Perhaps one of the more interesting announcements from wildlife study in the last decade was the discovery of a wolf living under everyones nose in Africa. It is a little understandable, as it does look quite like a jackal, but still.
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The problem is that, despite this huge range there is no idea how many African wolves there are in the wild. Obviously with this huge range, it is not unreasonable to suggest that they are locally extinct in areas – there are a number of subspecies that have been tentatively suggested, however until true assessments are made, this seems more than we need.
Back in the early 1800s the North African wolf was defined as a separate species, why did this wild canid get redefined as a golden jackal?
Back in 2015 genetic analysis prove conclusively that a strange looking type of golden jackal in North Africa was actually and African wolf. Genetic analysis shows that is descended around 75% from grey wolves, with the other 25% of it’s lineage coming from Ethiopian wolves. However when first described by science back in the early …