Hyenas! I really love them. They don't have any classical beauty but to me they're beautiful in their own quirky way. People like to think they are lowly scavengers and that all they do is steal kills from other animals (particularly lions) but that's not true. Lions actually steal more from hyenas on average. What I really love about them is how smart they are.
Waaaay smarter than lions. Some of their problem solving skills actually surpasses chimpanzees, they are very cooperative and coordinate together effortlessly to solve a problem, something chimpanzees are incapable of. They are very social but also pretty independent (unlike other social animals like wolves).
And what a odd social life they have. They live in groups called "clans" that can get real big, up to 80 members! The females are extremely dominant over the males and the leader are always female, called the 'matriarch'. They are bigger, more aggressive and have more testosterone than the males do.
Even the lowest female is still higher on the ranking than the highest male. If that's not emasculating enough females actually have a elongated clitoris that mimics a [censored] and a fake scrotum that scientists believe formed because of the high levels of testosterone they have.
Because of the elongated clitoris the females have total control of who to mate with. And also have a very difficult time giving birth. Giving birth actually tears their birthing tube irreparably. It's common for the pups to get stuck and suffocate while they are being born.
Another interesting thing about them is that females inherit their mothers rank in the clan (males don't because they usually disperse after growing up). Which means that if their mother is the matriarch they will become the matriarch as soon as the spot is open unless some other female takes it. If the matriarch has two daughters they actually fight to the death as soon as they are born because there cannot be two heirs at the same age (from different litters is fine. The oldest inherits the rank). This happens because higher ranking females actually give a boost of testosterone
to their offspring, which gives them a better chance of surviving.
They are directly below their mothers in the hierarchy. It also means some females are stuck with low ranks because of their mothers. They are the few, if only, animals that do this other than humans.
They just have so many interesting things about them that I couldn't help ranting about them, hehe. And there's even more but this already long enough.
