NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



Since the advent of the European colonist into 

 South Africa, the antelopes and larger carnivorous 

 animals have been considerably reduced in numbers, 

 and in consequence the jackal's menu has shrunk 

 alarmingly, for it depended to a considerable extent 

 upon the bodies of the sick and crippled antelopes, 

 or those killed in combat, as well as the leavings of 

 the large carnivorous animals. Its main source of 

 food being thus cut off, the jackal seeks to make a 

 living by helping himself to the colonists' domestic 

 animals. As a destroyer of the smaller antelopes 

 and game birds, the jackal has fev^ rivals. How- 

 ever, these creatures are jealously guarded by man, 

 not because of their economic value, but to afford 

 him the pleasure of hunting and kiUing them ; 

 therefore, if destruction of game was the only 

 damage done by the jackal, it would in no way 

 retard the development of the country. 



The jackal is one of those animals which have been 

 of much service in Nature's evolutionary processes, 

 but when Man the Masterpiece makes his advent 

 with his flocks and herds, the jackal is no longer 

 needed, and consequently becomes one of those 

 animals which sentence of death must be pro- 

 nounced upon. In Great Britain the relatives of 

 the Cape Jackal have been exterminated by man 

 after a long and arduous conflict, and the process 

 of elimination is proceeding rapidly in other 

 countries. 



In South Africa the fight is being waged all over 



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