Editorial Review

In this selection from the illustrated “Nature’s Cleanup Crew” series, readers will meet the black-backed jackal, one of the most effective scavengers living in the grasslands of eastern and southern Africa. These jackals live, on average, eight years and have a sense of smell greater than that of wolves. Equipped with highly effective night vision, the ability to run up to twenty miles-per-hour, and adept reflexes the black-backed jackal is a highly effective carrion eater. Jackals can smell a dead animal at a range of more than a half-mile. This acute sense of smell, linked to jackals’ keen intelligence, makes them an animal that can live off of decaying carcasses or hunt small animals on their own. It is jackals that are the focus of this nature study as well as the environmental challenges they face.

As with other books in the parent series, this study of jackals allows readers to learn essential facts about the featured species while also seeing them in action via numerous closeup photographs. In this way readers are afforded the opportunity to gain factual knowledge about jackals while also being given a clear look at visual depictions of them hunting, traveling, or interacting within their packs. Jackals mate for life, and it is not uncommon for a jackal who loses their mate to refrain from seeking another. These highly social animals are excellent parents and dedicate themselves to each years set of pups. Readers with an interest in animals, nature, or environmental issues will do well to read this book and the other selections from the series it belongs to.