Question 9 - 12 are based on the following passage.

    The spotted hyena, or Crocuta crocuta, found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, is, contrary to popular belief, one of nature's fiercest. Some early tribes mistook the hyena's distinctive call, which some have equated to hysterial human laughter, for the cries of lost souls, while many others associated the animal with the lords of the underworld. In modern movies, the hyena has most often been caricatured as a buffoon-like creature or villain, preying on the weak. These beliefs have led to the common fallacy that the hyena is primarily a scavenger. The reality, however, is that hyenas are predators and scavengers only through need.

    Hyena physiology may look comical, but it is designed for pure power. It has been postulated that the laws of a fully-grown hyena are potentially capable of exerting a bite force of 1,000 pounds which would give it one of he most powerful grips in the animal world. Hyena's heart is equally powerful, enabling an adult to run at a steady rate of six miles per hour, with bursts of up to thirty miles per hour. In the wild, hyenas end to hunt in packs led by a matriarch and have been known to bring down animals as large as the Cape buffalo. It seems that, in the case of the hyena, appearances can certainly be deceiving.

The passage best supports the claim that the author of the passage believes the hyena to be ....