Today I happened to stumble across a picture that used my European golden jackal (Canis aureus moreoticus) skull in a story about the mythical horned jackal. Since I have a soft spot for both cryptic animals and canid skulls, I would like to share this story with you too.
The story goes that a certain subspecies of the golden jackal, the Sri Lankan jackal (Canis aureus naria), can grow a horn about half an inch long. It is believed that the horn develops on the head of the most dominant jackal of the pack. The natives of Sri Lanka call this growth the narric-comboo. Even today, a narric-comboo is greatly prized as a lucky talisman by Sri Lankans.
Apparently an entire skull of a horned jackal was once present in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, located in England, but no images of this apparent skull can be found.
Who is up for a trip to Sri Lanka to test their luck?
Here is a little bit more information on the horned jackal:
Wikipedia: Jackal's horn
Figure: Chawla, M.M, Srivathsa, A., Singh, P., Sharma, S., Majgaonkar, I., Punjabi, G.A., Banerjee, A. (2019)
Taking the Jackal by the Horn: A report on the poaching and trade of golden jackals in India. Wild Canids–India
Project. PDF file
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