The Living Animals of the World 



Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.] [North Finchley. 



NORTH AFRICAN JACKAL. 

 This is the common jackal of Cairo and Lower Egypt. 



TEE JACKAL. 



Of the Wild Canine Family, the JACKAL is 

 the next in numbers and importance to the 

 wolves. Probably in the East it is the most 

 numerous of any. In India, Egypt, and 

 Syria 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 bowlings 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 domesti- 

 cated 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 

 former 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, what- 

 ever 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 7s. 6d. 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 interbreed with 

 domestic dogs, and to be most easily tamed. 

 Both in India and South Africa the jackal 

 has been found to be of some service to the 

 white man by providing him with a substi- 

 tute 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 difficulties. The writer has 

 known one, when coursed by two large grey- 

 hounds, 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 ^nwtoiyA. s. Rutland & sons. 

 used are drafts from English packs. The INDIAN JACKAL. 



, ,, , -A- it. j ji This Indian jackal might te sitting for his portrait in Mr. Rudyard 



hOt Weather does not SUlt them, and they Kip i ing - s tale of the "undertakers "-the jackal, alligator, and adjutant. 



