The stomach that stops an outbreak
The striped hyena has the most acidic digestive system of any land mammal studied, a gastric pH that drops as low as 1.7, comparable to concentrated battery acid. A 2017 paper published in the journal Integrative Zoology confirmed that this acidity allows hyenas to neutralise anthrax spores, Clostridium botulinum, and tuberculosis-causing Mycobacterium bovis in carcass tissue that would kill or severely sicken most other scavengers. The bones of a dead nilgai or feral donkey, left in open scrubland, carry enough pathogen load to contaminate groundwater and infect grazing livestock for months. The striped hyena consumes the entire carcass, bones included, and what exits is rendered biologically inert.
