The black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas), also known as the silver-backed or red jackal,Southern Africa Wildlife and Adventure by Van Der Vlies Cobus, published by Trafford Publishing, 2010, ISBN 1-4269-1932-8 is a species of jackal which inhabits two areas of the African continent separated by roughly 900 km. One region includes the southernmost tip of the continent, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.