The howl of a coyote or other wild canid often sparks the question – could that be a jackal? While common in Africa, Asia, and southeastern Europe, jackals are not found in the wild in Texas or anywhere else in the Americas.
However, the ecological niche filled by jackals in the Old World is occupied by similar species in Texas and the southwestern United States.
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer: There are no jackals in Texas or anywhere else in the Americas. The coyote fills a similar ecological role.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at jackals and their distribution. We’ll examine some reasons behind their absence in Texas. We’ll also discuss other types of canids that do inhabit Texas and the southwestern US.
What Are Jackals?
Basic Facts
Jackals are small to medium-sized omnivorous mammals that belong to the Canidae family, which also includes dogs, wolves, coyotes, and foxes. There are three main species of jackal: the black-backed jackal, the side-striped jackal, and the golden jackal.
Jackals are most closely related to wolves and coyotes but tend to be smaller in size with somewhat rounder features. Some key facts about jackals include:
- Adult jackals typically weigh between 15-35 pounds and stand 16-20 inches tall at the shoulder.
- Jackals have tan to black fur with some white markings on the throat, chest, and belly.
- They have pointed muzzles, bushy tails, and large ears.
- Jackals are opportunistic omnivores that eat both plant and animal matter.
- They live in a wide variety of habitats from deserts to grasslands and woodlands.
- Jackals are social animals that live and hunt in packs.
- They communicate using various howls, yelps, and other vocalizations.
- Jackals breed once a year, with litters of 2-6 pups.
Habitat and Range
Jackals are found throughout Africa, the Middle East, southwestern Asia, and southeastern Europe. They occupy diverse habitats ranging from deserts to savannas, shrublands, woodlands, and even alpine areas. Here is a breakdown of the habitat and range of the three main jackal species:
- The black-backed jackal is found in two subspecies across sub-Saharan Africa. They occupy areas with good grass cover such as savannas, shrublands, and woodlands.
- The side-striped jackal ranges across western and southern Africa. They prefer drier shrublands and grasslands compared to the black-backed jackal.
- The golden jackal has the widest distribution, found from southeastern Europe through the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. They live in diverse habitats from deserts to forests to farmlands.
Within their habitats, jackals will den in any available shelter such as hollow logs, crevices, abandoned burrows, and dense vegetation. They are absent from rainforest ecosystems and the wetter parts of West and Central Africa.
Diet and Hunting
Jackals are opportunistic omnivores that will eat a wide variety of foods. Their diet consists of:
- Small to medium-sized mammals like rodents, hares, antelope calves, and sheep or goat kids.
- Birds and their eggs.
- Reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates.
- Fruits, berries, tubers, insects, and other plant material.
- Carrion and food scraps scavenged from other animals.
Jackals will hunt alone or in small packs, usually at night. They use their excellent sense of smell and hearing to locate prey. Although jackals do not have the same power or stamina compared to larger canids like wolves, they can pursue prey for distances up to 1-2 miles.
Jackals also scavenge frequently and may drive smaller predators like foxes away from carcasses.
In areas shared with human settlements, jackals can cause damage by predating small livestock like sheep and goats. They also rummage through garbage. But on the positive side, jackals help control rodent and insect populations and eliminate animal carcasses and waste.
Why Jackals Aren’t Found in Texas
Biogeography Factors
Jackals are not found in the wild in Texas primarily due to biogeographical factors. Texas is simply outside of their native range. The three main species of jackal – the golden jackal, side-striped jackal and black-backed jackal – are all native to Africa and parts of Asia and Europe.
Their historical distributions have centered around the Middle East, northern Africa, and south-central Asia. Texas, located in the southern United States, is vastly disconnected from the jackals’ native regions halfway across the world.
The jackals likely originated in Africa and expanded their range into nearby regions of Europe and Asia over evolutionary timescales. However, they never made the immense overseas journey across the Atlantic to reach the Americas.
Their distributions have remained restricted to the Eastern Hemisphere. While humans have introduced many species around the globe, there are no records of jackals being brought to Texas or elsewhere in the Americas historically.
So biogeographic barriers have prevented the natural dispersal of jackals into the New World and Texas specifically.
Ecological Differences
In addition to biogeographic isolation, the ecology of Texas is not well-suited for jackals compared to their native habitats. Jackals occupy a niche as small to medium-sized omnivorous canids adapted for temperate, arid, and semi-arid climates.
However, the climate of Texas varies from humid subtropical in the east to an arid steppe in the west. The hot and humid conditions found across much of the state do not match the more temperate zones jackals thrive in.
The ecosystems of Texas also differ considerably from the savannas, scrublands, deserts, and alpine regions jackals inhabit in their native range. While there are desert regions of West Texas, the dominant ecology is not optimal habitat compared to the Middle Eastern deserts jackals evolved in.
The species compositions of plants and animals in Texas are distinctly New World as opposed to the Old World species jackals co-evolved with. So the ecology likely presents competition, predation, disease, and other biotic barriers that would hinder introduced jackal populations.
Other Canids of Texas and the Southwest
Coyote
The coyote is one of the most widespread and adaptable wild canids in North America. These clever omnivores have expanded their range from the southwestern deserts and plains across most of the continent over the last century.
Coyotes are found throughout Texas in a variety of habitats including prairies, brushlands, deserts, suburbs, and even cities. Their diet is highly varied and includes rodents, rabbits, deer, fruits, insects, and garbage. Coyotes form monogamous breeding pairs and small family groups.
They are known for their iconic howling and yipping vocalizations which help maintain territory and group cohesion. Coyotes can be considered keystone predators in many areas, helping regulate prey populations like rodents and rabbits.
Red Fox
The red fox has the widest distribution of any canid species worldwide. In North America, red foxes occupy most of Canada and the northern United States down into parts of the Southwest and Texas. They prefer a mix of habitats including forests, grasslands, brush, and agricultural areas.
Red foxes are omnivores and eat a wide variety of foods including small mammals, birds, insects, fruits, and seeds. They are smaller than coyotes and not capable of taking down large prey. Red foxes are solitary hunters and forms breeding pairs in winter.
They employ a “pouncing” technique to catch prey, using their superior hearing to locate small mammals under the snow. Red foxes exhibit a range of coat colors from orange-red to black or silver morphs. Their long, bushy tails and white-tipped ears are useful identification markers.
Gray Fox
The gray fox ranges throughout most of the southern United States from California across to Florida. In Texas, they occupy wooded and brushy areas statewide. Gray foxes exhibit salt-and-pepper gray fur over much of their body with reddish tones on the legs, ears, and parts of the face.
They have a black-tipped tail which distinguishes them from red foxes. Gray foxes are excellent climbers and can scramble up trees to evade predators. They construct den sites in hollow trees, stumps, or abandoned burrows.
Gray foxes are omnivorous and eat rodents, rabbits, birds, insects, fruits, eggs, and carrion. They sometimes cache excess food for later consumption. Gray foxes are primarily nocturnal and crepuscular in activity patterns.
They are solitary hunters except when breeding pairs come together to raise a litter of pups.
Conclusion
While jackals are limited to parts of the Old World, Texas and the southwestern United States host a diversity of wild canid species in their place. The absence of jackals can be explained by biogeographical history and differences in ecology between the regions.
Instead, species like the coyote occupy similar niches, howling into the night and evoking questions about what types of wildlife call Texas home.
