Unlike humans who can fast for 55 days before the arrival of Easter, hyenas can turn from scavenging to hunting when they are deprived of garbage and butcher scraps during the Lent period in Ethiopia, says a new report published recently n the Journal of Animal Ecology.

A team of researchers from the Mekelle University in Ethiopia has revealed after its latest study that hyenas, which are expert hunters as well as entirely adaptable, can hunt donkeys to supplement their diet when there is lack of food.

It has been told by the team that hyenas can eat anything ranging from prey such as wildebeests and young rhinoceroses to any organic matter except for hair and hooves. They can choose anthrax-infected carcasses and even putrid carrion as well as dung to eat during scarcity.

The researchers had conducted the study with an aim to seek if hyenas are affected by a change in human diets. To move towards their aim, they chose the Lent period when humans sacrifice their food for long.

As per the report findings, three sites in Northern Ethiopia were selected by the team to collect hyena droppings. The dung was collected on the first and last days of Abye Tsome (Lent) as well as 55 days after the same. As a consequence of their efforts, 553 individual droppings were collected by the Gidey Yirga and colleagues.

It was then concluded by the team that hyenas turned to hunt of donkeys when they did not find anything else to eat. 14.8% ate donkey hair, before Lent, which during that period increased nearly up to 33.1%. However, the figure reduced at the end of Lent, the team observed.

Therefore, the team says that lives of hyenas are tied to those of humans and the same can help in finding the managing technique for hyena-human conflict.