How do jackals communicate

Jackals are much more expressive than you might expect. Skip to main content Skip to footer site map. S18 Ep9: Jackals of the African Crater. February 10, The jackal has a bad reputation. Jackals develop specialized hunting skills. Jackals have a large vocabulary of calls. Features Additional Web and Print Resources. You May Also Like. There are four main species of jackal: the side-striped jackal, the golden jackal, the black-backed jackal and the Ethiopian wolf jackal.

Jackals vary in color and size. They have golden, rust or silver-colored black fur and bushy tails. Jackals inhabit deserts, grasslands, savannas, marshes, mountains, bush-lands and woodlands. The golden jackal inhabits open deserts, savannas and arid grasslands. The side-striped jackal lives in moist savannas, marshes, mountains and bushlands.

The black-backed jackal, or sliver-backed jackal, is found primarily in woodlands and savannas. Jackals are opportunistic omnivores. They eat mostly a carnivorous diet and have adapted to hunting small mammals, reptiles and birds. Being opportunistic feeders, they eat whatever is available. Some species of jackal eat poisonous snakes. Jackals also scavenge the remains of carcasses killed by other larger predators.

Many jackals, especially those in the tropics of Southeast Asia, also eat plants. Jackals are usually nocturnal mammals, active at night. Some jackals in remote areas are more diurnal, active during the cooler times of the day. Jackals sleep in crevices in rocks and dens made by other animals. Juveniles remain with their parents until they are one year old, and may stay longer to help their parents raise the next litter of pups.

Black-backed jackals communicate to mark their territories for neighboring pairs and to warn group members of an intruder. A mated pair outlines its territory with urine and fecal marks and reinforces its boundaries with vocalizations. Black-backed jackal populations thrive in protected areas throughout their distribution.

Their numbers suffer in areas where humans target them as livestock killers and rabies carriers, but black-backed jackal populations rebound rapidly in response to significant decreases. Black-backed jackals live across East Africa and southern Africa.

The species varies only slightly in size between the two regions. Although they prefer woodlands and long grassland, black-backed jackals can live anywhere, from the extremes of the Namibian coastal desert to the alpine slopes of Mount Kenya.

Black-backed jackals are opportunists and generalists when it comes to eating, which means they will eat pretty much anything they can get, including small- to medium-size mammals, reptiles, birds, human refuse, invertebrates, and plants.

Mated pairs hunt together, listening for prey with their large, mobile ears. Occasionally, black-backed jackals follow lions , spotted hyenas , and cheetahs to scavenge from their kills.