Pair of Jackals after spotted deers

[Hymakar Valluru]

Its been quite some time i had posted... After my last postings to Ranthambore and TATR had been to Kabini twice...

Myself and Sucheth had visited Kabini on June 15th and 16th.

With Monsoons arriving early, the sight at Kabini has completely changed vs what i had seen in April. Its all green all around and has been raining continuously.

Kabini looks amazingly beautiful in monsoons but sightings will be lower and also will be for a very brief period. Other than when a lazy leopard decides to sleep on a tree branch closer to the safari path.

Surprisingly on 16th morning we had sighted these two jackals, I think we were returning from sunset point to the junction there and took a left turn as soon as we took the turn this beautiful pair of jackals were running in the middle of the road and came head on.

They were very shy after seeing the jeep they left the road for the jeep and got on to the grass. They stared at us for few seconds and then moved on their way to the sunset point.

Forgot to mention, in monsoons you will find spotted deer in hundreds everywhere in Kabini, There were few hundred spotted deers at the sunset point and the moment these Jackals took turn towards that point of backwaters.. the deers started running very fast to a safer distance. I dont think Jackals were interested in deers, they may take down a fawn when they single it out from a herd... i dont think they can bring down a fully grown Deer and that too when they are in such large herd. Still deers being deers they always have to run..

Jackals left the deers and had gone towards back waters.

Looked like they came only to make an appearance and get clicked by me and Sucheth. Whole Safari we ended up reaching the place wherever they had gone and we were the only jeep to have got to see them.

Though we did not have super sightings of the big cats but this pair of Jackals had more than made up for the loss.

Exif Details:

Canon EOS 60D
AV Mode
1/166 sec
f/6.4
ISO 640
420 mm ( 300mm/f4+1.4 TC)
Center Weighted Average Metering
Cropped around 30% of the image

[Sabyasachi Patra]

The tails are up to indicate the common alarm and fleeing position. The backside of the tail is white and is easier to notice in the forest. So the moment the tail of one deer is up, everyone will notice.

I have seen jackals chasing fully grown female Neelgai. Two jackals can easily attack a fully grown deer stag from both sides. When one of the jackals is holding the attention of the deer from the front the other one attacks from the backside. The trick is to isolate one from the herd. The jackals have a lot of stamina and the deers get easily tensed. Immediately the adrenalin flow is high and the deers can't sustain it for long. They can die due to shock if there is prolonged harassment.

In one incident in Keoladeo Ghana in Bharatpur, the periphery wall had broken down and the deers were feeding in the surrounding fields. The forest department rounded up the deers and chased and caught them and transported them using a truck back to the park. About 40 (forty) deers died of shock.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Sighting of Jackals in Kabini is rare. Nice display of the habitat. Thanks for sharing the detailed information. Look forward to more.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Great jungle drama, superb documentation. These images transport us to the jungle. True, a jackal normally hunts alone. Here two jackals are running/hunting in a pack, so their target was (most likely) a larger prey, they desisted from further pursuit when they found it was beyond reach. I agree with the views of Shri Sabyasachi.
Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Nice moment. I remember seeing a jackal attack a vulture and finishing it off on TV. a pair can probabaly do much more...... look like u guys had a good time at kabini.

TFS
Roopak