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WereHyena by odingraphics

Artist's rendering

The Werehyena is mythological creature from east Africa and the Near East; unlike the Werewolf that is portrayed as being originally human, the Werehyena in many cultures' lore is described as a hyena that is disguised as a human.

Possible explanation[]

This could be a large hyena species that lives in close proximity to humans (possibly to feed on food scraps and livestock) and has the behavior of standing on its hind legs to intimidate rival predators like a bear. The human-like stance and proximity to human settlements could make it appear to be a human/hyena hybrid.

From Many Cultures[]

In the former Bornu Empire of Africa, the Werehyena was called Bultungin. It was once traditionally believed that one or two of the villages in the region were populated entirely by Werehyenas.

In Ethiopia, traditionally every blacksmith was actually a witch who could change into a hyena, these blacksmith Werehyenas are believed to rob graves at midnight and are referred to as bouda, this belief in bouda is also present in other African mythology.

In the folklore of western Sudanic peoples, there is a hybrid creature, a human who is nightly transformed into a cannibalistic monster that terrorizes people, especially lovers. The creature is often portrayed as a magically powerful healer, blacksmith or woodcutter in its human form, but recognizable through signs like a hairy body, red and gleaming eyes and a nasal voice.

Arab folklore tells of how hyenas can mesmerize victims with their eyes or sometimes with their pheromones, the hyenas are also believed to be a type of vampire.

A Persian medical treatise written in 1376 tells how to cure people known as kaftar, who are said to be “half-man, half-hyena,” who have the habit of slaughtering children.

The Greeks, until the end of the 19th Century, believed that the bodies of Werewolves, if not destroyed, would haunt battlefields as vampiric hyenas which drank the blood of dying soldiers.

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