Golden Jackal
Encyclopedia
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 (up to Austria and Hungary), Asia Minor, the Middle East and southeast Asia. It is classed by the IUCN as Least Concern
, due to its widespread range in areas with optimum food and shelter. Despite its name, the golden jackal is not closely related to other jackal
species, with morphological and molecular studies indicating a greater affinity to the grey wolf and coyote
. It is a social species, whose basic social unit consists of a breeding pair, followed by its offspring. The golden jackal is highly adaptable, being able to exploit many foodstuffs, from fruit
and insect
s to small ungulate
s.
to early Pleistocene
)) canid native to Tadjikistan. Another prehistoric canid initially thought to be an ancestral jackal, Canis arnensis, which was native to Europe, was later classed as more closely related to the coyote
. The golden jackal likely colonised the European continent during the late Pleistocene
.
The golden jackal is the most typical member of the genus
Canis
. It is a somewhat less specialised form than the wolf, as indicated by its relatively short facial region, weaker tooth row and the more weakly developed projections of the skull. These features are connected to the jackal's diet of small birds, rodents, small vertebrates, insects and carrion. The golden jackal is a generalist
which adapts to local food abundances, a trait which allows it to occupy a variety of different habitats and exploit a large number of food resources. Its lithe body and long legs allows it to trot for large distances in search of food. It has the ability to forego water, and has been observed on islands with no fresh water. The characteristics of the golden jackal's skull and genetic composition indicate a closer affinity to the wolf and coyote
than to the black-backed
and side-striped jackal
s.
many of the proposed names, the taxonomic position of West African jackals, in particular, is too confused to come to any precise conclusion, as the collected study materials are few. Prior to 1840, six of the ten supposed West African subspecies were named or classed almost entirely because of their colours. The species' display of high individual variation, coupled with the scarcity of samples and the lack of physical barriers on the continent preventing gene flow
, brings into question the validity of some of these West African forms.
, 12 subspecies of golden jackal are currently recognised.
is light or dark brownish. The species has five pairs of teats.
Its skull is similar to the wolf's, but is smaller and less massive; its nasal region is lower and its facial region shorter. The sagittal
and occipital crests are strongly developed, but weaker than the wolf's. Its canine teeth are large and strong, but relatively thinner than the wolf's, and its carnassial
s are relatively weaker. Eighteen characteristics distinguish the skulls of golden jackals from those of domestic dogs; among them, the jackal has a smaller inflation of the frontal region
, a shallower forehead
, smaller upward curvature of the zygomatic arch
es and a longer and thinner lower jaw. Compared to the skull of the side-striped jackal
, the golden jackal's profile descends from the frontal to the nasal bones, as opposed to having a flat outline. The rostrum
is shorter, less tapering and slender than the side-striped jackal's, and the lower jaw is curved and more powerfully built. Differences in dentition are also apparent, with the golden jackal having larger carnassials. Occasionally, it develops a horny growth
on the skull which is associated with magical powers in southeastern Asia. This horn usually measures half an inch in length, and is concealed by fur.
Adults measure 71–85 cm in body length and 44.5–50.0 cm (18-20 inches) in shoulder height. Weights differ 12% between the sexes; males weigh 6.3-13.7 kg (13.9-30.1 lbs), while females weigh 7.0-11.2 kg (15.4-24.7 lbs).
s occasionally occur, and were once considered "by no means rare" in Bengal.
The golden jackal moults twice a year, in spring and autumn. In Transcaucasia and Tajikistan, the spring moult begins in mid- to late February, while in winter it starts in mid-March and ends in mid- to late May. In healthy specimens, the moult lasts 60–65 days. The spring moult begins on the head and limbs, then extends to the flanks, chest, belly and rump, with the tail being last. The autumn moult takes place from mid-September onwards. The shedding of the summer fur and the growth of the winter coat is simultaneous. The development of the autumn coat starts with the rump and tail, spreading to the back, flanks, belly, chest, limbs and head, with full winter fur being attained at the end of November.
in males occurs 10–12 days before the females enter estrus and, during this time, males' testicle
s triple in weight. Estrus lasts for three to four days, and females failing to mate during this time will undergo a loss of receptivity which lasts six to eight days. Females undergoing their first estrus are often pursued by several males, which will quarrel amongst themselves. Prior to mating, the pair patrols and scent marks its territory. Copulation is preceded by the female holding her tail out and angled in such a way that the genitalia are exposed. The two approach each other, whimpering, lifting their tails and bristling their fur, displaying varying intensities of offensive and defensive behaviour. The female sniffs and licks the male's genitals, whilst the male nuzzles the female's fur. They may circle each other and fight briefly. The male then proceeds to lick the female's vulva, and repeatedly mounts her without erection
or hip thrusting. Actual copulation takes place days later, and continues for about a week. The copulatory tie lasts 20–45 minutes in Eurasia, while in Africa it lasts roughly four minutes. Toward the end of estrus, the pair drifts apart, with the female often approaching the male in a more submissive manner than before. In anticipation of the role he will take in raising pups, the male disgorges or surrenders any food he has to the female.
In Transcaucasia, pups are usually born in late March to late April, in northeastern Italy probably in late April, in the Serengeti in December and January, and in Nepal, they are born at any time of the year. The number of pups in a single litter varies geographically; jackals in Uzbekistan give birth to two to eight pups, in Bulgaria four to seven, in Michurinsk only three to five, and in India the average is four. Pups are born with shut eyelids and soft fur, which ranges in colour from light grey to dark brown. At the age of one month, their fur is shed and replaced with a new pelt of reddish colour with black speckles. Their eyes typically open on their eighth to 11th day of life. The ears become erect after 10–13 days. The eruption of their adult dentition is completed after five months. The pups have a fast growth rate; at the age of two days, they weigh 201–214 g, 560–726 g at one month, and 2700–3250 g at four months.
The length of the nursing period varies; in the Caucasus it lasts 50–70 days, while in Tajikistan it lasts up to 90 days. The lactation period ends in mid-July, though in some areas it ends in early August. In Eurasia, the pups begin to eat solid food at the age of 15–20 days, while in Africa they begin after a month. Weaning
starts at the age of two months, and ends at four months. At this stage, the pups are semi-independent, venturing up to 50 metres from the den, even sleeping in the open. Their playing behaviour becomes increasingly more aggressive, with the pups competing for rank, which is established after six months. The female feeds the pups more frequently than the male or helpers do, though the presence of the latter allows the breeding pair to leave the den and hunt without leaving the litter unprotected. Once the lactation period concludes, the female drives off the pups. Pups born late remain with their mother until early autumn, at which point they leave either singly or in groups of two to four individuals.
, India, over 60% of its diet consists of rodent
s, bird
s and fruit, while 80% of its diet consists of rodents, reptile
s and fruit in Kanha
. In the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the golden jackal primarily hunts hare
s and mouse
-like rodent
s, as well as pheasant
s, francolin
s, duck
s, coot
s, moorhen
s and passerine
s. Vegetable matter eaten by jackals in these areas includes fruits, such as pear
s, hawthorn
, dogwood
and the cones of common medlar
s. It is implicated in the destruction of grape
s, watermelon
s, muskmelon
s and nut
s. Near the Vakhsh River
, the jackal's spring diet consists almost exclusively of plant bulbs and the roots of wild sugar cane, while in winter it feeds on the fruit stones of wild stony olive
s. In the edges of the Karakum Desert
, the golden jackal feeds on gerbil
s, lizard
s, snake
s, fish
and muskrat
s. Karakum jackals also eat the fruits of wild stony olives, mulberry
and dried apricot
s, as well as watermelons, muskmelons, tomato
es and grapes. In Hungary, its most frequent prey animals are common vole
s and bank vole
s. Information on the diet of the golden jackal in northeastern Italy is scant, but it certainly preys on small roe deer
and hares. In west Africa, it mostly confines itself to small prey, such as hare
s, rat
s, ground squirrel
s and grass cutter
s. Other prey items include lizards, snakes, and ground-nesting birds, such as francolins and bustard
s. It also consumes a large amount of insects, including dung beetle
s, larvae
, termite
s and grasshopper
s. It will also kill young gazelle
s, duiker
s and warthog
s. In East Africa, it consumes invertebrates and fruit, though 60% of its diet consists of rodents, lizards, snakes, birds, hares and Thompson's gazelles. During the wildebeest
calving season, golden jackals will feed almost exclusively on their afterbirth. In the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, less than 20% of its diet comes from scagenging.
The golden jackal rarely forms small packs when hunting, though packs of 8–12 jackals consisting of more than one family have been observed in the summer periods in Transcaucasia. When hunting singly, the golden jackal will trot around an area, occasionally stopping to sniff and listen. Once prey is located, it will conceal itself, quickly approach, then pounce. When hunting in pairs or packs, jackals run parallel and overtake their prey in unison. When hunting aquatic rodents or birds, they will run along both sides of narrow rivers or streams, driving their prey from one jackal to another. The golden jackal catches hares with difficulty, as they are faster than it, and gazelle mothers (often working in groups of two or three) are formidable when defending their young against single jackals. It is much more successful in hunting gazelle fawns when working in a pair. Jackal pairs will methodically search for concealed gazelle fawns within herds, tall grass, bushes and other likely hiding places. Although it is known to kill animals up to three times its own weight, the golden jackal overall targets mammalian prey much less frequently than the black-backed jackal. Upon capturing large prey, the golden jackal makes no attempt to kill its prey, but rips open its belly and eats the entrails. Small prey is typically killed by shaking, though snakes may be eaten alive from the tail end. The golden jackal often carries away more food than it can consume, and cache
s the surplus, which is generally recovered within 24 hours. When foraging for insects, the golden jackal turns over dung piles to find dung beetles. During the dry seasons, it excavates dung balls to reach the larvae within. Grasshoppers and flying termites are caught either by pouncing or are caught in mid-air.
s than the black-backed jackal is, but is bolder with African wild dog
s and spotted hyena
s.
The golden jackal dominates vulture
s on kills, and can singly hold dozens at bay by threatening, snapping and lunging at them. Sometimes, it jumps in the air to bite at a vulture alighting too closely.
Golden jackals tend to dominate smaller canid species. In Africa, golden jackals have been observed to kill the pups of black-backed jackal
s. In Israel
, red fox
es are a commonly occurring predator and, although smaller than jackals, their dietary habits are identical, and the two species are therefore in direct competition with one another. Foxes generally ignore jackal scents or tracks in their territories, though they will avoid close physical proximity with jackals themselves. Studies have shown that in areas where jackals became very abundant, the population size of foxes decreased significantly, apparently because of competitive exclusion. Conversely, jackals are shown to vacate areas inhabited by wolves
. Wolves are often actively intolerant of jackals in their established territories and have been known to approach jackal-calling stations at a quick trotting pace, presumably to chase off the competitors. The jackal's recent expansion throughout eastern and western Europe has been attributed to historical declines in wolf populations. The present diffusion of the golden jackal in the northern Adriatic hinterland seems to be in rapid expansion in various areas where the wolf is absent or very rare (see also:). Jackals have been observed to follow and feed alongside wolves without evoking any hostility. In Africa, golden jackals often eat alongside African wild dogs, and will stand their ground if the dogs try to harass them. In South-eastern Asia, golden jackals have been known to hunt alongside dhole
packs, and there is one record of a golden jackal pack adopting a male Ethiopian wolf
.
In India, lone jackals expelled from their pack have been known to form commensal relationship
s with tiger
s. These solitary jackals, known as kol-bahl, will attach themselves to a particular tiger, trailing it at a safe distance to feed on the big cat's kills. A kol-bahl will even alert a tiger to a kill with a loud pheal. Tigers have been known to tolerate these jackals: one report describes how a jackal confidently walked in and out between three tigers walking together a few feet away from each other. Tigers will, however, kill jackals on occasion; the now extinct tigers of the Amu-Darya region were known to frequently eat jackals.
Jackals will feed alongside spotted hyena
s, though they will be chased if they approach too closely. Spotted hyenas will sometimes follow jackals during the gazelle fawning season, as jackals are effective at tracking and catching young animals. Hyenas do not take to eating jackal flesh readily: four hyenas were reported to take half an hour in eating one. Overall, the two animals typically ignore each other when no food or young is at stake. Jackals will confront a hyena approaching too closely to their dens by taking turns in biting the hyena's hocks until it retreats. Striped hyena
s have been known to prey on golden jackals in Kutch, India; one striped hyena den contained three dead jackals.
as "Dead Hindoo, where, where, where". This sound is usually uttered shortly after dark or before dawn. The golden jackal may howl for different reasons, such as to call other jackals or, seemingly, to announce changes in weather. It has been recorded to howl upon hearing church bells, sirens or the whistles of steam engines and boats. It typically howls at dawn, midday and the evening hours. Groups will occasionally howl in chorus, which is thought to reinforce family bonds, as well as advertise territorial status. When in the vicinity of tigers or leopards or any other cause for alarm, the golden jackal emits a cry transliterated as "pheal", "phion" or "phnew". When hunting in a pack, the dominant jackal initiates an attack by repeatedly emitting a sound transliterated as "okkay!".
, golden jackals are widespread in the north and northeastern portions of the continent, being present from Senegal
on Africa's west coast to Egypt
in the East. This range includes Morocco
, Algeria
, and Libya
in the north to Nigeria
, Chad
and Tanzania
in the south. They also occur in the Arabian Peninsula
, and have a patchy distribution in Europe
. In their European range, jackals are found in the Balkans
, Hungary
, and southwestern Ukraine
. They are found also in Austria
, Slovakia
, Slovenia
, and northeastern Italy
(Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto), where their distribution has recently increased, encompassing also the region Trentino Alto Adige. To the east, their range includes Turkey
, Lebanon
, Israel
, Syria
, Iraq
, Iran
, Pakistan
, Central Asia
, the Indian subcontinent
, then east and south to Sri Lanka
, Myanmar
, Thailand
, and parts of Indochina
.
and Donovan's Leishmania
(which, although harmless to jackals, can cause leishmaniasis
in people). Jackals in southwestern Tajikistan have been recorded to carry 16 species of cestodes, roundworms and acanthocephala
ns (Sparganum mansoni
, Diphyllobothrium mansonoides
, Taenia hydatigena, T. pisiformis
, T. ovis, Hydatigera taeniaeformis, Diphylidium caninum, Mesocestoides lineatus, Ancylostoma caninum
, Uncinaria stenocephala
, Dioctophyma renale, Toxocara canis
, Toxascaris leonina
, Dracunculus medinensis
, Filariata and Macracanthorhynchus catulinum). Jackals infected with D. medinensis can infect water bodies with their eggs, and cause dracunculiasis
in people who drink from them. Jackals may also play a large part in spreading coenurosis in sheep and cattle, and canine distemper
in dogs. Jackals in the Serengeti are known to carry the canine parvovirus
, canine herpesvirus
, canine coronavirus
and canine adenovirus. In July 2006, a Romanian jackal was found to be carrying Trichinella britovi
. Jackals consuming fish and molluscs can be infected with metagonimiasis
, which was recently diagnosed in a male jackal from northeastern Italy. In Tajikistan, at least 12 tick
species are known to be carried by golden jackals (which include Ixodes
, Rhipicephalus turanicus, R. leporis, R. rossicus, R. sanguineus
, R. pumilio, R. schulzei, Hyalomma
anatolicum, H. scupense and H. asiaticum), four flea
species (Pulex irritans, Xenopsylla nesokiae, Ctenocephanlides canis
and C. felis) and one species of louse
(Trichodectes canis). In northeastern Italy, the species is a carrier of the tick species Ixodes ricinus
and Dermacentor reticulatus.
The Ancient Egypt
ian god of embalming, Anubis
, was portrayed as a jackal-headed man, or as a jackal wearing ribbons and holding a flagellum. Anubis was always shown as a jackal or dog colored black, the color of regeneration, death, and the night. It was also the color the body turned during mummification. The reason for Anubis' animal model being canine is based on what the ancient Egyptians themselves observed of the creature - dogs and jackals often haunted the edges of the desert, especially near the cemeteries where the dead were buried. In fact, the Egyptians are thought to have begun the practice of making elaborate graves and tombs to protect the dead from desecration by jackals. Duamutef
, one of the Four Sons of Horus
and a protection god of the Canopic jar
s, was also portrayed as having jackal-like features.
In Hinduism
, the golden jackal is portrayed as the familiar of several deities, the most common of which being Chamunda
, the emaciated, devouring goddess of the cremation grounds. Another deity associated with jackals is Kali
, who inhabits the cremation ground and is surrounded by millions of jackals. According to the Tantrasara
, when offered animal flesh, Kali appears before the officiant in the form of a jackal. The goddess Shivatudi is depicted with a jackal's head. Golden jackals appear prominently in Indian folklore
and ancient texts, such as the Jakatas and Panchtatra, where they are often portrayed as intelligent and wily creatures. In Rudyard Kipling
's Mowgli
stories collected in The Jungle Book
, the character Tabaqui is a jackal despised by the Sioni wolf pack, due to his mock cordiality, scavenging habits and his subservience to Shere Khan
.
The Authorized King James Version (AV) of the Bible
never mentions jackals, though this could be due to a translation error. The AVs of Isiah
, Micah
, Job
and Malachi
mention "wild beasts" and "dragons" crying in desolate houses and palaces. The original Hebrew
words used are lyim (howler) and tan, respectively. According to biologist Michael Bright, tan is more likely referring to jackals than dragons, as the word is frequently used throughout the AV to describe a howling animal associated with desolation and abandoned habitations, which is consistent with the golden jackal's vast vocal repertoire and its occasional habit of living in abandoned buildings. Jeremiah makes frequent references to jackals by using the word shu'al, which can mean both jackal and fox. Although the AV translates the word as fox, the behaviour described is more consistent with jackals, as shown in the books of Lamentations
and Psalms, in which references are made to the shu'al's habit of eating corpses in battlefields. David W. Macdonald
theorizes,because of the general scarcity and elusiveness of foxes in Israel, the author of the Book of Judges
may have actually been describing the much more common golden jackals when narrating how Samson
tied torches to the tails of 300 foxes to make them destroy the vineyards of the Philistines
. According to an ancient Ethiopian folktale, jackals and man first became enemies shortly before the Great Flood, when Noah
initially refused to allow jackals into the ark
, thinking they were unworthy of being saved, until being commanded by God to do so.
Although present in Europe, jackals are rarely featured in European folklore or literature. Surveys taken in the high Adriatic hinterland indicate the totality of people with first-hand experience of jackals (hunters, game keepers and local people) regularly mistook red foxes affected by sarcoptic mange (or in a problematic state of moult) for golden jackals. The sighting of a true golden jackal, however, was always referred to as a wolf, or a little wolf. This was verified both with photo-trapping sessions and with a study on tracks, confirming previous observations on this matter. This erroneous and controversial perception of the golden jackal may be because its presence is still not traditional, neither in Italian and Slovenian human culture, nor in hunting and game keeping traditions.
s, and one record of a jackal attacking a newborn domestic water buffalo calf. They destroy many grape
s, and eat watermelon
s, muskmelon
s and nuts
. In Greece, jackals tend not to be as damaging to livestock as wolves and red foxes are, though they can become a serious nuisance to small stock when in high numbers. In southern Bulgaria, 1,053 attacks on small stock, mainly sheep and lambs, were recorded between 1982 and 1987, along with some damages to newborn deer in game farms. In Israel, about 1.5%–1.9% of the calves born in the Golan Heights die due to predation, mainly by golden jackals. In both cases, the high predation rate is thought to be the consequence of a jackal population explosion due to the availability of food in illegal garbage dumps. Preventive measures to avoid predation were also lacking in both cases. However, even without preventive measures, the highest damages by jackals from Bulgaria are minimal when compared to the domestic animal losses by wolves. Golden jackals are extremely harmful to furbearing rodents, such as nutria and muskrat
s. Nutria can be completely extirpated in shallow water bodies; during the winter of 1948-49 in the Amu Darya
, muskrats constituted 12.3% of jackal faeces contents, and 71% of muskrat houses were destroyed by jackals, 16% of which froze and became unsuitable for muskrat occupation. Jackals also harm the fur industry by eating muskrats caught in traps or taking skins left out to dry.
, British sportsmen in India would hunt jackals (often nicknamed "Cousin Jack") on horseback with hounds as a substitute for the fox hunting
of their native England. Although not considered as beautiful as English red fox
es, golden jackals were esteemed for their endurance in the chase; one chase lasted 3½ hours. India's weather and terrain also added further challenges to jackal hunters not present in England; the hounds of India were rarely in the same good condition as English hounds were, and although the golden jackal has a strong odour, the terrain of Northern India was not good in retaining scent. Also, unlike foxes, golden jackals were documented to feign death when caught, and could be ferociously protective of their captured packmates. Jackals were hunted in three ways: with greyhound
s, with mixed packs and with foxhound
s. Hunting jackals with greyhounds offered poor sport, as greyhounds were too fast for jackals, and mixed packs were too difficult to control. Some indigenous people of India, such as the Koli
s and Vaghirs of Gujarat and Rajastan and the Narikurava
s in Tamil Nadu
, hunt and eat golden jackals, but the majority of South Asian cultures consider the animal unclean. The orthodox dharma
texts forbid the eating of jackals, as they have five nails (panchanakha).
In the former Soviet Union, jackals are not actively hunted, and are usually captured incidentally during the hunting of other animals by means of traps or shooting during drives. In the Trans-Caucasus, jackals are captured with large fishing hooks baited with meat, suspended 75–100 cm from the ground with wire. The jackals can only reach the meat by jumping, and are hooked by the lip or jaw.
The Greek Ministry of Agriculture annually organised shooting and poisoning campaigns against jackals until 1981. An average of 1000 jackals were killed per year in these campaigns, and a bounty was paid for each animal killed. The jackal was the first wild canid to be removed from Greece's vermin list in 1990, and it was followed by the wolf and fox in 1993, though, unlike the latter two species, jackals did not fully recolonise areas of their former range. Although jackals in Greece are rarely hunted intentionally, they are occasionally shot during the hunts of other animals, such as wild boar.
In Italy, the species has been recently protected by the National Law 157/1992, but it is occasionally shot illegally during fox hunts. This seems to be the main obstacle for the species in Italy.
Jackals are hunted in Vietnam for their noses, which are supposed to possess medicinal qualities.
and other nations of the former Soviet Union, golden jackals are considered furbearers, albeit ones of low quality due to their sparse, coarse and monotonously coloured fur. Asiatic and Near Eastern jackals produce the coarsest pelts, though this can be remedied during the dressing process. As jackal hairs have very little fur fibre, their skins have a flat appearance. The softest furs come from Elburz in northern Iran. Jackals are known to have been hunted for their fur in the 19th century: in the 1880s, 200 jackals were captured annually in Mervsk. In the Zakatal area of the Trans-Caucasus, 300 jackals were captured in 1896. During that period, a total of 10,000 jackals had been taken within Russia, and were sent exclusively to the Nizhegorod fair. In the early 1930s, 20-25 thousand jackal skins were tanned annually in the Soviet Union
, though the stocks were significantly underused, as over triple that amount could have been produced. Before 1949 and the onset of the Cold War
, the majority of jackal skins were exported to the USA. Despite their geographical variations, jackal skins are not graded according to a fur standard, and are typically used in the manufacture of cheap collars, women's coats and fur coats.
, and will follow their owners and respond to their calls, as well as carry and fetch. They are however prone to stealing, and are untrustworthy toward small children.
Golden jackals are capable of reproducing with dog
s. In his The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
, Charles Darwin
wrote of a female hybrid from an English dog and jackal kept in the Zoological Gardens of London. The hybrid was sterile, but Darwin pointed out this was an exceptional case, as there were numerous cases of jackal hybrids successfully reproducing. Robert Armitage Sterndale
mentioned jackal hybrids from British India, noting that glaring jackal traits could be exhibited in hybrids even after three generations of crossing them with dogs.
Scientists at Russia's DS Likhachev Scientific Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Environmental Protection began a breeding project in 1975 in which they crossed golden jackals with huskies, to create an improved breed with the jackal's power of scent and the husky's resistance to cold. In recent years, Aeroflot
has used one-quarter jackal hybrids, known as Sulimov dog
s, to sniff out explosives otherwise undetectable by machinery. Breeding experiments in Germany
with poodle
s, jackals, and later on with the resulting dog-jackal hybrids showed, unlike wolfdog
s, jackal-dogs exhibit a decrease in fertility, significant communication problems, and an increase of genetic diseases after three generations of interbreeding. This led to the conclusion that dogs and jackals were not as closely related as once thought.
Following the example of Charles Darwin, who speculated that dogs originated from multiple wild canid species, Konrad Lorenz
advocated the view that most dogs, particularly central European breeds, originated from golden jackals, and that wolf blood only contributed in the creation of northern dog breeds. Lorenz theorised wolf blood was added to an already-existing, jackal-derived population only when humans began colonising Arctic zones, to improve the hardiness of their animals in cold weather. He further argued that with the exception of northern dog breeds, which treat their human masters as pack leaders as wolves would do, the majority of dogs view their captors as parent animals, and display a submissive behaviour not usually found in northern breeds, a trait consistent with the golden jackal, which does not rely heavily on pack members to procure food and survive. While capable of absolute obedience, the supposed jackal-derived dogs are lacking in the deeper traits of loyalty and affection. He later rescinded this view upon taking into account the golden jackal's complicated repertoire of howling, which is absent in dogs and wolves.
Canidae
Canidae is the biological family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals that includes wolves, foxes, jackals, coyotes, and domestic dogs. A member of this family is called a canid . The Canidae family is divided into two tribes: Canini and Vulpini...
of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Canis
Canis
Canis is a genus containing 7 to 10 extant species, including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals, and many extinct species.-Wolves, dogs and dingos:Wolves, dogs and dingos are subspecies of Canis lupus...
indigenous to north and northeastern Africa, southeastern and central Europe (up to Austria and Hungary), Asia Minor, the Middle East and southeast Asia. It is classed by the IUCN as Least Concern
Least Concern
Least Concern is an IUCN category assigned to extant taxon or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, Near Threatened, or Conservation Dependent...
, due to its widespread range in areas with optimum food and shelter. Despite its name, the golden jackal is not closely related to other jackal
Jackal
Although the word jackal has been historically used to refer to many small- to medium-sized species of the wolf genus of mammals, Canis, today it most properly and commonly refers to three species: the black-backed jackal and the side-striped jackal of sub-Saharan Africa, and the golden jackal of...
species, with morphological and molecular studies indicating a greater affinity to the grey wolf and coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
. It is a social species, whose basic social unit consists of a breeding pair, followed by its offspring. The golden jackal is highly adaptable, being able to exploit many foodstuffs, from fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
and insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s to small ungulate
Ungulate
Ungulates are several groups of mammals, most of which use the tips of their toes, usually hoofed, to sustain their whole body weight while moving. They make up several orders of mammals, of which six to eight survive...
s.
Evolution
Unlike other jackal species, which are African in origin, the golden jackal likely emerged from Asia. The direct ancestor of the golden jackal is thought to be Canis kuruksaensis, a Villafranchian (from late PliocenePliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
to early Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
)) canid native to Tadjikistan. Another prehistoric canid initially thought to be an ancestral jackal, Canis arnensis, which was native to Europe, was later classed as more closely related to the coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
. The golden jackal likely colonised the European continent during the late Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
.
The golden jackal is the most typical member of the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Canis
Canis
Canis is a genus containing 7 to 10 extant species, including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals, and many extinct species.-Wolves, dogs and dingos:Wolves, dogs and dingos are subspecies of Canis lupus...
. It is a somewhat less specialised form than the wolf, as indicated by its relatively short facial region, weaker tooth row and the more weakly developed projections of the skull. These features are connected to the jackal's diet of small birds, rodents, small vertebrates, insects and carrion. The golden jackal is a generalist
Generalist and specialist species
A generalist species is able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and can make use of a variety of different resources . A specialist species can only thrive in a narrow range of environmental conditions or has a limited diet. Most organisms do not all fit neatly into either...
which adapts to local food abundances, a trait which allows it to occupy a variety of different habitats and exploit a large number of food resources. Its lithe body and long legs allows it to trot for large distances in search of food. It has the ability to forego water, and has been observed on islands with no fresh water. The characteristics of the golden jackal's skull and genetic composition indicate a closer affinity to the wolf and coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
than to the black-backed
Black-backed Jackal
The black-backed jackal , also known as the silver-backed or red jackal, is a species of jackal which inhabits two areas of the African continent separated by roughly 900 km. One region includes the southern-most tip of the continent, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe...
and side-striped jackal
Side-striped Jackal
The side-striped jackal is a species of jackal, native to central and southern Africa. Unlike its cousin, the smaller black-backed jackal, which dwells in open plains, the side-striped jackal primarily dwells in woodland and scrub areas....
s.
Taxonomy and subspecies
Because of the species' large distribution, a large number of local races have been described. During the 19th century, the golden jackals of Africa were considered separate species from those in Eurasia, and were named "thoas" or "thous dogs". Although several attempts have been made to synonymiseSynonym (taxonomy)
In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...
many of the proposed names, the taxonomic position of West African jackals, in particular, is too confused to come to any precise conclusion, as the collected study materials are few. Prior to 1840, six of the ten supposed West African subspecies were named or classed almost entirely because of their colours. The species' display of high individual variation, coupled with the scarcity of samples and the lack of physical barriers on the continent preventing gene flow
Gene flow
In population genetics, gene flow is the transfer of alleles of genes from one population to another.Migration into or out of a population may be responsible for a marked change in allele frequencies...
, brings into question the validity of some of these West African forms.
, 12 subspecies of golden jackal are currently recognised.
| Subspecies | Trinomial authority | Description | Range | Synonyms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algerian jackal Canis a. algirensis |
Wagner Johann Andreas Wagner Johann Andreas Wagner was a German palaeontologist, zoologist and archaeologist.Wagner was a professor at the University of Munich, and curator of the Zoologische Staatssammlung .... , 1841 |
Darker than C. a. aureus, with a tail marked with three dusky rings, it is equal in size to the red fox Red Fox The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia... . |
Algeria Algeria Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab... , Morocco Morocco Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara... and Tunisia Tunisia Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area... |
barbarus (C. E. H. Smith, 1839) grayi (Hilzheimer, 1906) tripolitanus (Wagner, 1841) |
| Senegalese jackal Canis a. anthus Senegalese Jackal The Senegalese Jackal , also known as the Grey Jackal, Slender Jackal or Anthus, is a subspecies of golden jackal native to Senegal.... |
F. Cuvier Frédéric Cuvier Frédéric Cuvier was a French zoologist. He was the younger brother of noted naturalist and zoologist Georges Cuvier.... , 1820 |
At least an inch higher at the shoulder, and several inches longer than C. a. lupaster with larger ears, it has a more dog-like head and a more gaunt build. The tail is shorter and not as hairy. The nose and forehead are greyish-buff, while the throat and underparts are white. It lacks the black ring round the neck, nor the stippled arrangement of black points on the back characteristic of C. a. lupaster. | Senegal Senegal Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north... |
senegalensis (C. E. H. Smith, 1839) |
| Common jackal Canis a. aureus Common Jackal The Common Jackal , also known as the Persian or Turkestan Jackal is a subspecies of golden jackal native to Middle Asia, Afghanistan, northwestern India, Iran, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, and Pakistan... |
Linnaeus, 1758 | The nominate subspecies, it is large, with soft, pale fur with predominantly sandy tones. | Middle Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Arabian Peninsula, Baluchistan, northwestern India | balcanicus (Brusina, 1892) caucasica (Kolenati, 1858) dalmatinus (Wagner, 1841) hadramauticus (Noack, 1896) hungaricus (Ehik, 1938) kola (Wroughton, 1916) lanka (Wroughton, 1916) maroccanus (Cabrera, 1921) typicus (Kolenati, 1858) vulgaris (Wagner, 1841) |
| Serengeti jackal Canis a. bea |
Heller, 1914 | Kenya Kenya Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east... , Northern Tanzania Tanzania The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state... |
||
| Siamese jackal Canis a. cruesemanni |
Matschie Paul Matschie Paul Matschie was a German zoologist. He worked at the Zoological Museum in Berlin.... , 1900 |
Smaller than C. a. indicus, its status as a separate subspecies has been disputed by certain authors, who point out its classification as such is based solely on observations on captive animals. | Thailand Thailand Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the... , Myanmar Myanmar Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south.... to east India |
|
| Canis a. ecsedensis | Kretzoi, 1947 | minor (Mojsisovico, 1897) | ||
| Indian jackal Canis a. indicus 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,... |
Hodgson Brian Houghton Hodgson Brian Houghton Hodgson was an early naturalist and ethnologist working in British India and Nepal where he was an English civil servant. He described many species, especially birds and mammals from the Himalayas, and several birds were named after him by others such as Edward Blyth... , 1833 |
Its fur is a mixture of black and white, with buff on the shoulders, ears and legs. The buff colour is more pronounced in specimens from high altitudes. Black hairs predominate on the middle of the back and tail. The belly, chest and the sides of the legs are creamy white, while the face and lower flanks are grizzled with grey fur. Adults grow to a length of 100 cm (39 in), 35–45 cm (14–18 in) in height and 8–11 kg (18-24 lb) in weight. | India, Nepal Nepal Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India... |
|
| Egyptian jackal Canis a. lupaster |
Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1833 | A large, wolf-like subspecies standing some 41 cm (16 in) in shoulder-height, with a total length of about 127 cm (50 in), it seems to be larger than C. a. moreoticus. It is stoutly built, with proportionately short ears. The pelt is yellowish-grey on the upper parts, and is mingled with black, which tends to collect in streaks and spots. The muzzle, the backs of the ears, and the outer surfaces of both pairs of limbs are reddish-yellow, the margins of the mouth arc white, and the terminal half of the tail is darker than the back, with a black tip. In 2011, researchers from the Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit compared the Egyptian jackal's DNA to other canids, and found it much more closely related to the grey wolf than to the golden jackal. | Egypt Egypt Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world... |
sacer (Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1833) |
| European jackal Canis a. moreoticus European Jackal The European Jackal , also known as the Caucasian Jackal or Reed Wolf is a subspecies of golden jackal native to Southeast Europe, Asia Minor and the Caucasus. Its Latin name, moreoticus, means "of Morea"... |
I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. He coined the term ethology.He was born in Paris, the son of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire... , 1835 |
One of the largest in the world, animals of both sexes average 120–125 cm (47–49 in) in total length and 10-15 kg (20-33 lb) in body weight. The fur is coarse, and is generally brightly coloured with blackish tones on the back. The thighs, upper legs, ears and forehead are bright-reddish chestnut. | Southeastern Europe, Asia Minor and Caucasus | graecus (Wagner, 1841) |
| Sri Lankan jackal Canis a. naria Sri Lankan Jackal The Sri Lankan Jackal , also known as the Southern Indian Jackal is a subspecies of golden jackal native to southern India and Sri Lanka. On the Asian mainland, the Sri Lankan jackal occurs in the whole southern part of the Indian peninsula, from Thana near Bombay in the northwest southwards... |
Wroughton R. C. Wroughton Robert Charles Wroughton was an officer in the Indian Forest Service from 10 December 1871 to 1904.... , 1916 |
This subspecies measures 67–74 cm (26½-29 inches) and weighs 5-8.6 kg (12-19 lbs). The winter coat is shorter, smoother and not as shaggy as that of C. a. indicus. The coat is also darker on the back, being black and speckled with white. The underside is more pigmented on the chin, hind throat, chest and forebelly, while the limbs are rusty ochreous or rich tan. Moulting occurs earlier in the season than with C. a. indicus, and the pelt generally does not lighten in colour. | Southern India, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the... |
lanka (Wroughton, 1838) |
| Canis a. riparius | Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1832 | A dwarf subspecies measuring only a dozen inches in shoulder height, it is generally of a greyish-yellow colour, mingled with only a small proportion of black. The muzzle and legs are more decidedly yellow, and the underparts are white. | Somaliland and coast of Ethiopia Ethiopia Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2... and Eritrea Eritrea Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast... |
hagenbecki (Noack, 1897) mengesi (Noack, 1897) somalicus (Lorenz, 1906) |
| Variegated jackal Canis a. soudanicus Variegated Jackal The Variegated Jackal , also known as the Nubian Jackal, is a subspecies of golden jackal native to Sudan and Somaliland. It is smaller and more lightly built than the Egyptian jackal, standing 38 cm at the shoulder, and 102 cm in length. Compared with the wolf-like Egyptian jackal, the... |
Thomas Oldfield Thomas Oldfield Thomas FRS was a British zoologist.Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and sub-species for the first time. He was appointed to the Museum Secretary's office in 1876, transferring to the Zoological Department in 1878... , 1903 |
Smaller and more lightly built than C. a. lupaster, it stands 38 cm (15 in) at the shoulder, and is 102 cm (40 in) in length. Compared with the wolf-like C. a. lupaster, C. a. soudanicus is built more like a greyhound. The ears are somewhat larger than in C. a. lupaster, and the body colour is generally pale stone-buff, with blotches of black. | Sudan Sudan Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the... and Somaliland Somaliland Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of... |
doederleini (Hilzheimer, 1906) nubianus (Cabrera, 1921) thooides (Hilzheimer, 1906) variegatus (Cretzschmar, 1826) |
| Syrian jackal Canis a. syriacus Syrian Jackal The Syrian Jackal is a subspecies of golden jackal native to the eastern Mediterranean region from the coast of Lebanon between Beirut and Tripoli. Jackals were common in Lebanon and Palestine in the 1930s–40s, but their populations were reduced during a zealous anti-rabies campaign... |
Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1833 | It weighs 5–12 kg (11–27 lb), and has a body length of 60–90 cm (24–35 in). Distinguished by its brown ears, each hair of the back consists of four distinct colours: white at the root, then black, then foxy-red, and the point is black. | Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea... , western Jordan Jordan Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing... |
|
Physical description
Build
The golden jackal is very similar to the wolf in general appearance, but is much smaller in size and lighter in weight, and has shorter legs, a more elongated torso and a shorter tail. The end of the tail just reaches the heel or a bit below it. The head is lighter than the wolf's, with a less-prominent forehead, and the muzzle is narrower and more pointed. The irisIris (anatomy)
The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel , grey, violet, or even pink...
is light or dark brownish. The species has five pairs of teats.
Its skull is similar to the wolf's, but is smaller and less massive; its nasal region is lower and its facial region shorter. The sagittal
Sagittal crest
A sagittal crest is a ridge of bone running lengthwise along the midline of the top of the skull of many mammalian and reptilian skulls, among others....
and occipital crests are strongly developed, but weaker than the wolf's. Its canine teeth are large and strong, but relatively thinner than the wolf's, and its carnassial
Carnassial
Carnassials are large teeth found in many carnivorous mammals, used for shearing flesh and bone in a scissor- or shear-like way. In the Carnivora, the carnassials are the modified last upper premolar and the first molar, but in the prehistoric creodonts, the carnassials were further back in the...
s are relatively weaker. Eighteen characteristics distinguish the skulls of golden jackals from those of domestic dogs; among them, the jackal has a smaller inflation of the frontal region
Frontal bone
The frontal bone is a bone in the human skull that resembles a cockleshell in form, and consists of two portions:* a vertical portion, the squama frontalis, corresponding with the region of the forehead....
, a shallower forehead
Forehead
For the Arsenal striker see GervinhoIn human anatomy, the forehead is the fore part of the head. It is, formally, an area of the head bounded by three features, two of the skull and one of the scalp. The top of the forehead is marked by the hairline, the edge of the area where hair on the scalp...
, smaller upward curvature of the zygomatic arch
Zygomatic arch
The zygomatic arch or cheek bone is formed by the zygomatic process of temporal bone and the temporal process of the zygomatic bone , the two being united by an oblique suture; the tendon of the Temporalis passes medial to the arch to gain insertion into the coronoid process...
es and a longer and thinner lower jaw. Compared to the skull of the side-striped jackal
Side-striped Jackal
The side-striped jackal is a species of jackal, native to central and southern Africa. Unlike its cousin, the smaller black-backed jackal, which dwells in open plains, the side-striped jackal primarily dwells in woodland and scrub areas....
, the golden jackal's profile descends from the frontal to the nasal bones, as opposed to having a flat outline. The rostrum
Rostrum (anatomy)
The term rostrum is used for a number of unrelated structures in different groups of animals:*In crustaceans, the rostrum is the forward extension of the carapace in front of the eyes....
is shorter, less tapering and slender than the side-striped jackal's, and the lower jaw is curved and more powerfully built. Differences in dentition are also apparent, with the golden jackal having larger carnassials. Occasionally, it develops a horny growth
Jackal's Horn
The Jackal's Horn is a boney cone-shaped excrescence which can occasionally grow on the skulls of golden jackals. It is associated with magical powers in south-eastern Asia. This horn usually measures half an inch in length, and is concealed by fur...
on the skull which is associated with magical powers in southeastern Asia. This horn usually measures half an inch in length, and is concealed by fur.
Adults measure 71–85 cm in body length and 44.5–50.0 cm (18-20 inches) in shoulder height. Weights differ 12% between the sexes; males weigh 6.3-13.7 kg (13.9-30.1 lbs), while females weigh 7.0-11.2 kg (15.4-24.7 lbs).
Fur
The winter fur is generally either of a dirty reddish-grey colour, strongly highlighted with blackish tones due to the black guard hairs, or a brighter, rusty-reddish colour. The anterior part of the muzzle, the area around the eyes and the forehead are ochreous, rusty-reddish. A blackish stripe is present above each eye. The margins of the lips and lower cheeks are dirty white. The upper part of the forehead and occiput are ochreous. The back of the ears is pale rusty. The inside of the ears is covered with dirty whitish hairs. The chin and throat are whitish, with a dirty tint. The guard hairs are black, and are especially developed on the back, but less so on the flanks; the general colour of these parts is brighter and clearer. The belly is whitish along the midline, while the lower region is mixed with a reddish tint. The limbs are ochreous red, with the internal surfaces being of a lighter colour. The tail is grey with an ochreous tint with a strongly defined, dark shade on the dorsal side and tip. The summer fur is sparser, coarser and shorter, and has the same colour as the winter fur, but is brighter, with less-defined dark tints. Newborn golden jackals have very soft fur, which varies in colour from light-grey to dark-brown. This pelage remains on the cubs for one month, with the adult coat growing in August. The colour of the fur varies geographically, with animals from high elevations having buffier coats than their lowland counterparts. MelanistMelanism
Melanism is an undue development of dark-colored pigment in the skin or its appendages, and the opposite of albinism. It is also the medical term for black jaundice.The word is deduced from the , meaning black pigment....
s occasionally occur, and were once considered "by no means rare" in Bengal.
The golden jackal moults twice a year, in spring and autumn. In Transcaucasia and Tajikistan, the spring moult begins in mid- to late February, while in winter it starts in mid-March and ends in mid- to late May. In healthy specimens, the moult lasts 60–65 days. The spring moult begins on the head and limbs, then extends to the flanks, chest, belly and rump, with the tail being last. The autumn moult takes place from mid-September onwards. The shedding of the summer fur and the growth of the winter coat is simultaneous. The development of the autumn coat starts with the rump and tail, spreading to the back, flanks, belly, chest, limbs and head, with full winter fur being attained at the end of November.
Social and territorial behaviours
The golden jackal's social organisation is extremely flexible, being dependable on the availability and distribution of food. The basic social unit is a breeding pair, followed by its current offspring, or offspring of former litters. It usually lives in pairs, but is also found either singly, or in pairs and families up to five individuals. A golden jackal may pair up with a member of the opposite sex before leaving its natal range. Pairs typically first meet each other on the boundraries of their parents' territories. The pair patrols and marks its territory in tandem. Both partners and helpers will react aggressively with intruders, though the greatest aggression is reserved for intruders of the same sex; pair members do not assist each other in repelling intruders of the opposite sex. Territories are marked with urine and faeces. The golden jackal holds rather loosely defined hunting ranges which are not seriously defended, and are seemingly somewhat arbitrary. The size of the territory also varies considerably according to environmental factors. It may be only about 2.5 square kilometres or, where game is more thinly spread, 20 square kilometres or more.Reproduction and development
The golden jackal's courtship rituals are remarkably long, during which the breeding pair remains almost constantly together. The mating process may last 26–28 days. In Transcaucasia, estrus begins in early February, and occasionally late January during warm winters. SpermatogenesisSpermatogenesis
Spermatogenesis is the process by which male primary germ cells undergo division, and produce a number of cells termed spermatogonia, from which the primary spermatocytes are derived. Each primary spermatocyte divides into two secondary spermatocytes, and each secondary spermatocyte into two...
in males occurs 10–12 days before the females enter estrus and, during this time, males' testicle
Testicle
The testicle is the male gonad in animals. Like the ovaries to which they are homologous, testes are components of both the reproductive system and the endocrine system...
s triple in weight. Estrus lasts for three to four days, and females failing to mate during this time will undergo a loss of receptivity which lasts six to eight days. Females undergoing their first estrus are often pursued by several males, which will quarrel amongst themselves. Prior to mating, the pair patrols and scent marks its territory. Copulation is preceded by the female holding her tail out and angled in such a way that the genitalia are exposed. The two approach each other, whimpering, lifting their tails and bristling their fur, displaying varying intensities of offensive and defensive behaviour. The female sniffs and licks the male's genitals, whilst the male nuzzles the female's fur. They may circle each other and fight briefly. The male then proceeds to lick the female's vulva, and repeatedly mounts her without erection
Erection
Penile erection is a physiological phenomenon where the penis becomes enlarged and firm. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular and endocrine factors, and is usually, though not exclusively, associated with sexual arousal...
or hip thrusting. Actual copulation takes place days later, and continues for about a week. The copulatory tie lasts 20–45 minutes in Eurasia, while in Africa it lasts roughly four minutes. Toward the end of estrus, the pair drifts apart, with the female often approaching the male in a more submissive manner than before. In anticipation of the role he will take in raising pups, the male disgorges or surrenders any food he has to the female.
In Transcaucasia, pups are usually born in late March to late April, in northeastern Italy probably in late April, in the Serengeti in December and January, and in Nepal, they are born at any time of the year. The number of pups in a single litter varies geographically; jackals in Uzbekistan give birth to two to eight pups, in Bulgaria four to seven, in Michurinsk only three to five, and in India the average is four. Pups are born with shut eyelids and soft fur, which ranges in colour from light grey to dark brown. At the age of one month, their fur is shed and replaced with a new pelt of reddish colour with black speckles. Their eyes typically open on their eighth to 11th day of life. The ears become erect after 10–13 days. The eruption of their adult dentition is completed after five months. The pups have a fast growth rate; at the age of two days, they weigh 201–214 g, 560–726 g at one month, and 2700–3250 g at four months.
The length of the nursing period varies; in the Caucasus it lasts 50–70 days, while in Tajikistan it lasts up to 90 days. The lactation period ends in mid-July, though in some areas it ends in early August. In Eurasia, the pups begin to eat solid food at the age of 15–20 days, while in Africa they begin after a month. Weaning
Weaning
Weaning is the process of gradually introducing a mammal infant, either human or animal, to what will be its adult diet and withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk.The process takes place only in mammals, as only mammals produce milk...
starts at the age of two months, and ends at four months. At this stage, the pups are semi-independent, venturing up to 50 metres from the den, even sleeping in the open. Their playing behaviour becomes increasingly more aggressive, with the pups competing for rank, which is established after six months. The female feeds the pups more frequently than the male or helpers do, though the presence of the latter allows the breeding pair to leave the den and hunt without leaving the litter unprotected. Once the lactation period concludes, the female drives off the pups. Pups born late remain with their mother until early autumn, at which point they leave either singly or in groups of two to four individuals.
Denning and sheltering behaviours
In the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, female golden jackals usually give birth in burrows dug with the assistance of males, or they occupy derelict fox or badger dens. The burrow is dug a few days before parturition, with both the male and female taking turns digging. The burrow is located either in thick shrubs, on the slopes of gulleys or on flat surfaces. A golden jackal burrow is a simple structure with a single opening. Its length is about 2 metres, while the nest chamber occurs at a depth of 1.0-1.4 metres. In Dagestan and Azerbaijan, litters are sometimes are located within the hollows of fallen trees, tree roots and under stones on river banks. In Middle Asia, the golden jackal does not dig burrows, but constructs lairs in dense tugai thickets. Jackals in the Vakhsh tugais construct 3-metre-long burrows under tree roots or directly in dense thickets. Jackals in the tugais and cultivated lands of Tajikistan construct lairs in long grass plumes, shrubs and reed openings.Diet and hunting behaviours
The golden jackal is an omnivorous and opportunistic forager; its diet varies according to season and habitat. In BharatpurBharatpur
Bharatpur may refer to:Nepal*Bharatpur, Nepal, a city in Nepal.*Bharatpur, Dhanusa, village in Nepal*Bharatpur, Mahottari, village in NepalIndia*Bharatpur, Rajasthan, a city, Rajasthan, India....
, India, over 60% of its diet consists of rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s, bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s and fruit, while 80% of its diet consists of rodents, reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s and fruit in Kanha
Kanha
Kanha or Kanhapad was one of the poets of Charjapad, the earliest known example of bangla literature. He was a tantric buddhist and his poems in Charjapad are written in a code, whereby every poem has a descriptive or narrative surface meaning but also encodes tantric buddhist teachings...
. In the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the golden jackal primarily hunts hare
Hare
Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...
s and mouse
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
-like rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s, as well as pheasant
Pheasant
Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
s, francolin
Francolin
Francolins are birds that traditionally have been placed in the genus Francolinus, but now commonly are divided into multiple genera , although some of the major taxonomic listing sources have yet to divide them. They are members of the pheasant family, Phasianidae...
s, duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
s, coot
Coot
Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family Rallidae. They constitute the genus Fulica. Coots have predominantly black plumage, and, unlike many of the rails, they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water...
s, moorhen
Moorhen
Moorhens, sometimes called marsh hens, are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family Rallidae. They constitute the genus Gallinula....
s and passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
s. Vegetable matter eaten by jackals in these areas includes fruits, such as pear
Pear
The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....
s, hawthorn
Crataegus
Crataegus , commonly called hawthorn or thornapple, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America. The name hawthorn was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe,...
, dogwood
Dogwood
The genus Cornus is a group of about 30-60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods. Most dogwoods are deciduous trees or shrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and a few of the woody species are evergreen...
and the cones of common medlar
Common Medlar
Mespilus germanica, known as the common medlar is a large shrub or small tree, and the name of the fruit of this tree. Despite its Latin name, which means German or Germanic medlar, it is indigenous to southwest Asia and also southeastern Europe, mostly the Black Sea coasts of modern Turkey...
s. It is implicated in the destruction of grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s, watermelon
Watermelon
Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...
s, muskmelon
Muskmelon
Muskmelon is a species of melon that has been developed into many cultivated varieties. These include smooth skinned varieties such as honeydew, crenshaw and casaba, and different netted cultivars...
s and nut
Nut
Nut may refer to:* En dash or nut, traditionally half the width of an em dash* Nut , a piece of metal wedged into a rock* Nut , the large, usually oily seed of some plants...
s. Near the Vakhsh River
Vakhsh River
The Vakhsh has been intensively developed for human use. Electricity, aluminum, and cotton are the mainstays of Tajikistan’s economy, and the Vakhsh is involved with all three of these sectors. Hydroelectricity provides 91% of the country’s electricity as of 2005, and 90% of that total comes from...
, the jackal's spring diet consists almost exclusively of plant bulbs and the roots of wild sugar cane, while in winter it feeds on the fruit stones of wild stony olive
Elaeagnus angustifolia
Elaeagnus angustifolia, commonly called silver berry, oleaster, Russian olive, or wild olive, is a species of Elaeagnus, native to western and central Asia, from southern Russia and Kazakhstan to Turkey and Iran...
s. In the edges of the Karakum Desert
Karakum Desert
The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara Gum is a desert in Central Asia. It occupies about 70 percent, or 350,000 km², of the area of Turkmenistan....
, the golden jackal feeds on gerbil
Gerbil
A gerbil is a small mammal of the order Rodentia. Once known simply as "desert rats", the gerbil subfamily includes about 110 species of African, Indian, and Asian rodents, including sand rats and jirds, all of which are adapted to arid habitats...
s, lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
s, snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s, fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
and muskrat
Muskrat
The muskrat , the only species in genus Ondatra, is a medium-sized semi-aquatic rodent native to North America, and introduced in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands and is a very successful animal over a wide range of climates and habitats...
s. Karakum jackals also eat the fruits of wild stony olives, mulberry
Mulberry
Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....
and dried apricot
Apricot
The apricot, Prunus armeniaca, is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus. The native range is somewhat uncertain due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation.- Description :...
s, as well as watermelons, muskmelons, tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
es and grapes. In Hungary, its most frequent prey animals are common vole
Common Vole
The Common Vole, Microtus arvalis, is a European mammal.- Distribution and habitat :The common vole is hardly restricted in means of distribution and habitat and inhabits large areas of Eurasia. As Microtus arvalis followed human civilisation, primary and secondary habitats can be distinguished...
s and bank vole
Bank Vole
The bank vole is a small vole with red-brown fur and some grey patches, with a tail about half as long as its body. A rodent, it lives in woodland areas and is around in length. The bank vole is found in western Europe and northern Asia...
s. Information on the diet of the golden jackal in northeastern Italy is scant, but it certainly preys on small roe deer
Roe Deer
The European Roe Deer , also known as the Western Roe Deer, chevreuil or just Roe Deer, is a Eurasian species of deer. It is relatively small, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapted to cold environments. Roe Deer are widespread in Western Europe, from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, and from...
and hares. In west Africa, it mostly confines itself to small prey, such as hare
Hare
Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...
s, rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s, ground squirrel
Ground squirrel
The ground squirrels are members of the squirrel family of rodents which generally live on or in the ground, rather than trees. The term is most often used for the medium-sized ground squirrels, as the larger ones are more commonly known as marmots or prairie dogs, while the smaller and less...
s and grass cutter
Cane rat
The genus Thryonomys, also known as cane rats, grass cutters, or cutting grass, is a genus of rodent found throughout Africa south of the Sahara, the only members of the family Thyronomyidae. They are eaten in some African countries and are a pest species on many crops.-Characteristics:Cane rats...
s. Other prey items include lizards, snakes, and ground-nesting birds, such as francolins and bustard
Bustard
Bustards, including floricans and korhaans, are large terrestrial birds mainly associated with dry open country and steppes in the Old World...
s. It also consumes a large amount of insects, including dung beetle
Dung beetle
Dung beetles are beetles that feed partly or exclusively on feces. All of these species belong to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea; most of them to the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae of the family Scarabaeidae. This beetle can also be referred to as the scarab beetle. As most species of...
s, larvae
Larvae
In Roman mythology, lemures were shades or spirits of the restless or malignant dead, and are probably cognate with an extended sense of larvae as disturbing or frightening...
, termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
s and grasshopper
Grasshopper
The grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper...
s. It will also kill young gazelle
Gazelle
A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella, or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera...
s, duiker
Duiker
A duiker is any of about 21 small to medium-sized antelope species from the subfamily Cephalophinae native to Sub-Saharan Africa.Duikers are shy and elusive creatures with a fondness for dense cover; most are forest dwellers and even the species living in more open areas are quick to disappear...
s and warthog
Warthog
The Warthog or Common Warthog is a wild member of the pig family that lives in grassland, savanna, and woodland in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the past it was commonly treated as a subspecies of P...
s. In East Africa, it consumes invertebrates and fruit, though 60% of its diet consists of rodents, lizards, snakes, birds, hares and Thompson's gazelles. During the wildebeest
Wildebeest
The wildebeest , also called the gnu is an antelope of the genus Connochaetes. It is a hooved mammal...
calving season, golden jackals will feed almost exclusively on their afterbirth. In the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, less than 20% of its diet comes from scagenging.
The golden jackal rarely forms small packs when hunting, though packs of 8–12 jackals consisting of more than one family have been observed in the summer periods in Transcaucasia. When hunting singly, the golden jackal will trot around an area, occasionally stopping to sniff and listen. Once prey is located, it will conceal itself, quickly approach, then pounce. When hunting in pairs or packs, jackals run parallel and overtake their prey in unison. When hunting aquatic rodents or birds, they will run along both sides of narrow rivers or streams, driving their prey from one jackal to another. The golden jackal catches hares with difficulty, as they are faster than it, and gazelle mothers (often working in groups of two or three) are formidable when defending their young against single jackals. It is much more successful in hunting gazelle fawns when working in a pair. Jackal pairs will methodically search for concealed gazelle fawns within herds, tall grass, bushes and other likely hiding places. Although it is known to kill animals up to three times its own weight, the golden jackal overall targets mammalian prey much less frequently than the black-backed jackal. Upon capturing large prey, the golden jackal makes no attempt to kill its prey, but rips open its belly and eats the entrails. Small prey is typically killed by shaking, though snakes may be eaten alive from the tail end. The golden jackal often carries away more food than it can consume, and cache
Cache
In computer engineering, a cache is a component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere...
s the surplus, which is generally recovered within 24 hours. When foraging for insects, the golden jackal turns over dung piles to find dung beetles. During the dry seasons, it excavates dung balls to reach the larvae within. Grasshoppers and flying termites are caught either by pouncing or are caught in mid-air.
Relationships with other predators
The golden jackal is warier of lionLion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s than the black-backed jackal is, but is bolder with African wild dog
African Wild Dog
Lycaon pictus is a large canid found only in Africa, especially in savannas and lightly wooded areas. It is variously called the African wild dog, African hunting dog, Cape hunting dog, painted dog, painted wolf, painted hunting dog, spotted dog, or ornate wolf...
s and spotted hyena
Spotted Hyena
The spotted hyena also known as laughing hyena, is a carnivorous mammal of the family Hyaenidae, of which it is the largest extant member. Though the species' prehistoric range included Eurasia extending from Atlantic Europe to China, it now only occurs in all of Africa south of the Sahara save...
s.
The golden jackal dominates vulture
Old World vulture
Old World vultures belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, buzzards, kites, and hawks.Old World vultures are not closely related to the superficially similar New World vultures and condors, and do not share that group's good sense of smell. The similarities between the two...
s on kills, and can singly hold dozens at bay by threatening, snapping and lunging at them. Sometimes, it jumps in the air to bite at a vulture alighting too closely.
Golden jackals tend to dominate smaller canid species. In Africa, golden jackals have been observed to kill the pups of black-backed jackal
Black-backed Jackal
The black-backed jackal , also known as the silver-backed or red jackal, is a species of jackal which inhabits two areas of the African continent separated by roughly 900 km. One region includes the southern-most tip of the continent, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe...
s. In Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, red fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
es are a commonly occurring predator and, although smaller than jackals, their dietary habits are identical, and the two species are therefore in direct competition with one another. Foxes generally ignore jackal scents or tracks in their territories, though they will avoid close physical proximity with jackals themselves. Studies have shown that in areas where jackals became very abundant, the population size of foxes decreased significantly, apparently because of competitive exclusion. Conversely, jackals are shown to vacate areas inhabited by wolves
Gray Wolf
The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
. Wolves are often actively intolerant of jackals in their established territories and have been known to approach jackal-calling stations at a quick trotting pace, presumably to chase off the competitors. The jackal's recent expansion throughout eastern and western Europe has been attributed to historical declines in wolf populations. The present diffusion of the golden jackal in the northern Adriatic hinterland seems to be in rapid expansion in various areas where the wolf is absent or very rare (see also:). Jackals have been observed to follow and feed alongside wolves without evoking any hostility. In Africa, golden jackals often eat alongside African wild dogs, and will stand their ground if the dogs try to harass them. In South-eastern Asia, golden jackals have been known to hunt alongside dhole
Dhole
The dhole is a species of canid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the only extant member of the genus Cuon, which differs from Canis by the reduced number of molars and greater number of teats...
packs, and there is one record of a golden jackal pack adopting a male Ethiopian wolf
Ethiopian Wolf
The Ethiopian wolf , also known as the Abyssinian wolf, Abyssinian fox, red jackal, Simien fox, or Simien jackal is a canid native to Africa...
.
In India, lone jackals expelled from their pack have been known to form commensal relationship
Commensalism
In ecology, commensalism is a class of relationship between two organisms where one organism benefits but the other is neutral...
s with tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
s. These solitary jackals, known as kol-bahl, will attach themselves to a particular tiger, trailing it at a safe distance to feed on the big cat's kills. A kol-bahl will even alert a tiger to a kill with a loud pheal. Tigers have been known to tolerate these jackals: one report describes how a jackal confidently walked in and out between three tigers walking together a few feet away from each other. Tigers will, however, kill jackals on occasion; the now extinct tigers of the Amu-Darya region were known to frequently eat jackals.
Jackals will feed alongside spotted hyena
Spotted Hyena
The spotted hyena also known as laughing hyena, is a carnivorous mammal of the family Hyaenidae, of which it is the largest extant member. Though the species' prehistoric range included Eurasia extending from Atlantic Europe to China, it now only occurs in all of Africa south of the Sahara save...
s, though they will be chased if they approach too closely. Spotted hyenas will sometimes follow jackals during the gazelle fawning season, as jackals are effective at tracking and catching young animals. Hyenas do not take to eating jackal flesh readily: four hyenas were reported to take half an hour in eating one. Overall, the two animals typically ignore each other when no food or young is at stake. Jackals will confront a hyena approaching too closely to their dens by taking turns in biting the hyena's hocks until it retreats. Striped hyena
Striped Hyena
The Striped Hyena is a species of true hyena native to North and East Africa, the Caucasus, the Middle East, Middle and Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent...
s have been known to prey on golden jackals in Kutch, India; one striped hyena den contained three dead jackals.
Body language
Golden jackals frequently groom one another, particularly during courtship, during which it can last up to ½ hour. Nibbling of the face and neck is observed during greeting ceremonies. When fighting, the golden jackal slams its opponents with its hips, and bites and shakes the shoulder. The species' postures are typically canine, and it has more facial mobility than the black-backed and side-striped jackals, being able to expose its canine teeth like a dog.Vocalisations
The vocabulary of the golden jackal is similar to that of dogs, with seven different sounds having been recorded. Different subspecies can be recognised by differences in their howls. Among African canids, the golden jackal has the most dog-like vocalisations. Its cry consists of a long, wailing howl which is repeated three or four times, each repetition in a note a little higher than the preceding, and then a succession of usually three quick yelps, also repeated two or three times. It was commonly rendered in EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as "Dead Hindoo, where, where, where". This sound is usually uttered shortly after dark or before dawn. The golden jackal may howl for different reasons, such as to call other jackals or, seemingly, to announce changes in weather. It has been recorded to howl upon hearing church bells, sirens or the whistles of steam engines and boats. It typically howls at dawn, midday and the evening hours. Groups will occasionally howl in chorus, which is thought to reinforce family bonds, as well as advertise territorial status. When in the vicinity of tigers or leopards or any other cause for alarm, the golden jackal emits a cry transliterated as "pheal", "phion" or "phnew". When hunting in a pack, the dominant jackal initiates an attack by repeatedly emitting a sound transliterated as "okkay!".
Range
In AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, golden jackals are widespread in the north and northeastern portions of the continent, being present from Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
on Africa's west coast to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in the East. This range includes Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, and Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
in the north to Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
in the south. They also occur in 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 have a patchy distribution in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. In their European range, jackals are found in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, and southwestern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. They are found also in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, and northeastern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto), where their distribution has recently increased, encompassing also the region Trentino Alto Adige. To the east, their range includes Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, 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....
, 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...
, 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...
, Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
, then east and south to Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, and parts of Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
.
Diseases and parasites
The golden jackal can carry diseases and parasites harmful to human health, including rabiesRabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
and Donovan's Leishmania
Leishmania donovani
Leishmania donovani is a species of Leishmania. It is an important cause of visceral leishmaniasis. The reference genome of L. donovani extracted in the south eastern Nepal was published in 2011...
(which, although harmless to jackals, can cause leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of certain species of sand fly...
in people). Jackals in southwestern Tajikistan have been recorded to carry 16 species of cestodes, roundworms and acanthocephala
Acanthocephala
Acanthocephala is a phylum of parasitic worms known as acanthocephales, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterized by the presence of an evertable proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses to pierce and hold the gut wall of its host...
ns (Sparganum mansoni
Sparganosis
Sparganosis is a parasitic infection caused by the plerocercoid larvae of diphyllobothroid tapeworms belonging to the genus Spirometra. First described by Manson in 1882, the infection is transmitted by ingestion of contaminated water, ingestion of a second intermediate host such as a frog or...
, Diphyllobothrium mansonoides
Diphyllobothrium mansonoides
Diphyllobothrium mansonoides is a species of tapeworm that is endemic to North America. Infection with D. mansonoides in humans can result in sparganosis. Justus F. Mueller first reported this organism in 1935. D. mansonoides is similar to D. latum and Spirometra erinacei...
, Taenia hydatigena, T. pisiformis
Taenia pisiformis
Taenia pisiformis is a tapeworm. It is related to Taenia solium, the pork tapeworm, and to Taenia saginata, the beef tapeworm.The adult may reach up to 200 cm in length.The definite host is represented by carnivores such as the dog or the cat....
, T. ovis, Hydatigera taeniaeformis, Diphylidium caninum, Mesocestoides lineatus, Ancylostoma caninum
Ancylostoma caninum
Ancylostoma caninum, commonly Dog hookworm, is a parasitic nematode hookworm that infects dogs. The larval stage penetrates the skin and makes it way through the circulatory system into the digestive tract, where adult forms lay eggs that are passed through the feces. Common symptoms include anemia...
, Uncinaria stenocephala
Uncinaria stenocephala
Uncinaria stenocephala is one of the most common nematode parasites targeting dogs, cats, and foxes as well as humans.Common name: The Northern hookworm of dogs.-Life cycle:...
, Dioctophyma renale, Toxocara canis
Toxocara canis
Toxocara canis is worldwide distributed helminth parasite of dogs and other canids. T. canis are gonochorists, adult worms measure from 9 to 18 cm, are yellow-white in color, and occur in the intestine of the definitive host. In adult dogs, the infection is usually asymptomatic. By the...
, Toxascaris leonina
Toxascaris leonina
Toxascaris leonina is a common parasitic roundworm found in dogs, cats, foxes, and related host species. Toxascaris leonina, or T. leonina, is an ascarid nematode, a worldwide distributed helminth parasite which is in a division of eukaryotic parasites that, unlike external parasites such as lice...
, Dracunculus medinensis
Dracunculus medinensis
Dracunculus medinensis is a nematode that causes dracunculiasis.Dracunculiasis, also known as Guinea worm disease, is caused by the large female nematode, Dracunculus medinensis, which is among the longest nematodes infecting humans. The adult female is primarily larger than the adult male. The...
, Filariata and Macracanthorhynchus catulinum). Jackals infected with D. medinensis can infect water bodies with their eggs, and cause dracunculiasis
Dracunculiasis
Dracunculiasis , also called guinea worm disease , is a parasitic infection caused by Dracunculus medinensis, a long and very thin nematode . The infection begins when a person drinks stagnant water contaminated with copepods infested by the larvae of the guinea worm...
in people who drink from them. Jackals may also play a large part in spreading coenurosis in sheep and cattle, and canine distemper
Canine distemper
Canine distemper is a viral disease that affects animals in the families Canidae, Mustelidae, Mephitidae, Hyaenidae, Ailuridae, Procyonidae, Pinnipedia, some Viverridae and Felidae...
in dogs. Jackals in the Serengeti are known to carry the canine parvovirus
Canine parvovirus
Canine parvovirus type 2 is a contagious virus mainly affecting dogs. The disease is highly contagious and is spread from dog to dog by direct or indirect contact with their feces. It can be especially severe in puppies that are not protected by maternal antibodies or vaccination. It has two...
, canine herpesvirus
Canine herpesvirus
Canine herpesvirus ' is a virus of the family Herpesviridae which most importantly causes a fatal hemorrhagic disease in puppies less than two to three weeks old. It is known to exist in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, England and Germany...
, canine coronavirus
Canine coronavirus
Canine coronavirus is a virus of the family Coronaviridae that causes a highly contagious intestinal disease worldwide in dogs. It was discovered in 1971 in Germany during an outbreak in sentry dogs.-Pathology:...
and canine adenovirus. In July 2006, a Romanian jackal was found to be carrying Trichinella britovi
Trichinella britovi
Trichinella britovi is a nematode parasite responsible for a zoonotic disease called trichinellosis. There are currently eight known species of Trichinella. Only three of the Trichinella species cause trichinellosis, and Trichinella britovi is one of them...
. Jackals consuming fish and molluscs can be infected with metagonimiasis
Metagonimiasis
Metagonimiasis is a disease caused by an intestinal trematode, most commonly Metagonimus yokagawai, but sometimes by M. takashii or M. miyatai. The metagonimiasis causing flukes are one of two minute flukes called the heterophyids. Metagonimiasis was described by Katsurasa in 1911-1913 when he...
, which was recently diagnosed in a male jackal from northeastern Italy. In Tajikistan, at least 12 tick
Tick
Ticks are small arachnids in the order Ixodida, along with mites, constitute the subclass Acarina. Ticks are ectoparasites , living by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians...
species are known to be carried by golden jackals (which include Ixodes
Ixodes
Ixodes is a genus of hard-bodied ticks . It includes important disease vectors of animals and humans . Some ticks in this genus may transmit the pathogenic bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi responsible for causing Lyme disease...
, Rhipicephalus turanicus, R. leporis, R. rossicus, R. sanguineus
Rhipicephalus sanguineus
The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, is a species of tick which is found world-wide, but more commonly in warmer climates. This species is unusual among ticks in that its entire life cycle can be completed indoors.-Hosts:...
, R. pumilio, R. schulzei, Hyalomma
Hyalomma
Hyalomma is a genus of hard-bodied ticks, common in Asia, Europe, and Hyalomma is a genus of hard-bodied [[tick]]s, common in [[Asia]], [[Europe]], and...
anatolicum, H. scupense and H. asiaticum), four flea
Flea
Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood...
species (Pulex irritans, Xenopsylla nesokiae, Ctenocephanlides canis
Dog flea
The dog flea is a species of flea that lives primarily on the blood of dogs. The dog flea is troublesome because it can spread Dipylidium caninum. They are commonly found in Europe....
and C. felis) and one species of louse
Louse
Lice is the common name for over 3,000 species of wingless insects of the order Phthiraptera; three of which are classified as human disease agents...
(Trichodectes canis). In northeastern Italy, the species is a carrier of the tick species Ixodes ricinus
Ixodes ricinus
Ixodes ricinus, the castor bean tick, is a chiefly European species of hard-bodied tick. It may reach a length of when engorged with a blood meal, and can transmit both bacterial and viral pathogens such as the causative agents of Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis.-Description:In common...
and Dermacentor reticulatus.
In folklore, mythology and literature
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian god of embalming, Anubis
Anubis
Anubis is the Greek name for a jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion. In the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis is known as Inpu . According to the Akkadian transcription in the Amarna letters, Anubis' name was vocalized as Anapa...
, was portrayed as a jackal-headed man, or as a jackal wearing ribbons and holding a flagellum. Anubis was always shown as a jackal or dog colored black, the color of regeneration, death, and the night. It was also the color the body turned during mummification. The reason for Anubis' animal model being canine is based on what the ancient Egyptians themselves observed of the creature - dogs and jackals often haunted the edges of the desert, especially near the cemeteries where the dead were buried. In fact, the Egyptians are thought to have begun the practice of making elaborate graves and tombs to protect the dead from desecration by jackals. Duamutef
Duamutef
Duamutef was one of the Four Sons of Horus and a protectiongod of the Canopic jars. Commonly he is said to be the son of the god Horus the Elder and the goddess Isis. There is another myth that describes...
, one of the Four Sons of Horus
Four sons of Horus
The four sons of Horus were a group of four gods in Egyptian religion, who were essentially the personifications of the four canopic jars, which accompanied mummified bodies. Since the heart was thought to embody the soul, it was left inside the body. The brain was thought only to be the origin of...
and a protection god of the Canopic jar
Canopic jar
Canopic jars were used by the Ancient Egyptians during the mummification process to store and preserve the viscera of their owner for the afterlife. They were commonly either carved from limestone or were made of pottery...
s, was also portrayed as having jackal-like features.
In Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, the golden jackal is portrayed as the familiar of several deities, the most common of which being Chamunda
Chamunda
Chamunda , also known as Chamundi, Chamundeshwari and Charchika, is a fearsome aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother and one of the seven Matrikas . She is also one of the chief Yoginis, a group of sixty-four or eighty-one Tantric goddesses, who are attendants of the warrior goddess Durga...
, the emaciated, devouring goddess of the cremation grounds. Another deity associated with jackals is Kali
Kali
' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...
, who inhabits the cremation ground and is surrounded by millions of jackals. According to the Tantrasara
Tantrasara
The Tantrasara is a work attributed to Abhinavagupta, the most famous historical proponent of the Trika or Kashmir Shaivism philosophy of Hinduism. It is said to a condensed version of the Tantraloka, Abhinavagupta's Magnum opus....
, when offered animal flesh, Kali appears before the officiant in the form of a jackal. The goddess Shivatudi is depicted with a jackal's head. Golden jackals appear prominently in Indian folklore
Folklore of India
The folklore of India compasses the folklore of the nation of India and the Indian subcontinent.The subcontinent of India contains a wide diversity of ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups...
and ancient texts, such as the Jakatas and Panchtatra, where they are often portrayed as intelligent and wily creatures. In Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
's Mowgli
Mowgli
Mowgli is a fictional character from India who originally appeared in Rudyard Kipling's short story "In the Rukh" and then went on to become the most prominent and memorable character in his fantasies, The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book , which also featured stories about other...
stories collected in The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six...
, the character Tabaqui is a jackal despised by the Sioni wolf pack, due to his mock cordiality, scavenging habits and his subservience to Shere Khan
Shere Khan
Shere Khan is a fictional tiger of the Indian jungle. He is the chief antagonist in two of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book stories featuring Mowgli. Shere Khan is named after an Afghan Prince Kipling encountered on his trips to Afghanistan...
.
The Authorized King James Version (AV) of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
never mentions jackals, though this could be due to a translation error. The AVs of Isiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
, Micah
Book of Micah
The Book of Micah is one of fifteen prophetic books in the Hebrew bible/Old Testament, and the sixth of the twelve minor prophets. It records the sayings of Mikayahu, meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th century prophet from the village of Moresheth in Judah...
, Job
Book of Job
The Book of Job , commonly referred to simply as Job, is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to God, and finally a response from God. The book is a...
and Malachi
Book of Malachi
Malachi is a book of the Hebrew Bible, the last of the twelve minor prophets and the final book of the Neviim...
mention "wild beasts" and "dragons" crying in desolate houses and palaces. The original Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
words used are lyim (howler) and tan, respectively. According to biologist Michael Bright, tan is more likely referring to jackals than dragons, as the word is frequently used throughout the AV to describe a howling animal associated with desolation and abandoned habitations, which is consistent with the golden jackal's vast vocal repertoire and its occasional habit of living in abandoned buildings. Jeremiah makes frequent references to jackals by using the word shu'al, which can mean both jackal and fox. Although the AV translates the word as fox, the behaviour described is more consistent with jackals, as shown in the books of Lamentations
Book of Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ) is a poetic book of the Hebrew Bible composed by the Jewish prophet Jeremiah. It mourns the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple in the 6th Century BCE....
and Psalms, in which references are made to the shu'al's habit of eating corpses in battlefields. David W. Macdonald
David W. Macdonald
David Whyte Macdonald CBE FRSE is a Scottish zoologist and conservationist. He is the Director of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit , Oxford University, which he founded in 1986...
theorizes,because of the general scarcity and elusiveness of foxes in Israel, the author of the Book of Judges
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its title describes its contents: it contains the history of Biblical judges, divinely inspired prophets whose direct knowledge of Yahweh allows them to act as decision-makers for the Israelites, as...
may have actually been describing the much more common golden jackals when narrating how Samson
Samson
Samson, Shimshon ; Shamshoun or Sampson is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Tanakh ....
tied torches to the tails of 300 foxes to make them destroy the vineyards of the Philistines
Philistines
Philistines , Pleshet or Peleset, were a people who occupied the southern coast of Canaan at the beginning of the Iron Age . According to the Bible, they ruled the five city-states of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath, from the Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with...
. According to an ancient Ethiopian folktale, jackals and man first became enemies shortly before the Great Flood, when Noah
Noah
Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
initially refused to allow jackals into the ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
, thinking they were unworthy of being saved, until being commanded by God to do so.
Although present in Europe, jackals are rarely featured in European folklore or literature. Surveys taken in the high Adriatic hinterland indicate the totality of people with first-hand experience of jackals (hunters, game keepers and local people) regularly mistook red foxes affected by sarcoptic mange (or in a problematic state of moult) for golden jackals. The sighting of a true golden jackal, however, was always referred to as a wolf, or a little wolf. This was verified both with photo-trapping sessions and with a study on tracks, confirming previous observations on this matter. This erroneous and controversial perception of the golden jackal may be because its presence is still not traditional, neither in Italian and Slovenian human culture, nor in hunting and game keeping traditions.
Livestock, game and crop predation
Golden jackals can be harmful pests, and will attack domestic animals, including turkeys, lambs, sheep, goatGoat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s, and one record of a jackal attacking a newborn domestic water buffalo calf. They destroy many grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s, and eat watermelon
Watermelon
Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...
s, muskmelon
Muskmelon
Muskmelon is a species of melon that has been developed into many cultivated varieties. These include smooth skinned varieties such as honeydew, crenshaw and casaba, and different netted cultivars...
s and nuts
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
. In Greece, jackals tend not to be as damaging to livestock as wolves and red foxes are, though they can become a serious nuisance to small stock when in high numbers. In southern Bulgaria, 1,053 attacks on small stock, mainly sheep and lambs, were recorded between 1982 and 1987, along with some damages to newborn deer in game farms. In Israel, about 1.5%–1.9% of the calves born in the Golan Heights die due to predation, mainly by golden jackals. In both cases, the high predation rate is thought to be the consequence of a jackal population explosion due to the availability of food in illegal garbage dumps. Preventive measures to avoid predation were also lacking in both cases. However, even without preventive measures, the highest damages by jackals from Bulgaria are minimal when compared to the domestic animal losses by wolves. Golden jackals are extremely harmful to furbearing rodents, such as nutria and muskrat
Muskrat
The muskrat , the only species in genus Ondatra, is a medium-sized semi-aquatic rodent native to North America, and introduced in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands and is a very successful animal over a wide range of climates and habitats...
s. Nutria can be completely extirpated in shallow water bodies; during the winter of 1948-49 in the Amu Darya
Amu Darya
The Amu Darya , also called Oxus and Amu River, is a major river in Central Asia. It is formed by the junction of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers...
, muskrats constituted 12.3% of jackal faeces contents, and 71% of muskrat houses were destroyed by jackals, 16% of which froze and became unsuitable for muskrat occupation. Jackals also harm the fur industry by eating muskrats caught in traps or taking skins left out to dry.
Hunting
During the British RajBritish Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, British sportsmen in India would hunt jackals (often nicknamed "Cousin Jack") on horseback with hounds as a substitute for the fox hunting
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
of their native England. Although not considered as beautiful as English red fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
es, golden jackals were esteemed for their endurance in the chase; one chase lasted 3½ hours. India's weather and terrain also added further challenges to jackal hunters not present in England; the hounds of India were rarely in the same good condition as English hounds were, and although the golden jackal has a strong odour, the terrain of Northern India was not good in retaining scent. Also, unlike foxes, golden jackals were documented to feign death when caught, and could be ferociously protective of their captured packmates. Jackals were hunted in three ways: with greyhound
Greyhound
The Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed...
s, with mixed packs and with foxhound
Foxhound
A foxhound is a type of large hunting hound. Foxhounds hunt in packs and, like all scent hounds, have a strong sense of smell. They are used in hunts for foxes, hence the name. When out hunting they are followed usually on horseback and will travel several miles to catch their target. These dogs...
s. Hunting jackals with greyhounds offered poor sport, as greyhounds were too fast for jackals, and mixed packs were too difficult to control. Some indigenous people of India, such as the Koli
KOLI
KOLI is a radio station serving Wichita Falls, Texas and Vicinity with a country music format. It operates on FM frequency 94.9 MHz and is under ownership of Cumulus Media. It is the radio flagship station for the Wichita Falls Wildcats hockey team....
s and Vaghirs of Gujarat and Rajastan and the Narikurava
Narikurava
The Narikuravar are a community of people from Tamil Nadu, India.The main occupation of the people who originally belong to the indigenous tribes, is hunting. But as they were prohibited entry into the forests to pursue this livelihood, they were forced to take up other alternatives such as...
s in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, hunt and eat golden jackals, but the majority of South Asian cultures consider the animal unclean. The orthodox dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
texts forbid the eating of jackals, as they have five nails (panchanakha).
In the former Soviet Union, jackals are not actively hunted, and are usually captured incidentally during the hunting of other animals by means of traps or shooting during drives. In the Trans-Caucasus, jackals are captured with large fishing hooks baited with meat, suspended 75–100 cm from the ground with wire. The jackals can only reach the meat by jumping, and are hooked by the lip or jaw.
The Greek Ministry of Agriculture annually organised shooting and poisoning campaigns against jackals until 1981. An average of 1000 jackals were killed per year in these campaigns, and a bounty was paid for each animal killed. The jackal was the first wild canid to be removed from Greece's vermin list in 1990, and it was followed by the wolf and fox in 1993, though, unlike the latter two species, jackals did not fully recolonise areas of their former range. Although jackals in Greece are rarely hunted intentionally, they are occasionally shot during the hunts of other animals, such as wild boar.
In Italy, the species has been recently protected by the National Law 157/1992, but it is occasionally shot illegally during fox hunts. This seems to be the main obstacle for the species in Italy.
Jackals are hunted in Vietnam for their noses, which are supposed to possess medicinal qualities.
Fur use
In RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and other nations of the former Soviet Union, golden jackals are considered furbearers, albeit ones of low quality due to their sparse, coarse and monotonously coloured fur. Asiatic and Near Eastern jackals produce the coarsest pelts, though this can be remedied during the dressing process. As jackal hairs have very little fur fibre, their skins have a flat appearance. The softest furs come from Elburz in northern Iran. Jackals are known to have been hunted for their fur in the 19th century: in the 1880s, 200 jackals were captured annually in Mervsk. In the Zakatal area of the Trans-Caucasus, 300 jackals were captured in 1896. During that period, a total of 10,000 jackals had been taken within Russia, and were sent exclusively to the Nizhegorod fair. In the early 1930s, 20-25 thousand jackal skins were tanned annually in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, though the stocks were significantly underused, as over triple that amount could have been produced. Before 1949 and the onset of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the majority of jackal skins were exported to the USA. Despite their geographical variations, jackal skins are not graded according to a fur standard, and are typically used in the manufacture of cheap collars, women's coats and fur coats.
Tameability
When taken young, golden jackals can quickly become tameTame
Tame may refer to:*Taming, the act of domesticating wild animals*River Tame, Greater Manchester*River Tame, West Midlands and the Tame Valley*Tame, Arauca, a Colombian town and municipality...
, and will follow their owners and respond to their calls, as well as carry and fetch. They are however prone to stealing, and are untrustworthy toward small children.
Relation to the domestic dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s. In his The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication is a book written by Charles Darwin that was first published in January 1868.A large proportion of the book contains detailed information on the domestication of animals and plants but it also contains in Chapter XXVII a description of...
, Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
wrote of a female hybrid from an English dog and jackal kept in the Zoological Gardens of London. The hybrid was sterile, but Darwin pointed out this was an exceptional case, as there were numerous cases of jackal hybrids successfully reproducing. Robert Armitage Sterndale
Robert Armitage Sterndale
Sir Robert Armitage Sterndale was a naturalist and statesman. He was governor general of St. Helena in 1897.He wrote several books on natural history including on the mammals of India. He was one of the first editors of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society...
mentioned jackal hybrids from British India, noting that glaring jackal traits could be exhibited in hybrids even after three generations of crossing them with dogs.
Scientists at Russia's DS Likhachev Scientific Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Environmental Protection began a breeding project in 1975 in which they crossed golden jackals with huskies, to create an improved breed with the jackal's power of scent and the husky's resistance to cold. In recent years, Aeroflot
Aeroflot
OJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines , commonly known as Aeroflot , is the flag carrier and largest airline of the Russian Federation, based on passengers carried per year...
has used one-quarter jackal hybrids, known as Sulimov dog
Sulimov dog
The Sulimov Dog is a Russian Jackal-Dog Hybrid originating from an initial hybrid between two Lapponian Herders and two Turkmen golden jackals. The breed was developed by Klim Sulimov for Aeroflot airline security. He is described as a Senior Research Assistant at the D.S...
s, to sniff out explosives otherwise undetectable by machinery. Breeding experiments in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
with poodle
Poodle
The Poodle is a breed of dog. The poodle breed is found officially in toy, miniature, and standard sizes, with many coat colors. Originally bred as a type of water dog, the poodle is highly intelligent and skillful in many dog sports, including agility, obedience, tracking, and even herding...
s, jackals, and later on with the resulting dog-jackal hybrids showed, unlike wolfdog
Wolfdog
A wolfdog is a canid hybrid resulting from the mating of a wolf and a dog . The term "wolfdog" is preferred by most of the animals' proponents and breeders because the domestic dog recently was taxonomically recategorized as a subspecies of wolf...
s, jackal-dogs exhibit a decrease in fertility, significant communication problems, and an increase of genetic diseases after three generations of interbreeding. This led to the conclusion that dogs and jackals were not as closely related as once thought.
Following the example of Charles Darwin, who speculated that dogs originated from multiple wild canid species, Konrad Lorenz
Konrad Lorenz
Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch...
advocated the view that most dogs, particularly central European breeds, originated from golden jackals, and that wolf blood only contributed in the creation of northern dog breeds. Lorenz theorised wolf blood was added to an already-existing, jackal-derived population only when humans began colonising Arctic zones, to improve the hardiness of their animals in cold weather. He further argued that with the exception of northern dog breeds, which treat their human masters as pack leaders as wolves would do, the majority of dogs view their captors as parent animals, and display a submissive behaviour not usually found in northern breeds, a trait consistent with the golden jackal, which does not rely heavily on pack members to procure food and survive. While capable of absolute obedience, the supposed jackal-derived dogs are lacking in the deeper traits of loyalty and affection. He later rescinded this view upon taking into account the golden jackal's complicated repertoire of howling, which is absent in dogs and wolves.