[4] The first identified fossil of the short-faced hyena was discovered in Le Puy, Auvergne, France, in 1845 by French paleontologist Auguste Aymard.

The fallacious authority Aymard, 1846, was reprinted for over a century until Spanish paleontologist David M. Alba and colleagues on behalf of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature convincingly falsified it in 2013.

In 1938, Hungarian paleontologist Miklós Kretzoi suggested erecting a new genus for it, Pachycrocuta, but this only became popular after Giovanni Ficcarelli and Danilo Torres' review of hyena classification in 1970.

In 1828, Jean-Baptiste Croizet and Antoine Claude Gabriel Jobert created the species "H. perrieri" for a specimen from Montagne de Perrier, France.

In 1889, German paleontologist Karl Weithofer described "H. robusta" based on a specimen from Olivola, Tuscany, Italy, but Boule quickly synonymized it with "H." brevirostris in 1893.

[6] In 2021, Chinese paleontologist Liu Jinyi and colleagues reported the largest ever short-faced hyena skull from Jinniushan, Northeast China, belonging to P. b. brevirostris, demonstrating the subspecies is not endemic to Europe.

[9] Conversely, in a 2024 analysis of metric data for teeth, Pérez-Claros argued that the brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea) was its closest living relative, and along with the extinct Pliocrocuta and "Hyaena" prisca should be included within Pachycrocuta.

[1] At the western end of their former range, at Venta Micena in southeastern Spain, a huge assemblage of Pleistocene fossils also represents a den.

[1] Similar to the modern day striped hyena, Pachycrocuta is often suggested to have been a kleptoparasitic scavenger of the kills of other predators, such as sabertooth cats.

[13][1] However, other authors have argued that while P. brevirostris likely engaged in kleptoparasitism, it was likely equally capable of hunting medium-large sized prey in packs, similar to living spotted hyenas.

[1] P. brevirostris is known from fossil evidence found at Tsiotra Vryssi in Greece to have preferentially consumed certain bones due depending on their nutrient value.

[19] Remains of "Peking Man" (an East Asian form of Homo erectus) in the Zhoukoudian cave site display evidence of having been consumed by Pachycrocuta which includes distinctive fracturing of the skull, likely the result of biting on the facial region likely to expose the brain, as well as bones displaying signs of having been swallowed and subject to erosion by stomach acid.

[4] During its existence in Europe, it represented the only species of hyena present in the region, and largest carnivore alongside the lion-sized sabertooth Homotherium.