The spotted hyena, now found only in sub-Saharan Africa, had

A - No Need of Had been, the tense clearly differentiate using Now
B - Wrong tense, having been is wrong it happens after the second
C - Wrong, Now Only Found is wrong
D - Correct Answer
E - Was found only in sub sahara - Wrong, this changes the meaning

Responding to a pm:

Note that past perfect i.e. 'had been' is used only when you have two past actions in a sequence. The action that took place first uses past perfect and the action that took place later uses simple past. So (A) is incorrect.

Think of what the sentence is trying to convey - The spotted hyena is now found only in Africa. A long time back it was found in many parts of Europe and Asia.
So it tells you something about the present and something about the past.

"having been" is the past participle form which emphasis that one action completed before another action took place.
Having been to Germany, I recognized the Cologne dome in the picture.
So (B) is incorrect.

In (C), placement of 'only' is not correct. 'It is found only in' ... not 'it is only found in'. In the second construction, the meaning changes. e.g.
The play is performed only in English.
The play is only performed in English. (It means it is only performed in English. It might have been written in a different language.)

(E) changes the meaning of the sentence. It says that the hyena was not found in Africa earlier which is not the intended meaning of the sentence.

(D) is correct.

IMO D.
The spotted hyena should use singular past tense i.e. 'was'.It is modified by 'now found only in Sub-Saharan Africa' which is better than 'now only found in Sub-Sah Africa'.

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