Black-backed Jackal, Botswana, Africa
The black-backed jackal is a fox-like canid with a slender body, long legs, and large ears. It is similar to the closely related side-striped jackal and more distantly related to the golden jackal, though its skull and dentition are more robust and the incisors much sharper. It weighs 6–13 kg (13–29 lb), stands 38–48 cm (15–19 in) at the shoulder, and measures 67.3–81.2 cm (26.5–32.0 in) in body length.
Black-backed jackals are monogamous, living together until one of the mates dies. Mating once in a lifetime, they are very selective about their choice. Black-backed jackals are a strong social unit: they closely cooperate, building shelter and finding food together.
They often hunt in packs to make it possible to bring down large prey. However, black-backed jackals have also been found to hunt alone or in mated pairs.
They are territorial animals, fiercely and aggressively defending their home range. Usually, unpaired adults, who are looking for mates, have larger home ranges than paired adults. Black-backed jackals communicate, using scent marking and vocalization. They communicate with each other by means of growling, woofing, howling, and yelping sounds. I have also observed them being loving and affectionate with each other.
Black-backed Jackal, Botswana, Africa
The black-backed jackal is a fox-like canid with a slender body, long legs, and large ears. It is similar to the closely related side-striped jackal and more distantly related to the golden jackal, though its skull and dentition are more robust and the incisors much sharper. It weighs 6–13 kg (13–29 lb), stands 38–48 cm (15–19 in) at the shoulder, and measures 67.3–81.2 cm (26.5–32.0 in) in body length.
Black-backed jackals are monogamous, living together until one of the mates dies. Mating once in a lifetime, they are very selective about their choice. Black-backed jackals are a strong social unit: they closely cooperate, building shelter and finding food together.
They often hunt in packs to make it possible to bring down large prey. However, black-backed jackals have also been found to hunt alone or in mated pairs.
They are territorial animals, fiercely and aggressively defending their home range. Usually, unpaired adults, who are looking for mates, have larger home ranges than paired adults. Black-backed jackals communicate, using scent marking and vocalization. They communicate with each other by means of growling, woofing, howling, and yelping sounds. I have also observed them being loving and affectionate with each other.