A werehyena.
Ajaba, also known as a Werehyena or a Gnoll, is a therianthrope that involves a human capable of transforming into a beastial version of a hyena.
Description[]
Unlike werewolves and other therianthropes, which are usually portrayed as being originally human, some werehyena lore tells of how they can also be hyenas disguised as humans. As a result they are equivalent to the Navajo skinwalkers.
Unlike werewolves the werehyena was not restricted in when he or she could appear but they preferred the shadow of night and when not stalking human prey they were said to engage in all manner of depravity including grave-robbing, cannibalism and piratical raids on villages and crops.
Overview[]
They are commonly found in the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Near East as well as some adjacent territories. According to legend, a werehyena was capable of taking three main forms: that of a human, that of a large hyena or a hybrid of the two species - they could be solitary or work in packs and had a liking of calling out people's names at night in an attempt to lure them away from their friends and family, if a victim fell for this trick the werehyena would proceed to devour them.
In Ethiopia, it is traditionally believed that every blacksmith, whose trade is hereditary, is really a wizard or witch with the power to change into a hyena. These blacksmith werehyenas are believed to rob graves at midnight and are referred to as bouda (also spelled buda). They are viewed with suspicion by most countrymen. Belief in the bouda is also present in Sudan and Tanzania, as well as Morocco, where some among the Berber people regard the bouda as a man or woman who nightly turns into a hyena and resumes human shape at dawn.