Paws for thought

Just after sunrise we found jackal prints on the dunes. Jackals are crepuscular animals (most active at dawn and dusk) and although they may scavenge a carcass in packs, they generally hunt alone or in pairs. This one was having a solitary early-morning outing. Its long legs, adapted for hunting small mammals, had clearly settled into the dry sand as it breathed after a sprint or sat surveying the landscape. Then again, it might just have stopped for a snack of grasshoppers, crickets or scorpions