The Asian, or golden, jackal, Canis aureus, is common from Northern Africa to southeastern Europe and India. The Simien jackal, C. simensis, is found in central Ethiopia. Its size, narrow head, and pointed muzzle are foxlike, but its other physical characteristics are similar to those of wolves. Jackals inhabit plains, deserts, and prairies, living during the day in holes in the ground. Their life span is 12 to 15 years.
Jackals interbreed with domestic dogs.
Many thanks to Dennis Falzon for baptising me such in medical school. Heaven knows what he got up to during his training in tropical medicine in the darkest Africa.