92 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Ph,to Ij L. Midland, F.Z.S] [N.rth FinMtj 



NORTH AFRICAN JACKAL 



Thii is the common jackal of Cairo and Lower Egypt 



THE JACKAL 



Of the Wild Canine Family, the JACK; 

 is the next in numbers and importance to 

 wolves. Probably in the East it is the me 

 numerous of any. In India, Egypt, and Syr 

 it regularly haunts the outskirts of cities, and 

 lives on refuse. In the Indian plains wounded 

 animals are also killed by the jackals. At night 

 the creatures assemble in packs, and scour the 

 outskirts of the cities. Horrible are the 

 howlings and weird the cries of these hungry 

 packs. In Ceylon they live in the hills and 

 open country like foxes, and kill the hares. 

 When taken young jackals can be tamed, and 

 have all the manners of a dog. They wag 

 their tails, fawn on their master, roll over and 

 stick up their paws, and could probably be 

 domesticated in a few generations, were it 

 worth while. They eat fruits and vegetables, 

 such as melons and pumpkins, eagerly. 

 In Africa two species are found the BLACK-BACKED JACKAL and the STRIPED JACKAL ; the 



lormer is the size of a large English fox. The young jackals are born in holes or earths ; six 



seems to be the usual number of puppies. They have nearly always a back door by which they 



can escape ; this is just large enough for the puppies to squeeze through, whatever their size. 



When fox-terriers are put into the earth, the jackal puppies fly out of their back doors, through 



which, as a rule, the terriers are unable to follow them. Should there be no one outside, the 



puppies race out on to the veldt as hard as they can go. This jackal is terribly destructive to 



sheep and lambs in the Colony. A reward of 



$1.80 per tail is paid to the Kaffirs for killing 



them. The SIDE-STRIPED JACKAL is a Central 



African species, said to hunt in packs, to inter- 

 breed with domestic dogs, and to be most 



easily tamed. 



Both in India and South Africa the jackal 



hctt- been found to be of some service to the 



white man by providing him with a substitute 



for the fox to hunt. It has quite as remarkable 



powers of endurance as the fox, though it does 



not fight in the same determined way when 



the hounds overtake it. But it is not easy to 



estimate the courage of a fox when in diffi- 

 culties. The writer has known one, when 



coursed by two large greyhounds, to disable 



both almost instantaneously. One was bitten 



across the muzzle, the other through the foot. 



The fox escaped without a bite from either. In 



India the hounds used are drafts from English 



packs. The hot weather does not suit them, """ *' * *' Rudl "" d *" S "' 



and they are seldom long-lived ; but while they . , .. , ,. .. R j vara Ktp- 



3 This Indian jackal might be sitting for his portrait in Mr. Rudyard H'p- 

 m health they Will run a jackal acrOSS the ling's tale of the " undertakers" the jackal, alligator, and adjutant 



