There is an old Chinese term "jackal, wolf, tiger and leopard" used to describe various evil beasts that harm people and animals, or to describe people who do evil.
Among the four kinds of beasts, the jackal, the jackal, which belongs to the head of the four beasts, is the most mysterious. Wolves, tigers, leopards, we are more familiar, in the zoo or in the film and television works will have their presence. Most people, on the other hand, "only hear its name and don't know its true face", mainly because the species is so scarce that it is now endangered. And their whereabouts are unpredictable and difficult to detect by humans. Therefore, in February 2021, the protection level of jackals was upgraded from national level 2 to national level 1 protected animals.
To see is to believe! Just recently, the field infrared camera in the Pu'er Sun River Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province captured the moving images of this rare animal, and also photographed a group! In a video captured in the Pu'er Reserve, an animal with golden fur, pointed ears, a black tail and a dog-like shape can be seen hurrying past. In another video, at least 5 or more jackals were shot running at the same time.
The area has not seen a jackal for many years, and this discovery can be said to be very rare, which is good news, indicating that the ecological protection in the reserve is effective.
So, what kind of animal is the jackal? Why did he become the head of the Four Beasts? Why is it so scarce?
Yunnan Protected Area
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" What species is the > jackal? </h1>
Jackals belong to the same family of canines as wolves and dogs, except that wolves are canines, while jackals are separate jackals. Under the genus Jackal, there are 11 different species of jackals, distributed in the jungles, mountains, hills and other places of the east and Southeast Asian countries.
Distribution of jackals Distribution map of jackals
Jackals distributed in different regions have slight differences in hair color, but their body size is generally very similar. Like most canines, jackals are social. Jackals, at least 2 to 3, generally 7-8, and 10-30 at any time.
The jackal is similar in appearance to wolves and dogs, but is smaller than wolves and has a head very close to that of foxes. Adult jackals generally have a body length of 95 to 103 cm, an average weight of about 20 kg, and the largest individual does not exceed 30 kg. Don't look at the jackal's small size, but it is actually a ferocious and tenacious carnivorous beast, with a powerful lethality that is not commensurate with its own size!
Jackals occasionally eat vegetarian foods, such as corn, sugar cane and other plant foods, but still mainly hunt various animals in groups, such as deer, wild boar, goats, impala, buffalo and other large ungulates, and sometimes dare to attack large beasts such as wolves, bears, leopards and so on.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" why did the > jackal become the first of the four beasts? </h1>
Many people do not understand why the Jackal is the boss among the four beasts of the "Jackal"? By what exactly were the ancients ranked?
To talk about individual combat effectiveness, it should obviously be "tiger, leopard, wolf jackal", so it is certainly not ranked according to individual combat effectiveness. In fact, the ancients ranked it according to the fierceness of the beasts they thought. So, how ferocious is the jackal, and how can it become the fiercest beast that the ancients are most afraid of?
Of the four beasts, the jackal is the smallest, but they are bold, agile, endurance, and good at jumping, and they are the strongest, most ferocious and flexible canines in existence. More critically, they are good at teamwork, often hunting in groups in siege, and even different jackals can spontaneously unite to hunt larger prey, and their methods of hunting are extremely ferocious.
Jackals are generally hunted en masse, and a few jackals will block the escape route of their prey and carry out a little siege. Then some jackals will scratch the eyes of the prey and bite off its ears and nose; the jackal at the tail of the prey will aim at the anus of the prey and "pull out the anus", even the scratching belt bites, pulling the intestine out; and some jackals tear the neck and legs of the prey. After the prey is put down, it begins to divide and eat. The picture was too tragic for me to watch!
In contrast, wolves, tigers, and leopards hunt with much less cruelty.
When tigers and leopards hunt prey, they generally swoop up, defeat the enemy with one move, or lock their throats or attack their necks, and the prey dies at once and dies quickly.
Wolves, on the other hand, like to adopt fatigue tactics, exhaust the physical strength of the prey by continuous chasing, and then tear the prey and put it to death, although the whole process of hunting and killing is longer, but for the prey, the painful process of being bitten is shorter.
Although it is said that "single-handedly", the individual jackal competes with tigers, leopards, and wolves respectively, obviously looking for death. But when the jackals are collectively dispatched, there is a strong ability to cooperate with each other, coupled with amazing bite force and bouncing force, as well as ferocious means, the overall combat value is higher, who dares to provoke! Therefore, the jackal dares to attack larger and more powerful animals than them, and can scare other large beasts into fleeing or forcing them into trees, thus seizing food from their mouths. This is the so-called "jackal is powerful". India has also documented jackals collaborating to kill Bengal tigers.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" Why is the data-track="23" > so scarce? </h1>
Historically, jackals have been widely distributed in China, and the population is very large, but since the 1980s, the population of jackals has decreased on a large scale. They have been rarely found in the past 10 years, except for the two largest populations recorded in the western part of Tibet and the Qilian Mountains, but only in western Yunnan, central Sichuan, and southern Xinjiang, where there are some sporadic records.
The main reason for the sharp decline in the number of jackal populations is, on the one hand, because of the destruction of their habitats by human activities, habitat fragmentation, dispersion, isolation and other factors, making it impossible to communicate genes between jackals and jackal populations, resulting in serious inbreeding and population decline.
On the other hand, because most of the forests in China today have few medium and large herbivores, some of the jackal's prey species are also endangered, there is not enough prey for food, the jackal is difficult to survive!
In addition, there are hunting factors and disease invasion, jackals are susceptible to different diseases, such as rabies infection, canine distemper, etc., especially in areas where they live with other canids, jackals are more likely to be infected.
Nowadays, with the improvement of the environment and the increase of animal protection, jackals are gradually returning to the forest, with them, the environment will become better and better!