Natural History

This is not a golden jackal.

The source for this image says this photo was taken in the Kalahari. There are no golden jackals in all of Southern Africa. Its head is not at all like a golden jackal’s. The head itself is much smaller in proportion to the body size, and the ears are larger.

It is not an albino black-backed jackal. It is a golden one.

I would love to know what the genetics of the color morphs are in this species. Apparently, the Cape subspecies has at least two color phases that are very different from the typical coloration.

The black-backed jackal is found only Africa. The East African and Cape subspecies are quite genetically distinct. The two subspecies are not contiguous. The two populations have wide variances in their MtDNA sequence, and the East African subspecies has one of the widest variances in MtDNA sequences of any species.

This species has a relatively restricted range compared to wolves, and it is not an ancestor of the domestic dog.

So it has been studied far less.

However, there are so many interesting things about this species, including its antiquity. It is the oldest extant species in the genus Canis. It was likely the first wild dog species to scavenge off of humans, although the related side-striped jackal was also there.

It amazes me that nowhere in the literature are there any mentions of color phases in this species.

And if there are color phases, we can examine their genetic basis, and perhaps determine how different colors might have evolved in other species in the genus. Perhaps there are reasons why the Cape subspecies seems to have these two unusual color phases.

The head and body of this animal clearly show that it is a black-backed jackal, as does its location.

But it doesn’t have a “black back.”