Day of the Jackal - Canis aureus naria alias Naria

Last Sunday 1st of April was Fool’s day. Got snared by a cunning joke last Sunday..? On the 1st of April, ZooLander visited the zoo to meet the Jackal family
– most famous for fooling others..!!

Jackals are some of the most difficult animals to photograph and the ZooLander team’s experience was not easy either. These creatures  walk from one corner to another restlessly, without waiting in one place, fooling those who attempt to photograph them, resulting in our photo shoot attempts most often ending up with blurred images or capturing only Jackals in part  - sometimes only the tail, though we clicked while the Jackal was in full frame. But last Saturday, quite unusually the Jackal duo was out of their enclosure and in a playful  mood.
Perhaps Jackals were in a thinking mood, getting ready to celebrate the next day– the 1st of April - April Fool’s day. Interestingly the Jackals performed in front of us, as if chiding us for wasting our time in trying to snap them, so many times (rasthiyadu). Perhaps, the Jackals had decided, to be featured in LakbimaNews on the ZooLander page to mark their day - April fool’s day, them being the best in the animal kingdom to fool others..!
Whatever the reason this gave the Zoolander team an opportunity to take good photographs of the Jackals.
Here are some interesting facts about these great cheaters of the animal kingdom.Jackal known scientifically as canis aureus naria is the only wild canine found in Sri Lankan forests.  Have you noticed the third part of that scientific name..? Yes, it wasn’t a mistake, and as the name indicates ours is a sub species of the golden jackal, and to recognize that it is a subspecies, it was named  canis aureus naria.
They are also called the Sri Lankan Jackal and are also known as the Southern Indian Jackal as they can also be found in India. On the Asian mainland, the Sri Lankan jackal is found in most southern parts of the Indian Peninsula. The golden jackal (canis aureus), also known as the common jackal is indigenous to the north and north east Africa, south eastern and central Europe according to popular web based Wikipedia.

Social Species
Jackal is a social species. They usually live in pairs in the wild. Sometimes the current offspring or offspring from a former litter can also be associated with them making them a perfect jackal family. However, sometimes they can also be found alone roaming around Sri Lanka’s wilderness areas mostly in the dry zone. It is also said that jackal pairs are good lovers and their courtship rituals are remarkably long, during which the breeding pair remains almost constantly together - sometimes about a month. Though they are cunning to outsiders they are perfect partners as both should be cunning enough to keep the other with them.
After a gestation period of 60 - 63 days, golden jackals give birth to a litter of 1 - 9 young. They are weak  and after a few weeks, the parents start giving regurgitated food  in addition to the milk. Young jackals reach sexual maturity between 1 and 2 years of age.

Masters in adaptability
The jackals are adaptable to changes in their environment and can be found on the edges of villages, sometimes intruding into poultry farms to grab a chicken at night and getting caught. Jackals are carnivores: usually hunting  on small birds, eggs, and rodents. They  are also omnivorous and opportunistic foragers feeding on fruits and vegetables too.
Jackals are in the habit of hiding food when they get more than what they can feed on. This also helps them build a store which helps them to eat at times food is scarce. In areas where jackals have access to beach land, it is said that they also dig turtle nests looking for tasty eggs to feed on.
Jackals could be seen even in isolated patches in Colombo suburbs. In a recently published book The diversity of Sri Lankan Wildlife’ authored by Jayantha Jayawardane, there is an account about a group of jackals being spotted in a garbage dump in the Piliyandala area.
The jackal’s howl is the unmistaken sign that betrays  its presence, but is getting silenced as most areas are getting urbanized.

Trickster in the wild
Cunning is the most apt description for this little canine. Folklore gives many examples of their smartness, but sometime back a famous environmentalist reported a clever trick played by a jackal in Yala. Jackals being opportunistic feeders most often steal food from the prey of other predators such as leopards. The leopard is in the habit of eating enough to satisfy its hunger and guarding the carcass for a few days with the aim of eating the balance some other time. A hungry jackal who found an unattended carcass carefully approached it, but being greedy  had forgotten to pay attention to the surroundings.
The leopard had appeared from nowhere, and becoming angry on seeing the jackal getting a free meal out of the its hard earned kill, had charged towards the jackal and easily caught it. But that isn’t the amazing part. Not trying to flee, the jackal had played dead. The leopard had shaken the apparently lifeless jackal and as no movement was sensed, left its grab, thinking the jackal dead. Then, the jackal looking around suddenly starts running and escapes from the leopard, fooling the powerful predator...! Such is the cunning of the jackal.

Jackals, Foxes, Coyotes, Wolves and Dogs - all confusing..?
Canidae is the biological family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals that includes wolves, foxes, jackals, coyotes, and domestic dogs. A member of this family is called a canid.Canids form one of the most prominent families of carnivores, with 36 interesting taxa in 13 genera that occur throughout most of the world. Foxes, dholes, dingoes, wolves, jackals, coyotes and various dogs comprise the family, and they find human raised livestock irresistible prey. As a family, canids occupy every continent except Antarctica. The grey wolf, alone, was originally the most widely distributed terrestrial mammal; its successor to the throne is another successful canid, the red fox. Thus, canids have borne a high proportion of the conflict between humans and carnivores.

Published on LakbimaNews on 08.04.2012