do you have any tells for someone not familiar with non-american animals you suggest looking for to determine if a skull is a side stripe vs black backed jackal? I you made that absolutely lovely comparison photoset but I can't for the life of me see any obvious differences that can't be chalked up to like, angles or something x-x
Oh gosh their skulls are terribly difficult to tell apart! I only noticed I had one after I had gotten a few more black-backed jackal skulls and was like ‘huh this one is a little different’ lol. There’s just not a lot of pictures or info on them because they’re very shy and elusive and people mistake them for black-backed jackals quite often.
Side-striped jackals (top) have a much narrower skull then the black-backed jackals and on average are slightly larger. These two skulls are around the same size, but the bbj is a couple years older than the ssj who was only about 1-2 years old . They also have thinner zygomatics since thier jaws aren’t as strong as bbjs. They eat a lot more fruit and bugs then bbjs do.
Side-striped jackals (left) also have super weird incisors that don’t overlap like most canids and are more blunt. Thier premolars are also closer together than black-backed jackals.
Basking like a badger? Badgers have been observed hunting and sun basking on the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Elk Refuge in Wyoming. Sounds like the perfect mix for a summer afternoon.
While this furry striped tank is not the largest of the North American weasel family—wolverines, river otters and sea otters are bigger—the badger nonetheless seems much larger than its true size.
As these barrels with legs trot towards you, the stocky badger gives off the appearance and attitude that nothing can get in its way. In truth, badgers only measure between 23 to 30 inches and weigh about 15.5 pounds for females and around 20 pounds for males. They’re not much bigger than a beagle!
Video by Kari Cieszkiewicz, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Video description: A large fluffy badger lays in the grass on a sunny day.
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