Snapshot Serengeti Talk

jackals and hyenas coexisting

  • reishi by reishi

    I classified a picture with 2 hyenas, one standing, one resting and 2 jackals, who appear to be young, standing/sitting quite close to the hyenas. This is maybe the most amazing interaction picture I've seen. It looks like the hyenas could grab those jackals in short order. Can anyone shed light on how well these 2 species coexist? Googling didn't come up with much in the way of answers.
    Thanks!

    Posted

  • Ettina by Ettina in response to reishi's comment.

    I've often seen lions and hyenas ignoring jackals, too. My guess is they're so fast and agile that they're more trouble to attack than it's worth.

    Personally I have a soft spot for the little guys - they're gutsy, stealing scraps from right under the noses of the most powerful hunters in the savanna. Even a cheetah could take them in a fight, and yet they dart in among hyenas to grab a piece of the kill.

    Posted

  • tirralirra by tirralirra

    Among the camera trap images, there's a sequence starting with a lion killing a zebra. After some time the pictures show many examples of hyenas and jackals drawn by the smell and interested in the meat. I suspect that hyenas and jackals are seen quite often around a kill. The hyenas would be more interested in the dead meat at hand than trying to catch a nimble jackal.

    Posted

  • reishi by reishi

    Thank you. I saved that image to my pc, but not in my favorites. Wondering if there's any way to upload it here?

    Posted

  • tirralirra by tirralirra

    Sorry, I don't know how you could do that. Maybe you could upload it to a site like Photobucket or Flickr and post the link here?

    Posted

  • davidbygott by davidbygott moderator

    Jackals are very alert and nimble and will feed face to face even with lions - they dart in and dart out and seldom get hurt!

    Posted