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 few 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 killing 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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