GREAT question - and I just posted saying I would stop answering Qs, but just to start tapping into this one: spotted hyenas are generalists and super behaviorally flexible as compared to the big cats. For instance, they've been known to even eat insects and caterpillars, as well as of course refuse, despite their role as apex predators. Essentially, they can make it work. That being said, we at the IUCN SSG Hyaena Specialist Group are currently finalizing the new range maps and trying to revise the population estimates and population vulnerability of the four hyena species, including spotties. Spotties are also declining across their range, despite being so successful and behaviorally flexible. Please feel free to contact me (see the original post) to talk further about this!