Conclusion
Spotted hyenas are one of the most behaviorally flexible large carnivores. Yet, their reputation for adaptiveness has previously discouraged studies on whether and to what extent people impact their movements and behaviors. As a widespread species across Africa, spotted hyenas provide us with a litmus test for understanding carnivore abilities to live alongside people and navigate landscapes on coexistence frontiers. Yet, we also know that coexistence requires adaptation by both people and carnivores to succeed (Chapron et al. 2014). This study has demonstrated that integrating spatial and contextual information on ecology, infrastructure, and human tolerance can help us to better examine how carnivores may adapt to proliferating human disturbances and learn to navigate human-dominated landscapes at different scales. By gaining these holistic understandings of the effects of ongoing global urbanization on behaviorally flexible, ecologically critical species, we may be able to design and redesign anthropogenic landscapes that prioritize ecological resilience and environmental justice.
Data availability statement : Data will be made public upon acceptance of this manuscript (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0vtb8h52).