The black-backed jackal, also called the silver-backed jackal, is native to eastern Africa and has occupied this territory for at least two to three million years. It can be a fierce predator and while described as a "fox-like canid" it hunts and kills mammals much larger than it is. This jackal weighs only 13-25 pounds and stands at 26-32 inches tall. (Wikipedia)
I've been to Africa three times now, my first trip was when I turned 60 (I'm now 72) and decided to go to South Africa as a birthday gift from me to me. I've never wanted to see a kill and was somewhat appalled when someone on that first trip said they came just to see that, I could not comprehend why anyone would want to see an animal running for its life in terror. I was happy not to witness a kill on this trip.
On my second trip, three weeks long, in Kenya, visiting multiple parks, I think nine in all, I also did not see a kill. I understand that everyone has to eat and that the death of one animal usually means the life of another animal, I just have way too much empathy and I know that it must be a horrible thing to be chased by a large animal wanting to kill you, there is no getting around that.
My most recent trip was to East Africa, the Serengeti. Again, on this trip, I had no desire to see a kill, but I did experience that event twice. As a wildlife photographer I'm going to take the shot, there is simply no way I'd put down my camera when any action event was taking place. I am literally compelled to photograph any wildlife action. I was, however, emotionally torn to witness and photograph these two events.
One such event was a cheetah taking down a young gazelle to feed herself and what appeared to be two yearling cubs and the second event was a Black-backed Jackal taking down a young gazelle to feed two fairly young pups. It seems that some of the young get left behind when a group of animals move on and these youngsters become some animal's next meal, they are easy victims as they seem to be fairly clueless until the hunting animal is right upon them and there is no way out. Yes, I did photograph both times and as I look at the shots I feel both fascination and a degree of shame at witnessing the event and reviewing the shots.
The shots below are of the jackal on the hunt.
From a more scientific point of view I did find it interesting to see how the kill took place and, while I was emotionally bothered by it, it was not as bad as I had feared to see it actually happen, although it was quite brutal both times. Below is one of the jackal cubs watching our jeep.
We saw the two jackal pups playing near the dirt road we were on. We all agreed that the pups were much too young to be left alone. They were quite curious about us, sitting down and staring at our jeep as we paused in the road to take photos. Mom would most likely not have approved of their playing around near the road!
We moved on, hoping that mom was nearby. And, in just a few minutes we figured out where mom was, she had spied a young Thompson's Gazelle and was intent on the hunt to provide food for her pups.
We watched as she started toward the animal and then began the chase. As she neared the animal she would reach out and bite at its head and eventually she was able to knock it down, where she continued to bite at its head and neck. But the animal was able to get up and tried to flee again, of course without much success. This first photo, sorry for the terrible quality of it but it took me a bit to get the right camera and lens and we were still a long way aways at this point but moving toward the event, shows how the animal started the take-down. The second shot shows the jackal knocking down the gazelle.
Finally, after picking up the correct camera and lens, the one with the Nikon 600PF, I got the next two shots that show the jackal closing in on the gazelle and biting it. My camera was set to single-point focus, which I don't recommend for action shots, but I just did not think to change the setting as everything was happening so fast. The gazelle, fighting for its life, struggled to get up and flee. There was really no hope at this point for getting away but the fear this gazelle must have been feeling was intense and it kept trying to get away from what was a certain death. The shots below show the gazelle struggling to get up and flee, which is did do at this point.
The jackal kept at it, chasing and biting the gazelle, and it wore the little gazelle down enough that the jackal could trip the gazelle to get it down and keep it down. I was amazed that the jackal, much smaller than the gazelle, could do this but she was very skilled at the hunt.
With the gazelle weary and down on the ground the jackal suffocated it by holding its mouth together for an extended period of time. At this point I said to the group in my jeep, "I can hear it crying, can we go" and everyone agreed we'd had enough and we moved on.
One life for another, sad, brutal, but a fact of life in the wild.
Credits:
Photos and text by Connie Cassinetto