Spotted Hyaenas are present in all habitats including semi-desert, savanna and open woodland, dense dry woodland, and even montane habitats, such as in the Aberdares, Mt Kenya, and the Ethiopian Highlands, up to 4,100 m altitude (Young and Evans 1993, East and Hofer 2013). It is absent from, or present at very low densities in, extreme desert conditions, the highest altitudes on mountains, and tropical rainforests, although they may make deep incursions into forested areas where logging roads provide access (Kingdon 1977, Henschel and Ray 2003). In many parts of their range, they occur in close association with human habitations. Although long periods may elapse between drinking, Spotted Hyaenas are at least somewhat dependent on water, and Tilson and Henschel (1986) recorded an instance where a clan dispersed after the only water source in their range dried up. Often considered just scavengers, Spotted Hyaenas are in fact effective and flexible hunters as well (Kruuk 1972, Höner et al. 2002); damage to domestic stock mainly involves cattle, sheep, and goats and varies widely in intensity (Hofer 1998). The ecology of the species is reviewed by Holekamp and Dloniak (2010) and East and Hofer (2013).

Spotted Hyaenas are relatively widely distributed in Africa, south of the Sahara. Their current distribution is patchy, especially in West and Central Africa, with populations often concentrated in protected areas. More continuous distributions persist over large areas of Chad, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Angola, Namibia, and parts of South Africa. Künzel et al. (2000) reported that Spotted Hyaenas are still widespread in Djibouti, and Grubb et al. (1998) noted the same for Gambia. Long-term studies on Spotted Hyaenas and recent surveys have confirmed their presence in Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, The Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe (Vermeulen 2007, Henschel et al. 2014, Höner et al. 2012, East and Hofer 2010, Holekamp and Dloniak 2010, T. Aebischer pers. comm. 2014).

In Eritrea, Spotted Hyaenas have not or only very rarely been sighted until 2007, but they are now regularly sighted throughout the country (F. Hagos pers. comm. 2014). It is thus likely that Spotted Hyaenas established a small population in Eritrea. Spotted Hyaenas may occasionally enter Gabon from The Republic of Congo but there is no evidence to suggest that there is a resident population in Gabon (Bohm 2012, Henschel et al. 2014). Hofer and Mills (1998a) reported the species as extinct in Algeria where they may have occurred in the Ahaggar and Tassili d’Ajjer. There is also no confirmed evidence of their occurrence in Egypt, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Tunisia, or Morocco, and no recent records from Togo.

Legal classification varies from “vermin” (parts of Ethiopia) to fully protected in conservation areas. Thus, while it is fully protected in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, the Spotted Hyaena may be legally shot by sport hunters in the adjacent Maswa Game Reserve. In some protected areas, Spotted Hyaenas may be legally killed by resident humans when they have preyed upon livestock.