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Jackals may urinate on their favourite fruit to deter thieves

Although they are carnivores, black-backed jackals are partial to the melon-like fruits of the !nara plant and help to disperse its seeds across the desert

By Ryan Truscott

27 February 2024

A black-backed jackal sniffing a !nara fruit

Saima Shikesho

Black-backed jackals may urinate on sweet melons that grow in the Namib desert to stop other jackals pinching the fruit as it ripens.

The jackals, which are native to eastern and southern Africa, hunt small prey or scavenge on the carcasses left by larger predators, but they are also partial to fruit.

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