golden jackals

regular golden jackal at back -- but the one at front? The same size and build, and the distribution of pattern is roughly the same (but different in colour), but the photos I see online only seem to show the grizzled colouration and not the golden one.

Photo taken in Burma (not the same zoo as the animal in the dhole? photo)

Yeah, these are both golden jackals - that said, I know that populations on the subcontinent and surrounding areas are somewhat affected by hybridisation with Indian Pariah Dogs, which could account for the extra-golden appearance of the animal in the foreground.

that is what I thought. Best to check though

Am I alone in thinking that the genus Canis, less Coyote and the two exclusively African jackal species, is overdue re-examination? The relationships of the Palaearctic members, and the relationship of "Red" and "Grey" Wolves are getting to be as clear as mud!

IanRRobinson said:

Am I alone in thinking that the genus Canis, less Coyote and the two exclusively African jackal species, is overdue re-examination? The relationships of the Palaearctic members, and the relationship of "Red" and "Grey" Wolves are getting to be as clear as mud!

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Even including the two African jackal taxa, there is much work to be done - phylogenetically speaking the Side-striped and Black-backed Jackal, although certainly deserving of being congeneric, turn out to be basal to a clade which includes every other member of Canis along with Lycaon and Cuon.

As such, short of lumping the African Wild Dog and Dhole into Canis - a move which genetically speaking would be akin to lumping every ape species, gibbons included, into one genus - the two African jackals really need a new genus coined for them to avoid Canis being rendered polyphyletic.

TeaLovingDave said:

the two African jackals really need a new genus coined for them to avoid Canis being rendered polyphyletic.

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At one time, of course, jackals were classified in a separate genus to wolves; the genus Thos.

That though didn't resolve the polyphyletic issue as Thos was considered to include not only the closely related side-striped jackal and black-backed jackal but also the more distantly related golden jackal too.

Indeed, and said solution would not work this time as the Golden Jackal *is* firmly rooted within Canis - in fact, I seem to recall it comes out as the sister taxon to the Grey Wolf, being closer to said species than the Eastern Wolf, Coyote or Red Wolf are.

TeaLovingDave said:

Yeah, these are both golden jackals - that said, I know that populations on the subcontinent and surrounding areas are somewhat affected by hybridisation with Indian Pariah Dogs, which could account for the extra-golden appearance of the animal in the foreground.

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I missed your edit. I didn't know about the hybridisation. The golden one here looks a bit more doggy than the other jackals I think.

The gold colour must be fairly frequent naturally though, one would think, to account for the name "golden jackal".