#african wolf

[packpack-killkill]

East African Wolf | Nicola Marchioli

[luchthonn-art]

Anubis

2026

The second of what might turn into a series on ancient Egyptian deities

[warcrimesimulator]

Serengeti wolf (Canis lupaster bea) feeding on a young Thompson’s gazelle. Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

📸 Tom Conzemius

[annuskabriar]

african canids/canines! also on my etsy as a sticker sheet and print

id in alt text

[wilkpreriowy]

A female Serengeti wolf (Canis lupaster bea) chases a spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) away from her pups in a nearby den. Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania.

Photo © Charlie Summers / naturepl.com

[tyrannoninja]

Our First Best Friend?

Somewhere in prehistoric Africa, a primitive woman is on the hunt with her best friend, an African wolf (Canis lupaster).

Native to northern and eastern Africa, the African wolf was once thought to be the same species as the golden jackal (Canis aureus) of southern Asia, but we now understand it to be more closely related to the gray wolf (Canis lupus) of Eurasia and North America. Although today’s domestic dogs are all a subspecies of the Eurasian gray wolf, I’m tempted to speculate that some early humans in Africa might have tried to befriend their local African wolves before our species’s dispersal into Eurasia.

[twilightofthesandwiches]

Favorite Wolf?

Golden Jackal (Canis aureus)

Coyote (Canis latrans)

African Wolf (Canis lupaster)

Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)

Eastern Wolf (Canis lycaon)

Red Wolf (Canis rufus)

Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis)

Domestic Dog (Canis familiaris)

Voting ended onJun 9, 2024

[blogforfauna]

Canis anthus and Canis aureus

African golden wolves, Canis anthus, were believed to be an African subspecies of the Eurasian golden jackal, Canis aureus, until 2015 when genetic tests showed that they were more closely related to grey wolves. That makes them the first “new” canines to be discovered in 150 years.

Photos show golden jackals on the left and African golden wolves on the right

Golden jackals are widespread in Europe and Asia. They are most common in southern Eurasian countries ranging from Myanmar (Burma) to Greece, but they are spreading further into European countries. Within the past 20-30 years they have spread into Italy and Ukraine, and there was even a sighting of one in Norway last year.

African golden wolves, also known as African wolves or golden wolves, are found in all North African countries and some of West, Central, and East Africa. Generally found in grasslands, they also live in forests, savannas, and desert environments. Golden jackals are rarely found anywhere besides grasslands.

Golden jackal ^

Small animals including rodents, reptiles, birds, and insects make up roughly half of the golden jackal’s diet, the other half consisting of fruits and other vegetation. They are also known to follow tigers to scavenge off large animals they kill. Golden jackals are very social and do almost everything in pairs, including hunting and scavenge.

Golden jackals are good hunters due to an amazing sense of smell. Because of this, people bred them with huskies and spitz dog breeds to create the sulimov dog. Sulimov dogs have one of the strongest senses of smell of any dog breed and are used for this reason as sniffer dogs.

Wild boars make up most of the African wolf’s diet, but they also frequently hunt small animals like ground squirrels, hares, and insects like the golden jackal. Also like golden jackals, African wolves are pretty social. They rarely form large packs like grey wolves, who they are more closely related to than to golden jackals, but their adult offspring will often stay with the parents to help care for pups.

I rate the golden wolf and jackal 15/10. One hid as a jackal for many years and the other steals from tigers. Amazing

African wolf ^

Photo credits:

(1) Jan Ebr (2) Lee R. Berger (3) Carlo Galliani (4) Vinay Narayana Swamy (5) Cécile Bloch (6) Mourad-Harzallah