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Hi. It has been a long time since i have posted on these forums so i am not to sure if this is the right place.

Last week I spent a few days in Addo and while I was there I watched a very intresting interaction between a black back Jackal and an adult male bushbuck. The jackal was running around the bushbuck in circuls trying to bite the hind quarters of the buck. Each time this happened the buck would turn around and present its horns to the jackal. The jackal would then run away but try to do the same thing again and again. After watching the interaction for 20 minutes the jackal got tierd and lay down in the grass at which point the buck started to limp away, but the jackal was still hot on its heals. I don't think the buck lasted the night.

Has anyone seen this before as this is a new experiance for me. I spoke to a game ranger at Addo who has been working there for 27 years and has never seen an incident like this before.

Do I understand you correctly, did the Bushbuck limp away? In my humble opinion, I don't think that the buck sustained injuries from the jackal. It was probably an attack from another predator that caused the injuries. All predators are opportunistic hunters and if the jackal saw that an animal was injured, it will have taken a chance and see if it can bring down that animal. All predators are looking for the old and weak animals and go for them.

Wow interesting!!

Ive heard of and seen other incidents of Jackal hunting like this. They hunt adult springbok much like this and could kill a healthy bushbuck in this manner. However as Rooies has stated it would be much more likely that it was injured already although i believe a healthy individual could be taken down in this way.

Yes the bushbuck did limp away after it had been attacked by the jackal.

I would think so too that the bushbuck was attacked before hand but i wounder what caused the injury in the first place.

While I was there I went on a night drive with a game ranger and we saw a zebra that we throught got kicked in the hind leg as it was limping and a red heartbeast that was also limping but due to thorns. I suppose there are a number of reason why the bushbuck would have been injured before hand. It's a pitty that we will never find out and that I did not see the start of the intreaction between the two animals.

I do have a few photo of the interaction between the two animals but the photos are not good quality and I also have video footage.

Hi greyspirit

It sounds like you had a fascinating encounter. I would have to agree with Rooies in that the bushbuck was most probably injured at some prior point and that the BBJ simply saw half an opportunity due to its injury.

The only time I've seen BBJ hunting buck in Addo was once when one was aiming for a very newly born kudu calf. Naturally the mother was extremely protective and kept chasing the jackal away - eventually for good!

Thank you for the comments.

It was a very intresting interaction and it was amazing to see and I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. I have studied animals for five years but i have never seen anything like this before.

PJL your sighting of the kudus and black back jacakal must have been very intresting to see. Apart from Addo have you seen anything like this in other parks?

I can't say that I have... I guess it was just a bit of luck being at the right place at the right time

This is from my 2009 trip report:

The next moment some movement caught my eye. A jackal was chasing a young kudu calve. Every now and then the kudu would stop to make a stance, but then the chase continued. My daughter noticed that the kudu was bleeding at her stomach - see dark patch on photo. A second jackal joined the chase. This ended with the kudu finding some form of shelter in a bush and the jackals losing interest. Indeed a rare sighting.

HoepHoep your stroy is very intresting. It is fasinating that the jackals will try and take prey that is at least two times its hight.

I wounder why the jackals only hunt big prey in Addo and not in the other parks. Could this be because there is few predatros (lions and hyenas) in Addo compared to other parks?