The distributions and densities of large carnivore populations in southern Tunisia contracted with the historical expansion of agricultural activities, particularly livestock herding, as a result of human–carnivore conflict and persecution. Many of these carnivore species subsequently became extinct in Tunisia, leaving the African wolf Canis lupaster and the red fox Vulpes vulpes as the largest carnivores in most of Tunisia's ecosystems. The striped hyaena Hyaena hyaena became extremely rare in Tunisia at the end of the 20th century, and although recent camera-trap monitoring of Jebel Serj National Park in northern Tunisia has detected the presence of the species (A. Jebali, pers. comm., 2022), there have been no recent confirmed sightings in southern Tunisia. The main threats to the striped hyaena are targeted or accidental poisoning, especially prevalent around pastoralist settlements, and targeted hunting for traditional medicine in rural areas. It is categorized on the IUCN Red List as Vulnerable across the Mediterranean area.
The 80 km2 Dghoumes National Park in southern Tunisia comprises steppe grassland and mountains on the edge of Chott el Jerid, 11 km from the oasis town of Dghoumes. As part of biodiversity assessments and post-release monitoring for reintroduced scimitar-horned oryx Oryx dammah, dorcas gazelle Gazella dorcas and North African ostrich Struthio camelus camelus, a camera-trap grid with 1 km spacing was established in the Park during April 2018–March 2022. In total, 30 camera traps were deployed along animal trails at c. 60 cm above the ground, accumulating a total of > 25,000 camera-trap days. Striped hyaenas were detected in only 1 month in each of 2018 and 2019, but there were detections in 6 months of both 2020 and 2021, with the last record in November 2021 and a total of 20 observations of at least two individuals. Following similar protocols, camera trapping in Jbil National Park (Governorate of Kebili) and Sidi Toui National Park (Governorate of Medenine) in southern Tunisia for 14,377 and 4,006 camera-trap days during April 2019–October 2021 and October 2020–March 2021, respectively, failed to detect the species.
Our findings suggest the presence of an increasingly sedentary population of hyaenas in Dghoumes National Park, and that overall the species remains rare in Tunisia. Our ongoing monitoring will provide more information about the population size and ecology of hyaenas and other less known species in southern Tunisia.
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