Canis mesomelasblack-backed jackal

Ge­o­graphic Range

The black-backed jackal can be found only in Africa. The species lives in two dis­crete areas sep­a­rated by roughly 900km. One re­gion in­cludes the south­ern-most tip of the con­ti­nent in­clud­ing South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zim­babwe. The other area is along the east­ern coast­line, in­clud­ing Kenya, So­ma­lia, and Ethiopia (Smithers 1983). This sep­a­ra­tion may exist for ge­o­graph­i­cal rea­sons. Be­tween both pop­u­la­tions lies Oldu­vai Gorge (part of the Great Rift Val­ley) in north­ern Tan­za­nia. This land­scape is ex­tremely arid mak­ing liv­ing con­di­tions for most or­gan­isms ex­tremely dif­fi­cult.

Habi­tat

The habi­tat of the black-backed jackal is quite vari­able rang­ing from small cities and the sub­urbs of large cities to the Namib desert (Gins­berg 1990). They tend to be more com­mon in dry areas that re­ceive an an­nual rain­fall of be­tween 100-200 cm (Downs et al. 1991). These jack­als are as­so­ci­ated with open ter­rain and not for­est or heavy brush. This species can scav­enge in an area where big­ger game is hunted and killed or it can feed off the rem­nants of human hand­outs. Fur­ther­more, in the open grass­lands of today, human de­vel­op­ment in the form of agri­cul­ture pro­vides an ad­di­tional source of food for this species.

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

The main char­ac­ter­is­tic of the black-backed jackal, which gives it its name, is the black hair run­ning from the back of the neck to the tail (Van Valken­burgh 1994). The chest is white, and the under parts are white to rusty-white, whereas the rest of the body ranges from red­dish brown to gin­ger in ap­pear­ance. Adults stand about 38cm at the shoul­der and are nearly a meter long in length. The head is dog-like, with a pointed muz­zle and high pointed ears.

The win­ter coat of male adults de­vel­ops a red­dish to an al­most deep rus­set red color. Fe­males tend to be less richly col­ored (Gins­berg 1990). Sex­ual di­mor­phism does exist; males tend to be larger than fe­males, but this dif­fer­ence is small. (Gins­berg, 1990)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • male larger
  • Range mass
    5 to 10 kg
    11.01 to 22.03 lb
  • Average basal metabolic rate
    21.533 W
    AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

This species is one of the few mam­mals that has a long-term mate.

The fe­male usu­ally has her lit­ter un­der­ground in a va­cated but semi-elab­o­rate antbear bur­row al­low­ing for mul­ti­ple en­trances and es­cape routes. Black-backed jack­als less fre­quently use caves and rock crevices where typ­i­cally only a sin­gle en­trance exits. Mat­ing oc­curs any­time be­tween May and Au­gust. Ges­ta­tion lasts ap­prox­i­mately 60 days; lit­ter size at birth av­er­ages around 4 pups, but com­monly only 1-3 sur­vive. A pup be­comes sex­u­ally ma­ture at 11 months and can live up to 14 years in cap­tiv­ity but at most 8 years in the wild. Male and fe­male par­ents both take part in the rear­ing and feed­ing of young. The so­cial unit usu­ally con­sists of the two par­ents and their young. The only ex­cep­tion is when mul­ti­ple jack­als hunt in large packs. Pups usu­ally fol­low the par­ents out of the den at 3 months and are on their own within a year (Smithers 1983).

  • Range number of offspring
    1 to 7
  • Average number of offspring
    3
  • Average number of offspring
    4
    AnAge
  • Range gestation period
    60 to 65 days
  • Range weaning age
    56 to 63 days
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    Sex: female
    309 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    Sex: male
    251 days
    AnAge
  • Parental Investment
  • altricial
  • post-independence association with parents
  • extended period of juvenile learning

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Be­hav­ior

Black-backed jack­als are ac­tive both di­ur­nally and noc­tur­nally, but near the out­skirts of ur­ban­iza­tion they are mainly noc­tur­nal (Fox 1971). When ac­tive, this species is usu­ally out search­ing/scav­eng­ing for food. Nor­mal move­ment is at a trot; when hunt­ing an in­di­vid­ual walks slowly with its ears pricked and alert. Their senses are ex­tremely acute and well-de­vel­oped, es­pe­cially their senses of hear­ing and smell. If star­tled, a jackal will re­treat a cer­tain dis­tance and then cir­cle back in a wide arc in order to in­ter­pret the scent of the dis­tur­bance. Jack­als are wary of hu­mans and are not con­sid­ered "ag­gres­sive" to­wards larger an­i­mals. Jack­als are also cun­ning. They tend to be ter­ri­to­r­ial and will be­come ag­gres­sive only to de­fend the bound­aries of their ter­ri­to­ries. Paired adults have smaller home ranges (al­most 75% smaller) than do un­paired adults who are search­ing for mates.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Food Habits

Black-backed jack­als are like other so­cial canids in their for­ag­ing (Colby 1965). 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.

In a sam­ple of 96 stom­achs (Smithers 1983), in­sects oc­curred most fre­quently (52%); this was fol­lowed closely by ominiv­o­rous re­mains (37%); veg­etable mat­ter and "other" made up the rest (11%). Black-backed jack­als are known to kill do­mes­ti­cated an­i­mals (dogs, young sheep, and poul­try), but mainly feed on smaller mam­mals such as ro­dents, hares, and small an­telopes. Many jack­als have been ob­served scav­eng­ing the re­mains of a fe­line kill such as that of a lion or leop­ard be­fore vul­tures pick every­thing clean. (Colby, 1965; Smithers, 1983)

  • Animal Foods
  • birds
  • mammals
  • reptiles
  • carrion
  • insects
  • terrestrial non-insect arthropods
  • Plant Foods
  • seeds, grains, and nuts
  • fruit

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Hu­mans have sold the pelts of the black-backed jackal. In South Africa, the jackal may be hunted through­out the year for its meat (Gins­berg 1990).

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

In South Africa and else­where, the black-backed jackal car­ries the rep­u­ta­tion of a killer of poul­try and other do­mes­ti­cated live­stock. They also prey on sheep, but pri­mar­ily dur­ing lamb­ing.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Oc­curs in nu­mer­ous pro­tected areas in­clud­ing the Serengeti Na­tional Park, Tan­za­nia, and the Kruger Na­tional Park and Giant's Cas­tle Game Re­serve, South Africa.

Con­trib­u­tors

Ben­jamin Fish­man (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (ed­i­tor), Mu­seum of Zo­ol­ogy, Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Ethiopian

living in sub-Saharan Africa (south of 30 degrees north) and Madagascar.

World Map

altricial

young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

carrion

flesh of dead animals.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

monogamous

Having one mate at a time.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

nocturnal

active during the night

omnivore

an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals

scrub forest

scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

social

associates with others of its species; forms social groups.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

territorial

defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

viviparous

reproduction in which fertilization and development take place within the female body and the developing embryo derives nourishment from the female.

Ref­er­ences

Colby, C. 1965. Wild Dogs. New York, New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce.

Downs, C., J. Bow­land, A. Bow­land, M. Per­rin. 1991. Ther­mal pa­ra­me­ters of ser­val fe­lis-ser­val fe­l­i­dae and black backed jackal canidae. Jour­nal of Ther­mal Bi­ol­ogy, 16(5): 277-280.

Fox, M. 1971. Be­hav­iour of Wolves, Dogs, and Re­lated Canids. Mal­abar, Florida: Robert E. Krieger Pub­lish­ing Com­pany, Inc.

Gins­berg, J. 1990. Foxes, Wolves, Jack­als, and Dogs. Gland, Switzer­land: In­ter­na­tional Union for Con­ser­va­tion of Na­ture and Nat­ural Re­sources (IUCN).

Smithers, R. 1983. The Mam­mals of the South­ern African Sub­re­gion. Pre­to­ria, Trans­vaal---Re­pub­lic of South Africa: Uni­ver­sity of Pre­to­ria.

Van Valken­burgh, B., R. Wayne. 1994. Shape di­ver­gence as­so­ci­ated with size con­ver­gence in sym­patric East African jack­als. Ecol­ogy, 75(6): 1567-1581.