Black-Blacked Jackal HD Wallpapers

Black-Blacked Jackal

The black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas), also known as the silver-backed or red jackal is a species of jackal which inhabits two areas of the African continent separated by roughly 900 km. One region includes the southernmost tip of the continent, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. The other area is along the eastern coastline, including Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia. It is listed by the IUCN as least concern, due to its widespread range and adaptability, although it is still persecuted as a livestock predator and rabies vector.The fossil record indicates the species is the oldest extant member of the genus Canis.Although the most lightly built of jackals, it is the most aggressive, having been observed to singly kill animals many times its own size, and its intrapack relationships are more quarrelsome.

Evolution

The black-backed jackal is an exceptionally stable and ancient form of canid, with many fossils dating as far back as the Pleistocene epoch.Fossil jackals discovered in the Transvaal cave are roughly the same size as their descendents, though their nasal bones differ in size. Although numerous fossils dating back to two million years ago have been found in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa, they are entirely absent in Ethiopia, indicating the species has never expanded past sub-Saharan Africa. Mitochondrial DNA analyses display a large sequence divergence in black-backed jackals from other jackal species, indicating they diverged 2.3–4.5 million years ago.