 Analyses of the mitochondrial cytochrome b genes in both modern African and Pleistocene spotted hyenas demonstrated that the two were the same species, and indicate that spotted hyenas migrated from Africa to Eurasia in three waves around 3, 1, and 0.3 million years ago.Analysis of the cave hyena genome also indicates that it is not a separate species but is the Eurasian representative of the Pleistocene spotted hyena.Kills partially processed by Neanderthals and then by cave hyenas indicate that hyenas would occasionally steal Neanderthal kills; and cave hyenas and Neanderthals competed for cave sites.