Fear of this representative of wild cats is familiar to many animals living in Africa. Even lions are wary of these relatively small predators. And if the king of beasts collides with a clan of hyenas, he himself will not be able to repel them, although a lion cannot be called weak. But ostriches are a completely different matter. They are quite capable of avoiding death, standing up for themselves and their offspring.
What ostriches do in a difficult situation
The fact that these birds are gigantic in size and one of the most powerful blows is known to many. If they are in danger, then they can knock out the lion. In addition to the lion, there are other representatives of the animal world that pose a danger to them, for example, cheetahs, leopards and, of course, spotted hyenas.
By the way, only cheetahs can catch up with an ostrich that has accelerated to 70 kilometers per hour, so they are the most dangerous, but only if there are several of them. One cheetah has a relatively small size and body weight, so a large bird is simply too tough for him.
Ostriches successfully escape from other predators. Although there are exceptions, when the predator appears suddenly and the ostrich has no opportunity to escape.
Now about the hyenas
Spotted hyenas attack adult large birds very rarely. They won't be able to catch up with the ostrich, why run then. But even if they catch up with him, it is possible that they will receive a crown blow.
However, there are clashes between the two African inhabitants. Hyenas are very fond of the eggs of ostriches and chicks that have just been born. The main thing is that the parents of these chicks are not around.
In most cases, ostriches live in pairs. As soon as hyenas approach them, one of the ostriches remains to guard the eggs or chicks, and the second takes a defensive position and drives away the enemy from his family.
The ostrich begins to accelerate and at great speed runs straight at the hyena to trample it in the truest sense of the word. Of course, the enemy goes to the side. The bird is able to reflect the attack even when hyenas attack it from two sides. Moreover, the second adult member of the "family" will also not stand aside and will help in a difficult situation. Often, the victory in such a fight does not shine for hyenas.
How ostriches cope with attacks of spotted hyenas, watch in an entertaining video.
It will be equally interesting to learn about funny moments when people became accidental victims of animals and birds.