All You Need To Know About The Egyptian Wolf

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African Golden Wolf

The Egyptian wolf or African golden wolf, one of the carnivores that remains from the ancient world, has been known since the pre-dynastic times as “Jackal“. Archeologists have found a number of its mummies shrouded in linen in the excavations of the Badari civilization, dating back to 4 thousand years BC, and they are considered the oldest signs that It indicates the existence of reverence for that animal, since the beginnings of the copper age in Egypt.

The Egyptian Wolf Name

Egyptian wolf (scientific name: Canis Anthus lupaster), It is a breed of African golden wolf, the largest of its size, and it is very similar to the gray wolf.
Until the year 2000 AD, this animal was one of the branches of the African wolf to the gray wolf, but during that period its classification was changed from a gray wolf to an African golden jackal, and it was registered under the name Canis Anthus lupaster, but recent studies conducted in 2011 and later on mtDNA for this The animal showed that it was a wolf indeed and not a jackal. and now they call it the Egyptian wolf.

Egyptian Wolf Classification

Kingdom: – the animal
Division: – Chordates
Sect: – Mammals
Rank: – carnivores
Species: – Canidae, which include wolves, jackals, foxes, coyotes, and dogs.
Sex: – The real dog / Canidae. This genus belongs to wolves, jackals, coyotes, and Egyptian dogs. Type: – Golden Jackal / * / Gray Wolf >> Still under research, but it is considered separate from the Golden Jackal’s summer resort and entered into the Gray Wolf type. Breed: – Egyptian wolf, Egyptian jackal!

Egyptian Wolf Habitat

The Egyptian wolf lives in Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Algeria and other countries in North, East and West Africa. It is possible that he is now in Egypt and Libya only, where he was subjected to extinction in most regions of these countries due to brutal hunting. some Scientists call it Egyptian jackal.

Egyptian Wolf Description

the average size of Egyptian wolf, Its length ranges between 70 and 105 centimeters, and the height at the shoulders is between 38 and 50 centimeters. As for the weight, the males are usually 15 percent heavier than the females, weighing between 7 to 15 kilograms, and that wolf in North Africa is usually larger than Who lives in eastern and central Africa, and the wolves species that spread in the Maghreb are faded and their lines narrower than those spread in eastern Africa, especially in Egypt.

The body of the Egyptian Wolves is covered with short, coarse fur, whose color ranges from yellow to pale golden, while its limbs are striking to brown, and it is strange that its color changes according to the place and the seasons of the year, in northern Tanzania the yellowish-brown color is taken in the rainy season and turns into color Pale golden in the dry season, and in mountainous areas, the grayish color will be grayer.

Egyptian wolf Diet

The Egyptian wolf feeds on small animals, fish, crops, and fruits. sometimes the Egyptian wolf attacked animals farm like cattle
He is subjected to extermination campaigns Of people when his area of overlap interferes with the urban expansion of the population or when he attacks farms and livestock, and this is what made him vulnerable to extinction.

Egyptian Wolves Facts

As a strain: The Egyptian wolves is listed as a breed of Golden Jackal so you may know it as Egyptian jackal, but there are recent studies and studies stating that the gray wolf must be attached to it or classified as a distinct type, but so far it is considered to be a breed of Golden Jackal, although DNA analysis has proven that it belongs to the gray wolf And the emergence of classifications states that.
Food: – The Egyptian wolves feed on small animals, poultry, fruits, and some agricultural crops, and can also fish from shallow waters.
Behavior: – Contrary to the behavior of wolves, Egyptian jackal is a solitary animal that does not live in flocks. It lives as individuals or husbands. It is a nocturnal animal and the mating season is from March to May.
The numbers of the Egyptian wolf: – are unknown and some indicate that they are very few, i.e. their number in tens, and unfortunately considered as a breed of golden jackal made studies on this animal very few and in fact, it is threatened with extinction very strongly.
Existence Places of The Egyptian wolf: – It was Exist in Egypt with a sea and tribal face along the Nile Valley around the desert, mountains, and farms, and also near the cities.
Is Egyptian wolf dangerous: – It is not dangerous for livestock and poultry, as infrequent cases often happen, and often a small goat or a lost bird from the place of his upbringing. As for a person, it does not represent a danger since he does not live in flocks, and therefore attacking a wolf on an adult is very rare, but In fact, old wolves resort to landfills where they feed on human waste. When people see them, they think that they came to attack in villages or cities, but that does not and did not happen, as these wolves naturally repel people and their places of existence and move as far as possible from them because humans represent The greatest danger for them, then stray dogs.

Egyptian jackal is actually an Ancient Wolf

The Egyptian jackal, which may have been the inspiration for the Egyptian god Anubis, is actually not a jackal at all but a member of the wolf family. New genetic research in the open-access journal PLoS ONE finds that the Egyptian jackal is Africa’s only member of the gray wolf family. The new wolf, dubbed by researchers as the African wolf, is most closely related to the Himalayan wolf.

“We could hardly believe our own eyes when we found wolf DNA that did not match anything in GenBank,” lead author, Dr. Eli Rueness, said in a press release. GenBank is an open-access nucleotide database.

The genetic data also points to an early origin for the Egyptian jackal/African wolf. In fact, researchers believe the animal is older than well-known wolves of the northern hemisphere. According to the study, Indian, Himalayan, and the new African wolf broke off from the gray wolf before it moved north, colonizing Europe, northern Asia, and the Americas, further subdividing into different subspecies. Ethiopian wolves, which are a unique species of canids, are older still.

The study does not appear to make a recommendation whether or not this new wolf should be considered a unique species in its own right or another subspecies of the grey wolf (Canis lupus). Currently, gray wolf subspecies number in the thirties, and distinction between species and subspecies continues to be debated for a number of them.

However the new African wolf is classified, researchers argue the discovery must change how the animal is viewed in conservation. The authors call for the African wolf to be assessed individually, especially considering evidence that the animal is rare. The animal is not protected in Egypt and is often persecuted as it is considered a threat to livestock.

In good news, the researchers discovered that the African wolf, previously Egyptian jackal, is actually present in the Ethiopian highlands, expanding its known range considerably.

“This study shows the strengths of modern genetic techniques: old puzzles can be solved,” Nils Chr. Stenseth, Chair of the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES) and an author of the paper, says.