Systems driven far from equilibrium may exhibit anomalous density fluctuations: active matter with orientational order displays giant density fluctuations at a large scale, while systems of interacting particles close to an absorbing phase transition may exhibit hyperuniformity, suppressing large-scale density fluctuations. We show that these seemingly incompatible phenomena can coexist in nematically ordered active systems, provided activity is conditioned to particle contacts. We characterize this unusual state of matter and unravel the underlying mechanisms simultaneously, leading to spatially enhanced (on large length scales) and suppressed (on intermediate length scales) density fluctuations. Our work highlights the potential for a rich phenomenology in active matter systems in which the particles' activity is triggered by their local environment, and calls for a broader exploration of absorbing phase transitions in orientationally ordered particle systems.

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• Critical phenomena
• Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics
• Order parameters
• Percolation
• Phase diagrams
• Phase transitions