Hyena butter

{{short description|Secretion from the anal gland of hyenas used to mark territory and identify other animals}}

Hyena butter is a secretion from the anal gland of hyenas used to mark territory and to identify individuals by odor. The gooey substance is spread onto objects within the territory of the hyena by rubbing their posterior against the object they mark.[https://books.google.com/books?id=m-8MAAAAIAAJ&dq=hyena+butter&pg=PP1 Livingstone's Africa: Perilous Adventures and Extensive Discoveries in the Interior of Africa] By David Livingstone Page 41 published 1872 by Hubbard bros. No ISBN[https://books.google.com/books?id=z74eAAAAIAAJ&q=hyena+butter With Forks and Hope: An African Notebook] By Elspeth Joscelin Grant Huxley Page 84 1964 published by W. Morrow Original from the University of California Digitized Feb 15, 2007. Accessed July 10, 2007[https://books.google.com/books?id=HaaFlUw4goIC&dq=hyena+odor&pg=PA1 Chemical Ecology of Vertebrates] By Dietland Müller-Schwarze Page 154 2006 Cambridge University Press {{ISBN|0-521-36377-2}}

Folk beliefs in some regions of East Africa state that witches would ride hyenas and use a gourd full of hyena butter as fuel for the torches that they carried through the night.[https://books.google.com/books?id=QGt-2rTFnjoC&q=hyena+butter Witchcraft and Sorcery in East Africa] By Edward Henry Winter, John Middleton, Dr John Beattie Published by Routledge 2004 Page 167 {{ISBN|0-415-33073-4}}