Spotted Hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) are common in Kruger National Park, and often use road culverts as their den. This contented female Hyaena was sitting in luxuriant wet season grass near her roadside den in Kruger National Park with her two half-grown cubs. Her cubs were hungry, and both of them nosed beneath her to suckle from her udder. She then lay on her side, allowing both cubs easy access to a nipple. One of the cubs kept pawing its mother’s belly and udder, probably to increase the flow of milk. Spotted Hyaena females are very protective of their cubs, and will not allow other adult Hyaenas, particularly males, to approach them. Female Hyaenas nurse their cubs for 12-16 months, although cubs begin to eat solid food at about three months old.