Naturzoo Rheine African wolf & golden jackal

[sooty mangabey]

Zootierliste currently lists Rheine as having both golden jackals (Canis aureus moreotica) and African wolves (Canis lupus lupaster). The indication is, I think, that the wolves are sharing the sloth bear exhibit, while the jackals are kept separately. At the zoo itself there is nothing to indicate that any of the animals are anything other than jackals, and the friendly keeper to whom I spoke could not elucidate me (but her English was nearly as bad as my German, and she was a bird keeper too).

I have several questions, if anybody knows their western German canids:
How secure is the identification of some of these animals as African wolves?
Are the 'wolves' indeed the ones that are kept with the bears?
Is their being kept a deliberate policy, or did they enter the collection by accident, as golden jackals which were only later shown to be Africa wolves?

I have attached a couple of pictures. The head and shoulders shot is of an animal maintained by itself (at least, not with another species) in a rectangular cage near the monkeys; the full shot is of an animal living alongside the sloth bears (in an excellent enclosure, by the way).

Thank you, in advance, for any information that anyone can give.

 

[Maguari]

I would be interested in a confimation of this.

The last update on Zootierliste for Rheine's Canis is 2010, and lists 0.1 C. l. lupaster and 1.1 C. a. moreotica.

As Zootierliste lists only one African Wolf we presumed it to be the single animal on its own in the cage - the pair (now with young) with the bears to be the jackals.

Having followed the changes on Zootierliste reasonably closely ('cos I'm nerdy enough to find this interesting), I think it's a case of importing a pile of Golden Jackals then finding some are African Wolves later on. To add to the confusion, there were (at least initially) multiple subspecies of genuine Golden Jackals in the mix too.

 

[BjoernN]

Rheine and Arnhem both received 0,1 C. l. lupaster and 1,0 C. l. riparius from Al Wabra in 2008, but in both institutions the females killed the males in 2010. In 2010 Rheine, Arnhem, Osnabrück and Magdeburg got 1,1 C. a. moreotica from Bulgaria.

 

[Maguari]

Thanks Bjoern - I saw the pair at Arnhem in 2009, so at least that confirms I've seen all the forms at some point!

 

[sooty mangabey]

Rheine and Arnhem both received 0,1 C. l. lupaster and 1,0 C. l. riparius from Al Wabra in 2008, but in both institutions the females killed the males in 2010. In 2010 Rheine, Arnhem, Osnabrück and Magdeburg got 1,1 C. a. moreotica from Bulgaria.

What is C. l. riparius? I've not come across this name before, as far as I know....

So, to clarify, are the group of animals, currently with the sloth bears at Rheine, European golden jackals (imported from Bulgaria)? And the animal apparently by itself in the smaller enclosure (the left hand picture in my original post) the African wolf (C l lupaster)?

And further questions: did Arnhem and Rheine know that they were importing 'mixed' pairs, or did this only come to light subsequently? And is Arnhem's female C l lupaster still alive? And is the females killing the males a possible consequence of the mixing of the different taxons, or just an unfortunate co-incidence?

 

[Maguari]

What is C. l. riparius? I've not come across this name before, as far as I know....

The subspecies riparius is the 'real' North African Golden Jackal, sympatric with C. l. lupaster. (It's C. a. riparius - I think the 'l' in Bjoern's post is just a typo)

 

[BjoernN]

I am sorry, it was indeed a typ.

The female at Arnhem died in 2011/2012, so only the single one at Rheine is alive.

The European golden jackals are sharing the enclosure with the Indian sloth bears. The single one is the last C. l. lupaster female.

I do not know, whether they knew about the mixed pairs. The female at Arnhem gave birth to hybrid-cups in 2009/2010, but they did not survive.

 

[robmv]

Maguari and myself spent quite a bit of time getting our heads around this on a recent trip to Holland (and Rheine).

I'm far from an expert, but the comments on zootierliste suggest that the males - C. a. riparius - came from Al Wabra (animals originating from Somalia) and the females - C. l. lupaster - came from Sharjah (animals originating from Egypt).

These animals arrived at Arnhem and Rheine in 2008 and at the time would all have been regarded as North African Golden Jackals and I doubt they would have worried too much about mixing subspecies. It was only in 2010 that the Egyptian population was re-classified as a subspecies of Canis lupus.

If anyone is interested in the taxonomic background to this story then there's lots more to read here.

 

[Paradoxurus]

I took the attached photo of what I thought was a golden jackal in Tunis Zoo in February 2010 (it was unlabelled). It looks like neither of the two animals illustrated above. Could anyone confirm this animals identity?