The Common Jackal also known as the Persian or Turkestan Jackal is a subspecies of golden jackal

Golden Jackal

The golden jackal , also known as the common jackal, Asiatic jackal, thos or gold-wolf is a Canid of the genus Canis indigenous to north and northeastern Africa, southeastern and central Europe , Asia Minor, the Middle East and southeast Asia...

 native to Middle Asia

Middle Asia

Middle Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west, to Mongolia in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north. The geographical term has appeared sometime prior to the 20th century in the Russian Empire and was closely associated with the Russian Turkestan and the...

, Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, northwestern India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

, Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, the Arabian Peninsula

Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...

, and Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. It is a large subspecies with soft, pale fur with predominantly sandy tones.

Physical description

The general colour of the outer fur is usually black and white, while the underfur varies from pale brown to pale slate-grey. Occasionally, the nape and shoulders are of a buff colour. The ears and front legs are buff, sometimes tan, while the feet are pale. The hind legs are more deeply tinted above the hocks. The chin and forethroat are usually whitish. Weight varies geographically, ranging around 18-22 lbs. In areas where it borders the range of the larger, more richly coloured Indian jackal

Indian Jackal

The Indian Jackal , also known as the Himalayan Jackal is a subspecies of golden jackal native to India, Bhutan, Burma and Nepal. Its karyotype is quite different from that of its Eurasian and African counterparts .-Description:Its fur is a mixture of black and white, with buff on the shoulders,...

 (particularly in Kumaun), animals of intermediate size and colour sometimes appear. The Persian jackals of Elburz are renowned for the softness of their pelts, which are usually coarse in other geographic variants of the species.