A Jackal Love Story

Jackals are completely monogamous animals. Once they find their mates, they travel together as a pair for the rest of their lives. Very seldom would more than one pair travel together. The jackal pair establishes itself as the only jackals within a territory. The territory is marked just like any other dog - with feces and urine.
It's a pretty intense kind of love between jackals. When one jackal dies, his/her mate will often commit suicide. The jackal does this in an unusual way, be walking up to a major predator, such as a lion, and becoming its dinner.

While in the Masai Mara, we ran into this guy. He probably had a pretty nasty fight with a hyena and managed to escape without one of his eyes. His lady then walked up to him and they trotted off together. I don't know if they knew that their days were probably pretty limited, as the wounded jackal will attract more hyenas. His lady will then meet her own death. In the meantime, they'll stay completely devoted to each other as they defend their territory. True love is beautiful!