234 Journal of the Department of A.griculture. — Sept., 1922. 



LIFE-HISTORY OF THE JACKAL 



{THOS MESOMELAS). 



(Being a report issued by the South African Biological Society based on 

 information receiA'ed from various correspondents.) 



By Austin Egberts, Transvaal Museimi. 



Accumulating Knowledge. 



The jackal pest lias always been so serious a problem to the South 

 African sheep farmer that is seems hardly necessary to introduce the 

 matter at length in the present account of the life-history of the 

 animal. All that need be said is that, despite settlement by 

 Europeans in some districts for a hundred years, during- which the 

 jackal has always been an evil to be reckoned with, and has exercised 

 the ing-enuity of generations of farmers, elucidation of the problem 

 of how to eradicate it seems as far off as ever. As indicating the 

 seriousness of the problem, it may be stated that the Cape Provincial 

 Administration paid out in rewards during- the year ended 30th 

 June, 1920, over £7700, and it is estimated that during the same 

 period about 50,000 jackals were destroyed in that Province by various 

 means. With a view to investigating this problem, Sir Arnold 

 Theiler, Chief, Division of Veterinary Education and Research, intro- 

 duced the matter to the South African Biological Society for discus- 

 sion, and as a result it was decided to circulate a list of questions 

 throughout the country, in order to accumulate as much data as 

 possible upon the life-history of the jackal before taking active steps 

 to exterminate it. This was done through the kind offices of the 

 Press, and a large number of replies have reached the honorary 

 secretary of the society from wliich the following account is drawn 



The questions circulated dealt mainly with the habits of the 

 jackal, and owing, perhaps, to the lack of detailed inquiry as to the 

 methods commonly in vogue to prevent the ravages of the animal, 

 many of the writers have given little information in this connection. 

 It is, however, the most important part of the investigation, and as 

 proper justice cannot be done to the subject until full particulars 

 are available, it has been deemed advisable not to publish the little 

 information received on this point, but to circulate another series 

 of questions in conjunction Avith the present account, with a view to 

 the publication of a further report dealing with the remedies thus 

 far attempted. It is hoped that the request for this information will 

 receive the same unstinted response that characterized the first one, 

 when correspondents gave excellent original observations based in 

 most cases upon many years of experience of the jackal pest. The 



