The animal the ancient Egyptians carved into Anubis statuettes and painted on tomb walls for 3,000 years was reclassified as a new species in 2011, when genetic analysis by Eli Knispel, Nils Rueness, and collaborators showed that the population previously called the Egyptian jackal (Canis aureus lupaster) was genetically distinct from golden jackals and closer to grey wolves. The species was renamed the African golden wolf (Canis lupaster), revising 200 years of Linnaean classification and revealing that the Egyptians had probably been depicting a small wolf rather than a jackal all along. This guide covers the animal’s biology, its distribution across Egypt and the wider North African range, the three main jackal-form deities in Egyptian religion (Anubis, Wepwawet, Duamutef), the iconography in tombs and papyri, conservation status today, and how the 2011 reclassification changed scholarly understanding of ancient Egyptian depictions.
The 2011 Reclassification
The African golden wolf was recognised as a distinct species by Nils Rueness, Eli Knispel, and co-authors in a PLOS ONE paper published in January 2011. The team’s mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that populations in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and the northern Sahel fell into a clade closer to grey wolves and Ethiopian wolves than to the Eurasian golden jackal (Canis aureus) with which they had been classified.
The reclassification carries scientific weight beyond nomenclature. The African golden wolf shows behavioural and morphological traits closer to wolves than to true jackals, including larger body size, pack structure tendencies, and skull geometry. The hunting range also extends across habitats unusual for true jackals, suggesting different ecological niches.
The practical consequence for Egyptology is subtle but real. The animal that appears in Anubis and Wepwawet iconography is now formally a wolf rather than a jackal, even though the ancient Egyptian depictions and modern translations have used jackal terminology for 200 years. The visual identification remains the same: a lean dog-like animal with pointed upright ears, long muzzle, and slim build.
Biology and Distribution
The African golden wolf stands 40 to 50 centimetres at the shoulder and weighs 7 to 15 kilograms, smaller than European grey wolves but larger than most true jackal species. Coat colour ranges from grey-beige to sandy yellow, with darker saddle markings across the back in many individuals. The tail is bushy and tipped with black.
Dietary habits are broadly omnivorous. Small mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, carrion, and plant matter all feature. Pack structure varies from solitary and paired hunting to small family groups, usually a breeding pair and current-year offspring. Territory size varies with habitat from 2 to 20 square kilometres per pack.
The current range extends from Morocco and Senegal east through the Sahel and Sahara fringes into Egypt and Sudan. Populations also persist in Ethiopia, Somalia, and parts of Tanzania. Egypt itself retains populations in desert fringe and agricultural margin habitats, though precise numbers are difficult to estimate given the species’ secretive behaviour.
The IUCN lists the African golden wolf as Least Concern overall, though regional populations face pressure from habitat loss, persecution by farmers protecting livestock, and road mortality in more populated areas of North Africa.
Anubis: The God of Embalming
Anubis (Egyptian Anpu or Inpu) is the most-depicted jackal-form deity in Egyptian art, appearing across tomb walls, funerary papyri, amulets, and statuary from the Old Kingdom through the Roman period. The god’s standard form is a fully anthropomorphic body with a jackal (now African golden wolf) head, usually depicted in black despite the living animal’s lighter colouring.
The black colour carries symbolic rather than observational meaning. Black associated with the fertile soil of the Nile flood represented rebirth and regeneration. The rich soil in which the dead were buried and from which new life emerged each flood season linked the colour to Anubis’s role as guardian of the dead and protector of the embalming process.
Anubis’s primary role across the funerary tradition:
- Embalming supervision: priests wore Anubis masks during mummification, channelling the god’s authority over the process
- Heart weighing: Anubis presided over the judgment scene in the Hall of Ma’at, where the deceased’s heart was weighed against the feather of truth
- Opening of the Mouth ceremony: Anubis participated in the ritual that restored the deceased’s faculties for the afterlife
- Tomb protection: inscriptions and statuary of Anubis guarded tomb entrances against grave robbers
- Cemetery guardianship: the entire necropolis fell under Anubis’s protection in theological texts
The cult of Anubis centred on the 17th Upper Egyptian nome and the city of Cynopolis (Hardai), where the principal temple stood. Anubis retained importance throughout the Ptolemaic and early Roman periods, with Roman-era magical papyri continuing to invoke him.
Wepwawet: The Opener of the Ways
Wepwawet (whose name means Opener of the Ways) was the jackal-form deity of Asyut (Lycopolis in Greek, meaning Wolf City) in Upper Egypt. The Greek name for the city hints at the Greeks recognising the animal as a wolf rather than a jackal, long before the 2011 genetic study.
Wepwawet’s iconography differs from Anubis in subtle but meaningful ways. Wepwawet is usually depicted standing on a sledge or shrine, often with grey or white colouring rather than black. His principal role involved opening the way for the pharaoh in battle and for the sun god on his daily journey.
Ceremonial uses of Wepwawet included:
- Military processions: Wepwawet standards led pharaonic armies into battle
- Opening of royal ceremonies: the god’s standard opened coronations and other ritual events
- Osiris festival at Abydos: Wepwawet preceded the Osiris processional statue during the annual festival
- Guiding the dead: Wepwawet opened the gates of the underworld for the deceased alongside or in partnership with Anubis
The distinction between Anubis and Wepwawet blurred over time, particularly during the Late Period when iconographic conventions merged. Nevertheless, independent cult centres and distinct ceremonial functions maintained their theological separation through to the Roman period.
Duamutef: The Canopic Jar Guardian
Duamutef is the jackal-headed son of Horus, one of the four Sons of Horus who protected the canopic jars holding the mummified internal organs of the deceased. The four sons divided the organs: Imsety (human-headed) held the liver, Hapi (baboon-headed) held the lungs, Duamutef held the stomach, and Qebehsenuef (falcon-headed) held the intestines.
Duamutef jars appear in canopic sets across museums worldwide. The jars typically stand 25 to 40 centimetres tall, carved from calcite, limestone, or wood depending on the period and the wealth of the tomb owner. The identification of each jar relies on the shape of the stopper, with Duamutef’s jackal-headed stopper being one of the four distinctive forms.
Each of the four sons aligned with a cardinal direction and a protective goddess. Duamutef associated with the east and the goddess Neith. The four goddesses (Isis, Nephthys, Neith, and Serqet) each shielded their assigned Son of Horus and, through them, the organs they protected.
Canopic jar traditions evolved across dynasties. Some Late Period sets combined all organs in a single jar, while New Kingdom sets typically maintained the four-jar configuration. The iconography of the jar stoppers remained fairly stable across this long tradition.
Iconography and Tomb Art
The jackal or wolf form appears across tomb art in several standard contexts. The most recognisable is the recumbent Anubis figure, a seated or lying canid with elongated body, prick ears, bushy tail, and collar. This image appears on tomb door lintels, sarcophagus panels, and amulets from the Middle Kingdom onward.
The Book of the Dead, particularly Spell 125 describing the Weighing of the Heart, consistently shows Anubis tending the balance scales. The Papyrus of Ani held at the British Museum (dating to around 1250 BCE) contains one of the finest surviving examples, with Anubis in his full anthropomorphic form adjusting the scales while Thoth records the result.
Amulets in jackal or wolf form became common as protective charms. These ranged from crude faience pieces in poor burials to exquisite carved hardstone examples in royal contexts. Museum collections including the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum, Egyptian Museum Cairo, and Louvre hold thousands of such amulets across their ancient Egyptian galleries.
Temple art extended beyond funerary contexts. Jackal figures flanked temple doorways at Dendera, Edfu, and other later temples, and processional ways between temples sometimes included jackal or wolf imagery tied to the Opening of the Ways tradition.
The Animal in Ancient Egyptian Daily Life
Real jackals and wolves lived alongside ancient Egyptians, and the relationship was not purely mythological. Tomb workers and farmers encountered the animals regularly in the desert margins, and the observation of their behaviour shaped religious symbolism.
Jackals and wolves scavenged at necropolis sites, drawn by burial activity and offerings. This scavenging probably contributed to the association with death and the afterlife. A canid seen circling a cemetery at dusk would appear to contemporary observers as a psychopomp animal, a creature linked to the transition between life and death.
Mummified examples of African golden wolves and true jackals appear in animal necropoli across Egypt. The most famous is at Saqqara, where thousands of mummified canids were buried as votive offerings to Anubis. Recent research including CT scanning has identified wolves, golden wolves, dogs, and smaller fennec foxes in the same necropolis, indicating that the Egyptians were not always taxonomically precise in their votive choices.
The Cynopolis (Dog City) necropolis held the largest concentration of Anubis-related animal burials. Scientific studies of the mummified animals from these sites have provided evidence for ancient Egyptian breeding and trade in canid species for religious purposes.
Modern Conservation
The African golden wolf today faces the same pressures as other mid-size predators in shared habitats with humans. Farmers protecting goats and sheep kill wolves on sight in many parts of the range. Road mortality increases as paved infrastructure extends into former desert margins.
The species is not legally protected in Egypt with specific endangered-species status, though it falls under general wildlife protection statutes. Other range states vary in their legal frameworks. Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria have populations that are monitored but not specifically targeted for conservation programmes.
Research has accelerated since the 2011 reclassification. Population genetic studies continue, and behavioural field research in Ethiopia, Egypt, and Morocco is building a baseline for future conservation planning. The species’ ecological role as a mid-size predator controlling rodent and mesopredator populations makes its continued presence valuable for desert-margin ecosystems.
Protected areas that hold African golden wolf populations include Egypt’s Wadi El Rayan Protected Area, Morocco’s Souss-Massa National Park, and several Saharan conservation zones. These provide reference populations for long-term research and some degree of refuge from persecution.
Museum Collections to Visit
Travellers interested in the jackal and wolf in ancient Egyptian art can see major examples at several museums.
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo (Tahrir Square) holds thousands of Anubis-related artefacts, from small amulets to the famous recumbent Anubis statue from Tutankhamun’s tomb. The statue, dating to around 1325 BCE and made of wood covered with black resin, is one of the finest surviving examples of Anubis iconography.
The Grand Egyptian Museum near Giza (opened 2024 after long construction) displays further Tutankhamun-related material including canopic jar assemblies with Duamutef figures. The museum’s scale allows broader contextualisation of the Anubis cult across pharaonic history.
The British Museum (London), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Louvre (Paris), and Turin Egyptian Museum all hold substantial Anubis and canopic collections. The Papyrus of Ani at the British Museum and the Book of the Dead papyri at the Louvre include some of the finest Weighing of the Heart scenes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Egyptian jackal a jackal or a wolf?
Genetically a wolf. The 2011 reclassification moved the species from Canis aureus lupaster (a golden jackal subspecies) to Canis lupaster (African golden wolf, a distinct species). The ancient Egyptians did not distinguish between wolves and jackals, and modern scholarship continues to use jackal terminology out of tradition.
Why is Anubis depicted black if real jackals are grey-beige?
Symbolic colour choice. Black represented the fertile Nile silt linked to rebirth and regeneration, fitting Anubis’s role in embalming and the afterlife. The living animal was never black, but the theological symbol demanded the colour.
Can I see a real African golden wolf in Egypt today?
Possible but rare. The species persists in desert margin habitats, but the population density is low and the animals are shy. Guided wildlife tours in protected areas such as Wadi El Rayan offer the best chances. Opportunistic sightings are more common than planned ones.
What is the difference between Anubis and Wepwawet?
Both are jackal-form deities but serve different roles. Anubis governs embalming and tomb protection. Wepwawet opens the way for pharaohs in battle and for the sun god on its journey. Anubis typically appears in black, Wepwawet in grey or white. Both cults operated from different cities (Cynopolis and Asyut respectively).
How many mummified jackals have been found in Egypt?
Thousands. The Saqqara animal necropolis alone contains an estimated 8 million mummified animals, though most are ibises. Canids (jackals, wolves, dogs) number in the tens of thousands. Ongoing excavation and CT analysis continue to refine these estimates.
What is the current status of the Saqqara animal mummy research?
Active and ongoing. The Catacombs of Anubis at Saqqara have been investigated since the 2010s with modern imaging techniques. The Egypt Centre at Swansea University and the University of Manchester have led much of this research. Findings continue to add detail to our understanding of the ancient Egyptian animal cult industry.
For broader context on Egyptian mythology and related deities, see our ancient Egyptian mythology guide and our Egyptian gods family tree. For other individual deities see our Hathor goddess guide and our Thoth god guide.
Sources and Further Reading
- Rueness, E. K. et al., The Cryptic African Wolf: Canis aureus lupaster Is Not a Golden Jackal, PLOS ONE, 2011
- Salima Ikram, Divine Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt
- Terence DuQuesne, The Jackal Divinities of Egypt
- Paul Nicholson et al., The Catacombs of Anubis at Saqqara, Antiquity Journal
- IUCN Red List, Canis lupaster species assessment
- Egyptian Museum Cairo, Anubis and canopic jar collection records
