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A study in West Bengal shows that living near wildlife does not guarantee knowing it.
Because the Striped Hyena is solitary, nocturnal and elusive, many villagers rarely see it and instead rely on folklore, hearsay and rare dramatic incidents.
Researchers found confusion over its identity, mixed feelings about its scavenging and stress the need for tailored, informative conservation outreach.
Published in the conservation journal Oryx, a new study challenges a commonly held assumption: that people living close to wildlife invariably possess detailed ecological knowledge of the species around them. Instead, the researchers show that such knowledge depends greatly on whether an animal can actually be seen and observed. In the case of the Striped Hyaena, its solitary, nocturnal and elusive behaviour sharply reduces opportunities for direct encounters. As a result, observations of its ecology and behaviour—such as its scavenging habits and bold nature — become interwoven with folklore, inherited beliefs, shared experiences, media portrayals and memories of rare but emotionally powerful negative encounters — all of which has conservation implications.
“Living in the same landscape does not always mean experiencing a species in the same way,” said Vasudha Mishra, lead author of the study and researcher with Human and Environment Alliance League. “Our understanding of wildlife is shaped by the opportunities we have to encounter and observe it. Because the Striped Hyaena is solitary, largely nocturnal and elusive, direct encounters are relatively rare. What people know about the animal therefore develops through a combination of observation, shared experiences, stories and cultural understandings built over time.”
The researchers analysed 104 semi-structured interviews conducted across two blocks in Purulia. Local villagers were shown photographs of five carnivores—the Leopard, Golden Jackal, Bengal Fox, Indian Grey Wolf and Striped Hyaena—and asked to identify, describe their appearance, diet, habitat and behaviour. The study combined these comparisons with detailed conversations about the cultural meanings associated with the hyaena.
The contrast between species was striking. Most people correctly identified the Leopard, Golden Jackal and Bengal Fox, whereas only 39% identified the Striped Hyaena. Knowledge of the hyaena’s ecological traits was also lower than that recorded for the more frequently encountered carnivores.
Golden Jackal and Bengal Fox were seen more regularly because of their social or more visible behaviour, especially during the day, their presence near settlements and their interactions with poultry and other domestic animals. These repeated encounters allowed people to observe their habits, develop knowledge which aligns more closely with scientific descriptions and assess the risks they pose. Striped Hyaena, by contrast, largely remained outside everyday human experience.
This limited visibility contributed to uncertainty not only about what the Striped Hyaena does, but also about what it is.
Of the 104 villagers interviewed, 28 could not provide a name for the animal and said they had not seen it locally, while 25 identified it as another species. Among those who named it, two contrasting cultural identities emerged: Gaadha and Kuia. 33 people said that the Striped Hyena was a Gaadha whereas 11 said it was a Kuia. Descriptions of Gaadha corresponded more closely with the known ecology of the Striped Hyaena, whereas the traits attributed to Kuia were considerably less consistent with scientific knowledge.
Gaadha was generally described as a large, nocturnal, forest-dwelling animal that moved alone or in pairs and fed on dead animals. It was associated with riversides, graveyards and cremation grounds. Although its bold demeanour elicited fear—particularly its perceived tendency to stand its ground rather than flee—it was usually regarded as relatively harmless compared with predators that regularly killed livestock or threatened people.
Kuia, however, belonged to a very different realm of local understanding. It was imagined as a ferocious and extraordinarily powerful pack hunter capable of attacking livestock, people and even animals much larger than itself. Most people discussing Kuia had never seen such an animal; their knowledge came principally from elders, neighbours and circulating stories. Some descriptions attributed to it—including killing out of anger, sucking blood or overpowering elephants—did not correspond to the biology of the Striped Hyaena. The study suggests that a single event of negative interaction between the hyena and humans, occurring in a landscape where the species was rarely seen or understood, gave older cultural ideas about Kuia a recognisable animal form.
“The Kuia identity demonstrates how an elusive species can acquire a second life in human imagination,” said Tiasa Adhya, co-author and Joint Secretary, Human and Environment Alliance League. “When ordinary encounters are almost absent, one exceptional incident can become disproportionately influential. More than its ecology, the animal is through fear, memory, folklore and the retelling of an event.”
The research also uncovered a profound cultural ambivalence towards scavenging.
Many locals clearly recognised the Striped Hyaena as an eater of the dead or rotting carcass. This was, in fact, the ecological trait most consistently associated with the species. Yet recognition of this role did not automatically translate into appreciation.
When hyaenas consumed livestock carcasses discarded far from homes, some residents regarded them positively because they removed decomposing matter and foul smells. The same activity became unacceptable when it occurred near villages, where it was associated with filth and contamination. Some people also believed that eating carcasses could make an animal “mad” or aggressive and lead it to attack living livestock or humans.
The greatest unease surrounded stories of Gaadha digging up and consuming buried human bodies. For families unable to afford cremation, burial beside rivers was sometimes practised. Therefore, the disturbance of these graves was more than a physical act: it could prevent the deceased from attaining peace, imply wrongdoing during the person’s lifetime and bring shame, impurity or misfortune upon the family. Some graves were reportedly covered with large stones to deter scavengers. This suggests that the species was also associated with inauspiciousness and spiritual anxiety in cultural perceptions.
Conventional conflict-mitigation programmes often concentrate on compensation, livestock protection or barriers. Such measures may be insufficient for species whose conservation challenges arise from fear, mistaken identity and cultural narratives rather than frequent economic damage.
The authors caution against both dismissing local knowledge and idealising it uncritically. “Community knowledge can be exceptionally detailed when people regularly observe a species. But for animals that are rarely encountered, cultural predispositions may overshadow knowledge derived from direct experience,” says co-author Arjun Srivathsa from National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore.
The study recommends locally tailored conservation programmes that listen to varied community interpretations while providing accessible information about the hyaena’s actual ecology. Audio-visual outreach could help residents distinguish Striped Hyaena from other carnivores, understand their behaviour during chance encounters and recognise scavenging as an ecological service that removes waste and reduces disease risks. Such initiatives will be especially important following unusual encounters, before fear and misinformation become entrenched.
“Coexistence does not depend only on reducing damage. It also requires understanding how an animal is situated within stories, memories, fears and moral worlds. For an elusive species such as the Striped Hyena, conservation must engage with both the biological animal and the cultural identities that have grown around it,” said co-author Sayan Banerjee, Research Associate, TDU Bengaluru.
The paper, Beyond dichotomies: unravelling the nuances of local perceptions of the striped hyaena Hyaena hyaena in West Bengal, India, has been authored by Vasudha Mishra, Tiasa Adhya, Sayan Banerjee and Arjun Srivathsa. It can be read here.
