Golden Jackal
I had taken just a few steps into a large, soggy field in the Haor when from the corner of my eye I saw two doglike animals, thirty feet to my left, sprinting in the same direction as I was headed. Reaching a submerged area up ahead, they paused momentarily before turning right and running along water’s edge. While one kept running across the field, the other ran towards me. By this time I had recognized them as Golden Jackals (Khek Sheyal, Canis aureus) and was taken aback at this bold move. I stopped on my tracks and started photographing it as it approached. But just before reaching me it turned right and disappeared into a patch of entangled weeds. I surmised that it probably had cubs in its den and felt threatened by my presence.
The encounter took me back to my childhood.
In 1968 my parents built a house in a new development in the outskirts of Sylhet. When we moved in, Housing Estate was dotted with just a few houses. To the north were the hills of Lakkatura tea garden. Jungles and bamboo groves covered the east of our house.
Along with a kitchen garden and a tube well, our back yard also had a chicken coop. This was of great interest to the jackals that lived in the hills and jungles surrounding us. Around sunset every evening, they started howling in unison. The kekka hua, kekka hua sound rapidly reached a crescendo that lasted for several hours.
As the night progressed they prowled in the adjacent jungle, while the chickens, having figured out what was outside the coop, cackled mightily fearing for their lives. In the end, though, the jackals left empty-handed – most of the time. If a chicken or two had been accidentally left out, the jackals had a good dinner.
Fast-forwarding to the present, this animal, once a pest, has become increasingly rare in Bangladesh with habitat loss due to population pressure. Nonetheless I have seen it in many places, the most common being the Haor. I also saw it in several parts of Purbachol.
The Golden Jackal, a strikingly wolf-like canid, is a native of southern parts of Asia and Europe. It grows to 85 centimeters in length and can weigh up to 14 kilograms. A monogamous animal, it spends its entire life with one partner. It is fairly omnivorous in its dietary habits, makes its den underground, and is not considered endangered.
For me, its most remarkable feature is the way its mouth opens when running. It looks like a crooked, sly grin and is probably responsible (along with the aforementioned chicken-stealing habits) for the less than respectable place it has in our folklore.
My strangest sighting of a Golden Jackal was in a distant char in Rajshahi. I had been watching a Peregrine Falcon as it flew overhead in circles, gradually moving away. Suddenly, in the distance, it swooped down to attack what appeared to be a dog, which ran for its life across the char. The falcon repeatedly buzzed the animal. As I came closer I realized it was a Golden Jackal. How strange for this bird to attack a nimble mammal almost twenty times its weight, and for the jackal not to fight back!
facebook.com/tangents.ikabir or follow “ihtishamkabir” on Instagram.
Comments