What is "cave hyena"

Hyena \Hy*e"na\, n.; pl. Hyenas. [L. hyaena, Gr. ?, orig., a sow, but usually, a Libyan wild beast, prob., the hyena, fr. ? hog: cf. F. hy[`e]ne. See Sow female hog.] (Zo["o]l.) Any carnivorous mammal of the family Hy[ae]nid[ae], doglike nocturnal mammals of Africa and southern Asia, of which three living species are known. They are large and strong, but cowardly. They feed chiefly on carrion, and are nocturnal in their habits. [Written also hy[ae]na.]

Syn: hyaen

1. Note: The striped hyena ( Hy[ae]na striata) inhabits Southern Asia and a large part of Africa. The brown hyena ( Hy[ae]na brunnea), and the spotted hyena ( Crocuta maculata), are found in Southern Africa. The extinct cave hyena ( Hy[ae]na spel[ae]a) inhabited England and France.

   Cave hyena. See under Cave.

   Hyena dog (Zo["o]l.), a South African canine animal ( Lycaon venaticus), which hunts in packs, chiefly at night. It is smaller than the common wolf, with very large, erect ears, and a bushy tail. Its color is reddish or yellowish brown, blotched with black and white. Called also hunting dog.

Cave \Cave\ (k[=a]v), n. [F. cave, L. cavus hollow, whence cavea cavity. Cf. Cage.]

1. A hollow place in the earth, either natural or artificial; a subterraneous cavity; a cavern; a den.

2. Any hollow place, or part; a cavity. [Obs.] ``The cave of the ear.''
   --Bacon.

3. (Eng. Politics) A coalition or group of seceders from a political party, as from the Liberal party in England in 1866. See Adullam, Cave of, in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.

   Cave bear (Zo["o]l.), a very large fossil bear ( Ursus spel[ae]us) similar to the grizzly bear, but large; common in European caves.

   Cave dweller, a savage of prehistoric times whose dwelling place was a cave.
   --Tylor.

   Cave hyena (Zo["o]l.), a fossil hyena found abundanty in British caves, now usually regarded as a large variety of the living African spotted hyena.

   Cave lion (Zo["o]l.), a fossil lion found in the caves of Europe, believed to be a large variety of the African lion.

   Bone cave. See under Bone.

The cave hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea), also known as the Ice Age spotted hyena, was a paleosubspecies of spotted hyena which ranged from the Iberian Peninsula to eastern Siberia. It is one of the best known mammals of the Ice Age, and is well represented in many European bone caves. The cave hyena was a highly specialised animal, with its progressive and regressive features being more developed than in its modern African relative. It preyed on large mammals (primarily wild horses, steppe wisent and woolly rhinoceros), and was responsible for the accumulation of hundreds of large Pleistocene mammal bones in areas including horizontal caves, sinkholes, mud pits and muddy areas along rivers.

The cause of the cave hyena's extinction is not fully understood, though it could have been due to a combination of factors, including climate change and competition with other predators.