JACKAL. (שׁוּעָל֒, H8785, jackal ASV, RSV, dragon KJV, see Dragon for discussion). Modern authorities seem agreed that ASV and RSV tr. is correct. In addition, RSV twice tr. “jackal” where KJV tr. “fox” (Ps 63:10; Lam 5:18). It is notable that all references to jackals are obviously fig., whereas foxes are several times mentioned literally. Jackals are related to foxes and even more closely to domestic dogs, for with them they belong to the genus Canis. The Pal. species is the oriental jackal (Canis aureus), with head and body between twenty-four and thirty inches in length, and a tail of up to twelve inches; its color is a dirty yellow mixed with reds and blacks. Jackals usually go about in packs of up to a dozen, feeding mostly at night, and it is interesting that in all cases the Heb. word is pl. The jackal is basically a scavenger, living rather as a hyena in game country, where it can clean up after the larger carnivores have killed. In contrast, the fox is more solitary, feeding on a wide range of vegetable matter and small animals, and taking less refuse than the jackal. Several times it is prophesied that lands, like Babylon and Edom, shall become the haunt of jackals, and in the RSV the jackal is almost a symbol of desolation. More than half of the passages (twelve out of eighteen) have this theme. To the casual observer foxes and jackals look similar, and it is possible that they were often given the same name. See Fox.

Bibliography J. G. Wood, Bible Animals (1869).