THE BLACK-BACKED JACKAL 



comfortable bed in his home, with the knowledge that 

 a policeman was on the beat outside to guard him 

 from harm. I obtained little or no sleep that night, 

 for, whenever a jackal cried out, an owl hooted, a 

 wild cat screamed, or the Bush Babies rustled the 

 branches overhead, he would start up with an ex- 

 clamation of alarm and grab hold of me. However, 

 after a few weeks he grew so used to the strange and 

 weird noises of the veld and forest by night, that 

 he slept peacefully. 



When brought to bay, the jackal utters what Mr. 

 Cloete describes as a quacking or cackling noise. 

 When desiring to attract the attention of the 

 puppies, it gives vent to a low grunting kind of 

 sound, or perhaps better described as a series of 

 low muffled barks. 



Jackals usually associate in pairs. Often a mother 

 jackal may be observed hunting with her last litter 

 of puppies, which she is teaching to hunt. At such 

 times they are particularly bold and destructive. 

 A farmer relates an instance of a mother jackal and 

 five half-grown pups killing fifty out of seventy-five 

 valuable Angora kids in a single night. Only one 

 or tw^o were eaten. The rest were killed, and 

 left upon the veld. On another occasion eleven 

 goat kids were killed within a few hundred yards 

 of the kraal, by a single jackal. None of the 

 bodies were touched, the jackal having evidently 

 become alarmed. One carcase was poisoned with 

 strychnine, and the following night the jackal 



105 



