Werehyena

shapeshifter · Central African Republic · Central Africa

The werehyena is a human-hyena shapeshifter of West, East, and Central African folklore. Said to be people who transform into hyenas by night, they appear in tales from Mali (the bouda), Ethiopia, and elsewhere as sorcerers, grave-diggers, or cannibals. The motif reflects real hyena behavior and the animal's ambiguous place in African symbolism.

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