Collage of Interesting Facts

    Trapping of live jackal was found to be 5 times more             successful (100 trap-days per 1 jackal caught) in a reserve than on rural farm land (500 trap-days).  This proves the adjustment in survival mode when pursued by humans!

    Jackal don't sleep in burrows.  They only use it to rear their young, and would move home frequently for safety reasons.

    In 1966 Bothma ear-tagged 91 jackal for research purposes, and in 1979 Ferguson tagged another 43.

    Older jackal and young jackal hang round in a relatively small area.  The "teenagers" of 1 to 2 years are the ones that move around most.  The males venture further out, especially during winter.

    Red foxes were found to swim across the Mississippi at a place where it was 82  km wide!

    When a jackal is actively looking for food by walking and trotting, it moves at about 2 km/hr, preferably along dirt roads.

     Jackal are least active during full moon and dark moon phases, and most active during first quarter.

    Although jackal are more "active" (moving around socially) during the first 2 hours of darkness, they hunt twice as intensive during the following 2 hours.  This is important information for callers, in deciding upon the type of sound used for calling!

    When jackal do their territorial marking by urinating on objects, males lift their hind legs backwards, yet females lift theirs forwards.  The likelihood of these objects being grass pods, fence poles and bare ground, is in the ratio of 7:1:0

    It is very unlikely that only one of a pair of jackal will call when the two are together.  They prefer to call at the same time.

    During the ritual of determination of dominance, the dominant male will place his forefoot on the back of the subservient.  This is in exact contrast with the behavior of domestic dogs.

    During an experiment a jackal detected a small piece of fresh meat from 110 meters downwind!

    Two jackal of different sex will "correspond" via urine marking of objects in an area for some weeks.  By the time they meet, approval of the marriage had already been formalized by mail.