With respect to Jackals, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1/21. For numerous
and interesting details on the resemblance of dogs and jackals see Isid.
Geoffroy St.-Hilaire 'Hist. Nat. Gen.' 1860 tome 3 page 101. See also
'Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes' par Prof. Gervais, 1855 tome 2 page 60.) says
that not one constant difference can be pointed out between their structure
and that of the smaller races of dogs. They agree closely in habits:
jackals, when tamed and called by their master, wag their tails, lick his
hands, crouch, and throw themselves on their backs; they smell at the tails
of other dogs, and void their urine sideways; they roll on carrion or on
animals which they have killed; and, lastly, when in high spirits, they run
round in circles or in a figure of eight, with their tails between their
legs. (1/22. Also Guldenstadt 'Nov. Comment. Acad. Petrop.' tome 20 pro
anno 1775 page 449. Also Salvin in 'Land and Water' October 1869.) A number
of excellent naturalists, from the time of Guldenstadt to that of
Ehrenberg, Hemprich, and Cretzschmar, have expressed themselves in the
strongest terms with respect to the resemblance of the half-domestic dogs
of Asia and Egypt to jackals. M. Nordmann, for instance, says, "Les chiens
d'Awhasie ressemblent etonnamment a des chacals." Ehrenberg (1/23. Quoted
by De Blainville in his 'Osteographie, Canidae' pages 79, 98.) asserts that
the domestic dogs of Lower Egypt, and certain mummied dogs, have for their
wild type a species of wolf (C. lupaster) of the country; whereas the
domestic dogs of Nubia and certain other mummied dogs have the closest
relation to a wild species of the same country, viz. C. sabbar, which is
only a form of the common jackal. Pallas asserts that jackals and dogs
sometimes naturally cross in the East; and a case is on record in Algeria.
(1/24. See Pallas in 'Act. Acad. St. Petersburgh' 1780 part 2 page 91. For
Algeria, see Isid. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire 'Hist. Nat. Gen.' tome 3 page 177.
In both countries it is the male jackal which pairs with female domestic
dogs.) The greater number of naturalists divide the jackals of Asia and
Africa into several species, but some few rank them all as one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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