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Jackal ears11/26/2022 ![]() ![]() anthus), which was once thought to be an African branch of the golden jackal. The latest recognized member is the African golden wolf ( C. ![]() adustus), dhole ( Cuon alpinus), and African wild dog ( Lycaon pictus). The group includes genus Canis, Cuon, and Lycaon. The wolf-like canids are a group of large carnivores that are genetically closely related because they all have 78 chromosomes. Skeleton of a black-backed jackal on display at the Museum of Osteology. Heller's names and the designations he gave to various jackal species and subspecies live on in current taxonomy, although the genus has been changed from Thos to Canis. Oken's Thos theory was revived in 1914 by Edmund Heller, who embraced the separate genus theory. In practice, Cabrera chose the undivided-genus alternative and referred to the jackals as Canis instead of Thos. Angel Cabrera, in his 1932 monograph on the mammals of Morocco, questioned whether or not the presence of a cingulum on the upper molars of the jackals and its corresponding absence in the rest of Canis could justify a subdivision of that genus. Similarities between jackals and coyotes led Lorenz Oken, in the third volume of his Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte (1815), to place these species into a new separate genus, Thos, named after the classical Greek word θώς "jackal", but his theory had little immediate impact on taxonomy at the time. Phylogenetic relationships between the extant wolf-like clade of canids based on mitochondrial DNA. Taxonomy and relationships The extant wolf-like canids The English word "jackal" dates back to 1600 and derives from the French chacal, derived from the Persian شغال shoghāl, which is in turn derived from the Sanskrit शृगाल śṛgāla meaning "the howler". Jackals may occasionally assemble in small packs, for example, to scavenge a carcass, but they normally hunt either alone or in pairs. The territory may be large enough to hold some young adults, which stay with their parents until they establish their own territories. Their most common social unit is a monogamous pair, which defends its territory from other pairs by vigorously chasing intruding rivals and marking landmarks around the territory with their urine and feces. ![]() Jackals are crepuscular, most active at dawn and dusk. Their long legs and curved canine teeth are adapted for hunting small mammals, birds, and reptiles, and their large feet and fused leg bones give them a physique well-suited for long-distance running, capable of maintaining speeds of 16 km/h (10 mph) for extended periods of time. Jackals are opportunistic omnivores, predators of small to medium-sized animals and proficient scavengers. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many small canines, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed jackal and side-striped jackal of sub-Saharan-Africa, and the golden jackal of south-central Europe and Asia. Jackals are medium-sized omnivorous mammals of the subtribe Canina, which also includes wolves and the domestic dog, among other species. Golden jackal or Indian jackal, Canis aureus indicus in brown colour photo taken from Kanan Pendari dt Chhattisgarh state India ![]()
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