The safari A-list has never truly included jackals. Known as “dish-lickers” in Kipling’s Jungle Book, they rarely receive the recognition they merit during a Big Five safari. However, these are the most prevalent mammalian carnivores in many places, and they get more fascinating the closer you look.

Named for the dark, white-flecked “saddle” on its back, the black-backed jackal (Lupulella Mesomelas) is one of three species found in Africa. There are two distinct populations of it: one in southern Africa, extending from the Cape north to Zimbabwe, and one in East Africa, extending from Ethiopia south to central Tanzania. It is adaptable and resourceful, and it thrives in both the Namib Desert and the Drakensberg Mountains.

Five Interesting Facts:

Black-backed jackals have a lot to say. They are well known for their high, wailing sounds, which are frequently made in the early evening when one individual responds to another until an ethereal chorus forms. When pursuing a predator, they also repeatedly yap, which occasionally indicates that a lion or leopard is agitated.

The black-backed jackal is among the oldest canine species known to science, according to fossil deposits. Up until 2.5 million years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch, it was essentially unaltered.
This species, like all jackals, develops lifelong, monogamous couple relationships.

Furthermore, young from a single litter frequently behave as “helpers,” repressing their own desire to procreate and staying with their parents for a year or longer to assist them in raising the following litter. More than any other jackal species, black-backed jackals are known to be affected by this behavior in terms of pup survival rates.

In southern Africa, black-backed jackals are one of the most important rabies carriers. They have been linked to epidemics, which occur in cycles of four to eight years.
The black-backed jackal frequently travels alongside the lion, which it frequently outsmarts or betrays using its greater intelligence, according to the folklore of the indigenous Khoikhoi people of southwest Africa.