can appreciate them for their beauty too. (:
The funny thing--at least to me--is that the "spotted hyenas" of TLK aren't actually spotted hyenas. To my eye, they're a combination of striped and spotted. They have the general body shape of spotted hyenas and were allegedly based on the research pack at Berkeley, but their coloration, markings, and--in the case of Janja of "The Lion Guard--the pointed ears of striped hyenas. They have stripes and spots, so it's like the animators aren't quite clear on the subject. Stitch from "Lilo and Stitch" seems more like a spotted hyena to me!
It's interesting to note that striped hyenas have a much longer history with human beings, as they're native to the Middle East, North Africa, southern Europe, and east Asia, while spotted hyenas weren't really known to Europeans until colonial times. So really, the whole graverobbing skulking coward image of hyenas was due to the striped hyenas. I mean, their taxonomic name is "Hyena hyena," while spotted hyenas are "Crocuta crocuta." And physiologically they're very different--striped hyenas have six teats and normal genitals, while the spotted hyenas have two teats and masculinized genitals. I'm not sure that spotted hyenas shouldn't be in their own family, to be honest, because they're so morphologically weird.
Recently of course, spotted hyenas are getting much more exposure--most of it bad, unfortunately.
I didn't know much about hyenas until after I started my comic, and the more research I did, the more fascinating I found them to be.
I also think that the Egyptian goddess Amerait, Devourer of the Dead, with her "mouth like a crocodile, forequarters like a leopard, and hindquarters like a hippo" was actually supposed to be a spotted hyena.
It's interesting to note that striped hyenas have a much longer history with human beings, as they're native to the Middle East, North Africa, southern Europe, and east Asia, while spotted hyenas weren't really known to Europeans until colonial times. So really, the whole graverobbing skulking coward image of hyenas was due to the striped hyenas. I mean, their taxonomic name is "Hyena hyena," while spotted hyenas are "Crocuta crocuta." And physiologically they're very different--striped hyenas have six teats and normal genitals, while the spotted hyenas have two teats and masculinized genitals. I'm not sure that spotted hyenas shouldn't be in their own family, to be honest, because they're so morphologically weird.
Recently of course, spotted hyenas are getting much more exposure--most of it bad, unfortunately.
I didn't know much about hyenas until after I started my comic, and the more research I did, the more fascinating I found them to be.
I also think that the Egyptian goddess Amerait, Devourer of the Dead, with her "mouth like a crocodile, forequarters like a leopard, and hindquarters like a hippo" was actually supposed to be a spotted hyena.
Those some good points! But I think details like the pointy ears are more of a result of people drawing the hyenas like dogs. I remember seeing "hyenas" in World of Warcraft, which where just reskinned wolves. I still hear a lot from people with incorrect ideas for what hyenas are. I also heard from people that they're certain that female striped hyenas have masculinized genitals like spotted hyenas. And even among people who seem very interested in hyenas, you get a lot of false facts. Like the idea that female hyenas are bigger, stronger and more dominant than males is one that's disproven by hyena researchers, but nonetheless persistent in the minds of many.
And yes! There are a fun mythological creatures that are based on descriptions of actual animals. Like the unicorn is very likely based on descriptions of a rhinoceros. And artists depictions based on those descriptions then later evolved over time. Similarly, dragon's ability to breath fire likely evolved from misinterpretations of depictions of large reptiles with forked tongues. The oldest European drawings of dragons don't look much different from normal monitor lizards. The artistic liberty of popular artists can have a lot of influence down the line. :D
And yes! There are a fun mythological creatures that are based on descriptions of actual animals. Like the unicorn is very likely based on descriptions of a rhinoceros. And artists depictions based on those descriptions then later evolved over time. Similarly, dragon's ability to breath fire likely evolved from misinterpretations of depictions of large reptiles with forked tongues. The oldest European drawings of dragons don't look much different from normal monitor lizards. The artistic liberty of popular artists can have a lot of influence down the line. :D
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