The family Canidae is an instantly recognisable group of carnivores that includes dogs, wolves, jackals and foxes. It originated more than 35 million years ago in North America and migrated to the rest of the planet only about 7.5 million years ago.
Jackals are among the most remarkable and sneaky canids.
They sit somewhere between the red fox and the Australian dingo in terms of shape and size for instance, the average side-striped jackal of both sexes weighs 7-12kg and stands 40cm tall.
They’re generally known for their scavenging activities in open savanna and grassland ecosystems. Jackals are omnivorous (eating both meat and plants); they scavenge and actively hunt and are considered nocturnal, most active in the early evening and at dawn.
Their prey includes small vertebrates like rabbits, and they also eat birds, eggs, fruit and seeds and have been known to go through people’s trash.
Today there are five jackal species worldwide four of them in Africa. These African species are the side-striped jackal, the black-backed jackal, the African golden wolf and the Ethiopian wolf.
They were all classified within the genus Canis (which also includes wolves and domestic dogs), but recent DNA analyses have re-classified them into different genera.
In other words, they are close relatives: they have the same evolutive relationship as, for example, the one between lions and cougars.
Scientists know very little about their evolutionary origin.
Until now, it was thought that Eucyon davisi, a North American canid that lived between 10 million and 5 million years ago, was the common ancestor of all wolves, jackals, and coyotes.
Our research, conducted at a rich fossil site about 120km outside Cape Town in South Africa, changes that: we now know there’s another ancestor in the mix. We’ve described a new species of canid, named Eucyon khoikhoi, based on fossils found at the Langebaanweg site, which dates back to about 5.2 million years ago.
This provides novel and vital information about the origin of jackals, showing that jackals appeared and established themselves in Africa in at least the last 5 million years.
These animals have evolved and adapted to the changing environment, allowing them to survive.
The name of the new species honours the heritage of the Khoikhoi (KhoeKhoen) people, an indigenous people who were among the first to live in South Africa.
The name allows us to recognise the importance of the Khoikhoi’s culture and heritage. (PTI)
