The spotted hyena's proportionally large heart fits an endurance-hunting body, while the lion is built to shorten a chase. The comparison also exposes the scavenger myth.
A lion’s heart makes up only about half a percent of its body weight. A spotted hyena’s is close to one percent — roughly twice as large proportionally, helping give the animal we dismiss as a scavenger the endurance to outlast the animal we call king.
Natural History