Photo: Willie Combrinck July 2004
Side-striped jackal Canis adustus (Sundevall, 1846)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: adustus
The side-striped refers to the longitudinal light-coloured bands on the flanks which are not always obvious; it has a white tip tail - witkwasjakkals (= Afrikaans). At a distance, the side-striped jackal appear an overall grey or greyish-buff colour.
They are more nocturnal than the black-backed jackal; the circadian activity pattern closely resembling that of their important prey animals, particularly rodents.
During the early growth of the young pups, the male operates independently. Later both parents will bring back food to the litter, either regurgitating swallowed food or carrying food back in their mouths.
The side-striped jackal appears to be omnivorous; with a bias towards vegetable matter, warm-blooded prey and insects, and will take carrion freely when it is available.
Typical of canis, side-striped jackals have the following dental formula:
3 1 4 2
I – C – P – M – = 42
3 1 4 3
Literature
Skinner, J.D. and Smithers, R.H.N., 1990. The Mammals of the Southern African subregion. University of Pretoria, South Africa.