THE AFRICAN JACKAL 



The Ancestor of Our Dog — Hunts at Night — Harmless but Kills Chickens, Lambs, Rabbits 

 and Small Antelopes. 



In the Stillness of the night the members of the American expedition of 

 hunters and naturalists often heard near their camp on the African steppe the 

 mournful voice of the jackal. It could still be heard in the early morning 

 long after all other nocturnal marauders had retreated to their hiding places. 

 The jackals are found everywhere on the velt, in daytime as well as at night, 

 and are not only seen in company with tlie hyena, but they are sometimes also 

 associated with the lion and the leopard, who, when these followers grow too 

 familiar, or when other food is scarce, do not hesitate to turn on them and 

 eat them. 



The jackal is a cunning, wary animal and, in the fairy tales and fables of 

 the tribes of the steppe, plays the same part which we have assigtied to our 

 "Reynard," the fox. being the embodiment of cunning, smartness and agility — 

 the animal which outwits all the rest. 



Several varieties of this beast are met with in different parts of the world. 



In India lives a wolf-like creature called the jackal, which gives a peculiar 

 wailing howL As the animal is known to feed on dead bodies, the Anglo- 

 Indian version of its howl is as follows: "Dead Hindoo! where, where, 

 where!" The jackal has another howl or cry used only when in the vicinity 

 of a tiger. I have heard both cries and they are the most peculiar that I can 

 recall. There is a fable, religiously believed by the natives of India, that the 

 jackal acts as a scout for the lion, and that the king of beasts shares the prey 

 with his smaller friend. This took its origin from the fact that the lion, 

 after eating his fill, leaves the remainder of the carcass, and the skulking 

 jackal, finding it, makes his meal from the leavings. 



The jackal is well known both as a prowler and a scavenger, in which 

 capacity he is useful, and as a disturber of our midnight rest by his horrible 

 yells, in which peculiarity he is to be looked upon as an unmitigated nui- 

 sance. He is mischievous, too, occasionally, and will commit havoc among 

 poultry and young kids and lambs; but, as a general rule, he is a harmless, 

 timid creature, and when animal food fails, he will take readily to vegetables. 

 The jackal sometimes feeds on dead bodies, which it digs out of the shallow 

 graves made by the natives, and I once came across, in the vicinity of a 

 jungle village, the dead body of a child that had been unearthed by a jackal. 



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