Jackal

The jackal is a small animal smaller than the average mongrel. In general appearance, he is very similar to a greatly reduced wolf . The body length of an ordinary jackal without a tail reaches 80 cm, and the height in the shoulders does not exceed 50 cm, more often 42–45. It weighs 7-10 kg, rarely more. The jackal is slimmer and lighter than the wolf, its legs are relatively higher, and the muzzle is sharper, although more blunt than that of the fox . The tail is furry and seems very thick; he is always down, like a wolf. The coat on the body is not long, stiff and thick. On the forelegs, 5 fingers, on the hind legs - 4, the claws are blunt. Teeth 42, as in all representatives of the genus Canis .

The overall color of the jackal is generally gray with a touch of yellow, red, fawn. On the back and on the sides, the color turns to black, and on the belly and throat it is light yellow. The tail end is black. The color of the jackal, however, is quite variable depending on the region of habitat. Summer fur is generally shorter and somewhat rougher than winter and has a redder color, with less admixture of black.

Jackal is an ordinary beast in South Asia . It is distributed throughout India and the regions west of it - in the Near and Middle East , in Central and Asia Minor . In Europe, the middle of the XX century, he was found only in the Balkans - in Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. The beast was so rare that in Albania and Serbia, and since 1962 and in Bulgaria, hunting for this species was completely prohibited.

In the territory of the former USSR

In the USSR, the jackal was traditionally found in Turkmenistan , Transcaucasia and in the south of Dagestan . In the 1950s, the entry of the Balkan jackal was recorded near the city of Soroki in the MSSR . In 1982, the jackal penetrated into Hungary, from 1987 reached Italy and Austria, from 1989 mastered Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and in 1997 penetrated into Ukraine, becoming a new species for it.

December 31, 2011 recorded the first case of a jackal in the territory of Belarus (the village of Tomashovka, Brest region). In 2015, two more individuals were found in Lelchitsky district. In December 2017, another individual was mined in the village of Khabovichi in the Kobrin district. The main thing is the first copy for which there is a complete scientific paraphernalia: the label, the skull, the skin, and the genetic samples. In November 2018, a golden jackal was registered in the north of the republic: a representative of this species was hit by a car in the hunting farm “Krasny Bor” of the Rossonsky district of the Vitebsk region . It was noted that due to mild winters this species began to expand throughout the country, including its northern regions ^[5] .

Range expansion in modern Russia

In modern Russia, jackals have long inhabited the subtropical forests of the Black Sea and Caspian coasts of the Caucasus. In summer and autumn, jackals made regular migrations up the southern and southeastern slopes of the Main Caucasus Range, but not higher than 700-800 meters above sea level. Until the 1950s, the northern border of their ancient range did not rise above Novorossiysk . Therefore, the jackal was considered a rather rare and peripheral species for Russia, the hunt for which was a curiosity. Only occasionally have documented cases of running of animals within the Stavropol Territory, probably from Dagestan, been noted. For example, in 1931, one jackal was mined near Stavropol. Moving along the seashore, the jackals first reached Anapa, and then, circling the Caucasian ridge from the north-west, they populated the entire Ciscaucasia . In 1967, jackals appeared in the forests of Urup (Penzikov, 1983). In January 1968, the first instance was killed here. In 1969, 5 animals were hunted in the Urup region , 6 in 1970 , and 9 already in 1971. The appearance of jackals led to a reduction in the number of hares, and there were almost no introduced raccoons in the Urup region ^[6] .

In the 21st century, the number of jackals in the Krasnodar Territory increased significantly: even in the treeless Krasnoarmeysky district, jackals successfully breed in narrow reed strips between rice checks ^{[7] [8]} . They began to enter here from Dagestan in the 1960s. By the 1980s, they had mastered the Kuban delta, and were also first noticed in the Rostov region. In cold winters, jackals entered the Crimea along the ice of the Kerch Strait, where from the beginning of the 2000s they also began to get through the Crimean Isthmus . In 2002, they reached Rostov, and already in 2003 they were first mined in the Donetsk region. By 2015, the number of jackals in the Rostov region reached critical levels. The Don’s delta , as well as dense thickets of reeds along the river, have become the favorite habitats of the beast. Western Manych . In 2014, the Government of the Rostov Region was forced to award bonuses for shooting jackals.

Northern jackals are heavier, shaggy and dark than southern populations ^[3] .

Settling the territories of Moldova and Ukraine

In the late XX - early XXI centuries, the jackal penetrated into Ukraine through the territory of Gagauzia . For the first time the corpse of a jackal who died from a collision with a car on March 13, 1998 on the Odessa-Reni highway, between s. Lighthouses of the Belyaevsky district and with. Palanka (Moldova) was discovered and identified by an employee of the Department of Zoology of Odessa National University Nikolai Rozhenko ^[2] . At the same time, a number of subsequent findings prompted scientists to think that the jackals had mastered Budzhak for a long time. So in 1998 in the same Odessa region a pregnant female with 6 embryos was killed, and a brood of 4 puppies was found. February 28, 1999 in the delta of the river. Dniester local hunters managed to get an old female at least 10 years old. Due to falling into a trap on her right forelimb, she had only one finger, which however did not affect her ability to find food. The jackal also came into Crimea on ice through the spit of Tuzla from the Kuban. Now the jackal appeared in the Donetsk, Odessa, Nikolaev and Kherson regions of Ukraine. Although its range in this region is still focal and severely torn, by the middle of the 21st century the jackal is likely to have mastered the entire Northern Black Sea Region , the Sea of ​​Azov and the Ciscaucasia . The jackal is thermophilic; therefore, its settlement in this non-traditional region can serve as confirmation of climate change ^[9] . In addition, the incentive for the species to be settled in the Black Sea region is also due to the fact that a hundred years before the jackal appeared here, stable focal populations were formed by the wild rabbit introduced here, a raccoon-raccoon , and then nutria , which populates Srivashie at the beginning of the 21st century. The jackals' migration, apparently, also contributes to a sharp reduction in the number and population of settlements in all transit countries since the beginning of the 1990s. One way or another, by 2003, it was estimated that at least 70 jackals lived in Belyaevsky, Kiliysky, Reniysky and Saratsky districts. The PMR Ministry of Natural Resources officially registered the appearance of the first 2 jackals on its territory in 2014, where the jackal is considered an invasive species ^[10] . In Romania, the beginning of the XXI century, the jackal is actively rising up the Siret and Prut rivers, so most likely it will soon appear in Ukrainian Bukovina. On December 31, 2011, the hunter obtained a golden jackal in the vicinity of the village of Tomashovka in the Brest region ^[4] . In 2017, jackals mastered habitable territories of the Republic of Belarus and were officially included in the list of mammals of the republic.

Adaptation to anthropogenic landscapes

Throughout the range, the jackal prefers places heavily overgrown with shrubs, reed beds near water bodies, abandoned reclamation systems with many canals and reed copses. It rises to the mountains to a height of 2,500 m, but is generally less common in the foothills. The presence of reservoirs for the jackal is rather desirable. In Uzbekistan , for example, it settles almost exclusively in the floodplains of large rivers, dense tugai and reeds. As shelters, it usually uses various natural niches and indentations, crevices among stones, sometimes burrows of badgers, porcupines, foxes, and occasionally digs them on their own (this is especially true for puppy females). Well-marked paths usually lead to its lairs. The jackal not only does not avoid the proximity of a person, but often, on the contrary, settles near the dwelling and then trades with garbage, steals poultry, and enters the fields.

In India and Pakistan at night he can often be seen wandering the streets of villages and even cities. If in large cities of South Asia there are large green areas, then jackals almost certainly live there. Jackals inhabit the suburbs of Sochi ; during the famine, they appear in the city itself ^[8] . The jackal population on the territory of the Caucasian reserve is estimated to range from 1,000 to 3,200 individuals ^{[11] [12]} . Jackals in the city come from the forest near the Arboretum in the Fabritsius microdistrict on the site from the Start Hotel to the Tree of Friendship, jumping into garbage cans along the way. Even in the huge 10 millionth Delhi jackals are frequent inhabitants of overgrown wastelands, cemeteries, cluttered city forest parks, and exclusion lanes near the railways. With such flexibility and high adaptability to different conditions, an ordinary jackal as a species, of course, is out of any danger.

Two main subspecies stand out. Jackals living in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe , including the Caucasus and Dagestan, belong to the relatively dark-colored subspecies Canis aureus maeoticus . Jackals of the eastern part of the range (India, Central Asia, Iran ) belong to the type subspecies Canis aureus aureus of a paler color.

For a long time, the African wolf , considered a subspecies of the European jackal, was identified as a separate species according to the results of a 2015 study of the genome. ^[13]

The jackal has 78 (2n) chromosomes. Of the representatives of the canine family, the closest to the jackal are the domestic dog and coyote , which have a similar number of chromosomes ^[14] . In this regard, the urgent problem of crossing between jackals and dogs (one of the hybrids is Sulimov’s dog ) and wolves, which threatens the purity of the species.

An ordinary jackal is an almost omnivorous beast. It feeds mainly in the dark. Of great, but not predominant importance in nutrition is carrion . He catches a wide variety of small animals and birds, as well as lizards , snakes , frogs , snails ; eats a lot of insects - bugs, grasshoppers, different larvae. Jackals love to wander around ponds where they find snihuyu fish. In severe winters, when the water in the reservoirs freezes, the jackal preys mainly on wintering waterfowl. Having found the carcass of a fallen large animal, jackals often gather in groups and eat carrion in the company of flying vultures .

Jackals often hunt alone or in pairs, sometimes in small groups. They cunningly sneak up on the victim and instantly grab it. Fishing together, they drive the prey one upon the other. The Jackal is a highly developed animal, he is not only smart and cunning, but also very dexterous and agile. In a high jump, he can grab a bird that has already risen into the air. Birds nesting on the ground — pheasants , turuchs — suffer greatly from jackals. The jackal searches the hunter, shaking with a small trot, often stopping to sniff and listen. Where there are large predators, jackals follow them to take advantage of the remains of their prey, snatching leftovers directly from under the nose. Jackals are sedentary animals and do not make seasonal migrations, but sometimes they go far from a permanent place of residence in search of life and appear in areas where there was a massive mortality of cattle or wild ungulates to feed on carrion.

The jackal eats a lot of fruits and berries, including grapes, watermelons, melons, plant bulbs, wild sugar cane roots, narrow-leaved goose berries (jids). In Tajikistan, in autumn and winter, it feeds mainly on the fruits of sucker .

Jackals living near humans are largely fed offal. In the villages and cities of South Asia, they rummage through garbage cans and garbage piles, snooping around in search of edible pieces among the huts of poor areas.

The Jackal is a cunning and impudent beast. In terms of the audacity of attacks on poultry houses and peasant barns, he is perhaps even superior to foxes. However, the jackal is too cowardly to be the first to attack a person, and therefore the suffering that people receive from these animals is too small.

The jackal pairs form for life, and the male takes an active part in the construction of the hole and the education of the brood. Jackal oestrus is observed from late January to February, sometimes until March. The race is similar to that described for the wolf - jackals howl loudly. Pregnancy lasts 60-63 days. Puppies are born from late March to late May. They are usually 4-6, occasionally up to 8. The female whelps usually in a hole, which is a simple passage up to two meters long and one meter deep. Jackal burrows are, therefore, much simpler than foxes. A large pile of land is usually poured in front of the inlet. In these holes the jackal hides during the day, and at a time of danger - at another time. Occasionally in the immediate vicinity there are several burrows belonging to different individuals. Burrows settle in the most impassable places.

The female feeds her cubs with milk for 2-3 months, but already at 2-3 weeks of age she begins to feed, belching swallowed prey. In autumn, the young become independent and hunt alone or in groups of 2–4 animals. Females reach puberty in about a year, and males in two. Life expectancy is up to 12-14 years.

Jackal is very loud and vociferous. Before going hunting, the beast emits a loud howl, similar to a high, whining howl, which is immediately picked up by all the other individuals nearby. They begin to howl on other occasions, for example, at the sound of bells, the sound of a siren, etc. In addition, jackals scream all the time on the run. In cloudy and pre-thunderstorm weather they are more silent, but they howl a lot on clear nights. Currently, special computer programs make it possible to calculate the number of animals in a howling pack ^[15] .

As for the natural enemies of the jackal, then for this small and weak beast, any medium and large predators can be a danger. A meeting with the wolf, where its range intersects with the jackal, does not bode well for the jackal - it often gets the wolf for lunch. In the jackal villages, dogs are sometimes crushed.

Like coyotes , in order to study new forage lands, jackals can regularly make seasonal migrations at a distance of 50-100 km from their places of permanent residence. Individual males are able to leave 1250 km from their habitat. Detection of a female usually means that there are males in the area ^[2] .

In some places the jackal is completely not afraid of man and can stand on the road just a couple of dozen steps from the peasants. Where there are a lot of jackals, peasant farms suffer greatly from them. Jackals cause great damage to gardens, melons and plantations, eating sugarcane , melons , watermelons , grapes . They love sweets and usually choose among the fruits the most ripe, spoiling a lot of immature ones, which, trying to taste, they give up. In addition, the jackal inflicts tremendous damage to the livestock of valuable hunting tugai birds such as pheasants ^[3] . Because of this, the local population often pursues jackals, catching them with the help of aliens or, on occasion, shooting. But the jackal hunt is rarely very successful - the jackal is too cunning to catch the eye of an amateur hunter or fall into a makeshift trap. Jackals can be intolerant in intensive hunting farms, in particular in nutria and muskrat, as well as in wintering of game birds. We have to take into account the fact that jackals are sometimes sources of dangerous diseases - rabies and plague . In settlements, the jackal is a typical "garbage" beast, a peddler of infection and parasites.

If we consider the jackal from a purely utilitarian point of view, then there is little benefit from it - its skin is hardly suitable for crafts. In the 1940-1950s, in the USSR, jackal fur, however, was harvested, albeit in very small quantities. However, it is suitable for the hem of men's winter clothing ^[3] . But, sensing danger, the jackal becomes extremely cautious and it is often more difficult to get it than a wolf or a fox. Nevertheless, the jackal is more willing to other decoys (the cry of a wounded hare) than other dogs. The jackal prefers regions where there is no snow in winter, and therefore it is extremely difficult to notice this camouflaged beast.

The jackal is well tamed. No wonder in the distant past he, apparently, gave rise to some breeds of domestic dogs .

The jackal has an important place in the folklore of the peoples of Asia and Africa. He is a popular character in Indian tales, in which he usually appears as a cowardly, but dexterous rogue, cheating on everyone he meets. In many places in North and West Africa, the jackal is also respected for its cunning and quick wits.

In ancient Egypt, the jackal was one of the most revered animals; God Anubis was portrayed with the head of a jackal.

For many peoples, the image of the jackal is rather negative, although not as disgusting as the image of a hyena. So, in the Muslim East, the jackal is associated with petty ingratiation, lizoblozhenie, sucker. The reason for this, obviously, is the jackal’s habit of picking up the remains of the meal of large predators, following them literally on the heels. He also personifies cowardice and meanness. Therefore, in these countries the words “jackal”, “son of the jackal”, “daughter of the jackal” are rude curses. A similar image of a jackal was introduced by R. Kipling in his “Jungle Books” - see Tobaccos .

Even in Russian there was a place for a jackal. It is a well-known word “jackal” in the meaning - to look out, sniff out, track down, get any information ^[16] .

• The Romans called the jackal a golden wolf. Hence its Latin species name aureus , that is, golden.
• Bone growths, sometimes found on the skull of an ordinary jackal and bearing a bundle of long hair, are considered the best mascot in many parts of India and are called jackal horns .
• Chandragupta Marg Street in Delhi, which faces the Russian Embassy in India, is known among the embassy staff under the comic name Jackal Street. The fact is that even about 10-15 years ago, one could often meet jackals on it, who voted loudly at night.
• The Aeroflot company does not use dogs, but a cross between a jackal and Sulimov’s dogs, to inspect baggage for possible detection of explosives. For fun, this "breed" is called "shabaka." It is argued that “shabaki” has a better sense of smell than an average dog ^[17] .
• The nickname “Jackal” was worn by the famous international terrorist Ilyich Ramirez Sanchez .

• The Jackal // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Animal Life, at 6 t.t. M., 1971. V.6, p. 308-309
• Atlas of hunting and game birds and animals of the USSR . M., publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1953.V.2, p.122-123.
• Akimushkin I.I. World of animals. M., "Young Guard", 1971. V.1, p.116

• Vertebrates of Russia: Jackal
• An ordinary jackal in a natural habitat . siwild.si.edu . - Photographs taken as part of the WILD project, curated by the Smithsonian Institution . Date of treatment January 1, 2013.
• Jackal in Ukraine