Side-striped jackals vary a lot in appearance, and some could be mistaken for either golden or black-backed jackals.
Or African wolves. At this stage, we are still trying to figure out how to tell the difference between the African wolf and the golden jackal.
About the only way I know to identify a side-striped jackal is to look for their distinctive white tail tip. They also tend to have broader skulls than other African wolf-like canids.
This particular smoky gray side-striped jackal looks a bit like a very old Norwegian elkhound.
Advertisement
