BLACK BACKED JACKAL Canis mesomelas

Distribution:

They are also called the Silver Backed \ Saddle Backed Jackal.

They are to be found throughout Southern Africa but are rare or absent in some areas.

This may be due to extermination by stock farmers.

Diet:

These animals are omnivorous and will eat carrion, plants such as grass, fruit, berries, and seed.

They will also eat spiders, insects, rodents, reptiles, hares, birds and frogs; in fact just about anything that they can overpower.

Habitat:

They are to be found in open grasslands and in lightly wooded areas, as long as they have burrows or some form of shelter available to them.

Habits:

Both the male and the female will establish a territory which the male will defend against other males and the female against other females.

Jackals are monogamous and will only have one mate for life.

Both male and female will take part in the marking of the territory.

They are capable of living up to thirteen years but only make it to six or seven in the wild.

They have a very close family life and there have been cases of previous offspring staying on and helping in the raising of the next litter.

They communicate both vocally and with body language.

If members of the group are separated they will always greet one another when they come together again.

Dominance is achieved by staring at a submissive animal. The most severe case of dominance exertion being when the dominant animal will run into a submissive animal and knock it to the ground by slamming its hind quarters into the submissive animal.

They will sometimes rush at small antelopes to test to see if they are sick or healthy.

Jackals are known to actively hunt down prey and will sometimes hunt in pairs.

Breeding:

Black Backed Jackals give birth to 3-8 young but have an average litter of four young born after a gestation period of approximately two months.

Predators:

The adults are sometimes taken by Hyena and Leopard but the pups are taken by Caracal and Python, some are also taken by Martial Eagle.