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The late Miocene Hyaenidae of Toros-Menalla (Chad) belong to four different middle or large body size taxa. The large Chasmaporthetes was a hunting predator probably adapted to open environments. The middle sized Hyaenictitherium minimum was the most abundant hyenid; it probably hunted in packs and, with a dentition far less specialized for bone-cracking than that of extant hyenas, occupied an ecological niche close to that of some extant canids. The wear on the teeth of the middle sized Belbus displays a pattern that could indicate a carcass consumer. The last hyenid, a new genus, was probably adapted to bone-cracking with a major horizontal wear of the premolars and a relatively shallow but robust mandible. Chasmaporthetes did survive until the Pleistocene but the other taxa disappeared during the Pliocene when replaced by the canids and modern hyenids. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.