Mother and young Spotted hyena

I was driving in Kruger and I knew that some Spotted hyenas had their den under the road where they were sleeping and hiding. That was giving the opportunity to lots of people to spot them close to the road.
I stopped to look at them playing around and having fun with branches when my attention moved to this mother that was looking around to control the young ones. At some point one of the young ones got closed and started sniffing the mother till she moved her head giving me the possibility to take this picture. The thing I like most is the protection and the love that the mother is showing to her little one and he looks like he is listening and take example from the mother.
Did you know that female cubs will inherit their mother's status and they form coalitions while the young males leave the clan at two years old and they will have to work hard to gain the possibility to mate with females?
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