Like a delicate ver­sion of the Striped Hyena with a proportionately smaller head. Jackal-sized with large, rather pointed ears, and a slender muzzle. Muzzle black, as is chin and area around the eyes. Coat shaggy with erectile mane from the neck down the sloping back to the base of the tail. Color beige to grayish with a series of diag­onally sloping stripes along the flanks. Legs striped as in the Striped Hyena. Feet black­ish. Tail full and bushy with varying amount of black at the tip. Teeth are much reduced, molars and premolars peg-like, and canines slender. Very different from the powerful teeth of the Striped Hyena.