"It seems likely that the image of spotted hyenas as "cowardly scavengers" is fundamental to their reputational problems … It is also of particular interest that the prejudice was so powerful it clouded the perception of otherwise knowledgeable people (like Roosevelt and Heller) to what was happening in front of their eyes. When they came upon hyenas feeding at a carcass, they merely assumed that the animal had originally been killed by lions or other predators. When they found a cluster of distressed hyenas surrounding some feeding lions, they assumed that the prey had been dispatched by lions and that the hyenas were awaiting their turn to scavenge. When they actually witnessed kills, or observed hyenas fighting to hold their prey against intruding lions, these were assumed to be exceptions, and the reputation of hyenas as cowardly scavengers was maintained."