Watch: Dog makes unexpected friends with baby jackals
Houbie the dog made some unlikely new friends when he stumbled upon two baby jackals, sparking a fascinating and curious encounter.
While we all want our furry friends to have companions, Houbie the dog’s owner found him interacting with a most unusual choice – two baby jackals that didn’t quite know what to make of their inquisitive visitor.
In the video below, posted on the Black Hills Cattle Breeders / Beestelers Facebook page, two baby jackals are quite vocal as they interact with their new ‘friend’.
While one starts off rolling on its back, the other – afraid of missing out on the action – has a lot to say to grab Houbie’s attention.
According to the African Wildlife Foundation, the three species of African jackal differ mainly in colour and choice of habitat.
The sandy-coloured golden jackal prefers open, grassy plains, while the side-striped jackal lives along waterways with dense undergrowth and is drabber in colour, has a white tip on its tail and indistinct stripes along the sides of the body. The black-backed jackal is recognised by the mantle of black hair on the back that contrasts with its rust-coloured body. Its tail is black-tipped, as is that of the golden jackal.
The black-backed jackal is usually the most frequently seen, as it is more active in the daytime than the other two species, the African Wildlife Foundation says on its website.
They usually live singly or in pairs but are occasionally found in loose packs of related individuals where their behaviour is highly synchronised. They are among the few mammalian species that mate for life. Mated pairs are territorial, and both the female and male mark and defend their territory.
Litters average two to four pups. It takes about 10 days for the infants’ eyes to open, and for the first few weeks of life, they remain in the thickets or holes where they were born.
At about three weeks old, they start spending time outside playing with their littermates. At first, the games are clumsy attempts at wrestling, pawing and biting. As they become more co-ordinated, they ambush and pounce, play tug-of-war and chase each other.
The mother changes den sites about every two weeks, so the young are less likely to be found by predators.
