1  Jackal

Jackals are considered clever and cunning animals

Image: Hans Hillewaert / CC BY-SA 3.0

Jackals are slender wild dogs with long legs. There are four species: The black-backed jackal lives in East and southern Africa. The side-striped jackal is found in Africa south of the Sahara. The Ethiopian wolf is found in Ethiopia and eastern Sudan. The golden jackal is also found in Europe and Asia, as well as in Africa north and east of the Sahara.

Jackals are considered clever and cunning animals. They have a small head and a bushy tail. From head to tail tip, they grow to about 100 cm long and 40 to 50 cm tall. They weigh about 10 kg. Jackals feed on grasshoppers, eggs, tubers, berries and small rodents. They also eat spring hares and young gazelles. They eat only small amounts of carrion. Jackals like to squabble noisily over their prey.Once a year, an adult female gives birth to 3 to 6 pups. Young jackals cannot see during their first few days. They are nursed and fed in dens. After just 3 weeks, their parents bring them meat, and continue to nurse them.

Find out:

1. Which kinds of jackals are there?
2. Where are golden jackals found?
3. How big and how heavy do jackals get?
4. What do jackals eat?

2 African Wild Dogs

African wild dogs are about the same size as wolves

Image: Ivan Horvat (pixabay.com)

African wild dogs are the largest wild dogs living in the African savanna. They have powerful jaws. They are about the size of wolves and live and hunt in packs. A pack can contain up to 10 animals.

African wild dogs weigh between 15 and 30 kg and can run at speeds of up to 70 km/h. Because of their colouring, they are also often called painted dogs. However, they are not related to hyenas. Young wild dogs are born in abandoned warthog burrows. During the first few weeks of their lives, the whole pack—not just their parents—looks after them. By the time they are 3 months old, they go hunting with the pack. Wild dogs have great stamina when hunting in the morning or evening. They can chase their prey at high speed for several kilometres. They hunt hares, warthogs, gazelles and even adult zebras. African wild dogs are highly endangered.

Find out:

5. How big do African wild dogs grow?

6. How heavy do they get?

7. How fast can they run?

8. What animals do they hunt?

3 Bat-eared foxes

Bat-eared foxes have very large ears

Image: Hans Hillewaert / CC BY-SA 3.0

Bat-eared foxes live in the savannas of eastern and southern Africa. They look like small dogs with very large ears. However, they are Africa’s representatives of the fox family. Their fur is mostly brownish-gray, with black coloring on their legs and ears. They are about 30 to 40 cm tall at the shoulder and weigh 2.5 to 5 kg. Bat-eared foxes live with their young in family groups.

They feed mainly on termites, but also eat other insects, mice, and lizards. Their large ears help them hear their prey. They mainly hunt at dusk and at night, and rarely during the day. Hyenas and other large predators hunt them.

Find out:

9. Where do bat-eared foxes live?

10. What animals are they related to?

11. How tall and heavy do they get?

12. What do they feed on?