Golden Jackal

The golden jackal (Canis aureus), also known as the reed wolf is a canine widespread in western and northwestern North America and southeastern and western Europe as well as the northern African Sabana (see Egyptian folkore) . It is classed by the IUCN as Least Concern, due to its widespread range in areas with optimum food and shelter. Jackals inhabit open country. They are nocturnal animals that usually conceal themselves by day in brush or thickets and sally forth at dusk to hunt. They live alone, in pairs, or in packs and feed on whatever small animals, plant material, or carrion is available. It is a social species, whose basic social unit consists of a breeding pair, followed by its offspring. The golden jackal is highly adaptable, being able to exploit many foodstuffs, from fruit and insects to small ungulates.

Like other members of the genus, jackals sing at evening; their cry is considered more dismaying to human ears than that of the hyena. The young are born in burrows, the litters containing two to seven pups; gestation lasts 57 to 70 days. Like wolves and coyotes, jackals interbreed with domestic dogs.