Golden jackals look a lot like small wolves or large foxes, but they are their own species. They live in family groups - a mum, a dad, and the year's young together. Older sisters and brothers from previous years sometimes stay around to help look after the new pups, like cousin babysitters.
Their famous call is one of the most magical sounds in the Lebanese countryside. One jackal starts howling - a long, high wail - and within seconds the family answers. Then another family, kilometres away, hears them and joins in. The 'song' rolls from valley to valley, especially at sunset.
Jackals will eat almost anything: small mice and rabbits, fruit, insects, fish, and sometimes leftover food near villages. This makes them very adaptable - they live in mountains, deserts, farms, and even on the edges of cities. Where wolves and bears can no longer survive, jackals often still do.
In old Lebanese countryside stories, the jackal is the trickster animal - clever, quick, always a step ahead. Children would hear tales of jackal outwitting the lion or stealing a fox's dinner. Today, farmers respect them for keeping mice and rats out of the grain stores.