Animals of all different kinds fill this planet, some more commonly known than others. One commonly known animal is dogs – Some people even have dogs as pets. Dogs are a part of the Canidae family, which consists of wolves, foxes, coyotes, and jackals, with even more subspecies.

Dogs are one of the most known animals on the planet, sitting with about 360 breeds. Each breed has its special appearances, abilities, and more. One of the most famous dogs was an actor! Terry, a Cairn Terrier, played the part of Toto in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. Terry was paid $125 a week, which in 2024 would equal about $2,758.51 per week. That’s more than the average actors get paid today! Overall, dogs are a very unique breed, varying in size, shape, color, and everything else. There are even special competitions for the more rich people to show off their dogs, as well as many other events.

Next up are wolves. In a normal, wild wolf pack, there are no actual ranks. At the “bottom” of the list of the members in a pack, there are the pups from the most recent litter. Then there are the pups from previous years that have survived or stayed, possibly the leaders’ siblings, and then the leaders, who are just the parents. According to mexicanwolves.org, the entire A/B/O (alpha/beta/omega) thing doesn’t exist– at least in wolf packs–and even other scientists have proven it to be fault (though have also backed it up). When a new litter of pups is born, three things could happen. 1. The pups die 2. The pups stay with the pack, although that’s mainly if the pack is small, and 3. The pups leave and create a pack of their own by finding a mate as a dispersal wolf, and creating a pack then.

Foxes are another member of the Canidae family. Foxes are similar to cats, from the way they walk to how they hunt. According to massaudubon.org, some foxes, specifically grey foxes, can even retract their claws. For the first 7 months of a fox’s life, a fox would live with their mother and littermates. Other than that, foxes are typically independent animals. Otherwise, foxes do not live in packs or groups. A group of foxes, otherwise a family, would be called “skulks”, “leashes”, or “earths”. Overall, foxes are very mysterious and independent animals.

Then we’d have coyotes. Coyotes are a bit smaller than wolves and with a much sleeker and smaller body they’re light on their feet. Coyotes, unlike wolves, only live in small packs in the spring and summer, consisting of mainly family members. According to reptileknowledge.com, unlike dogs, coyotes typically yip/chirp when communicating vocally (sounding similar to distress calls), though they still howl and bark. Coyotes can be relatively dangerous animals, as they can learn to hunt humans. Overall, coyotes are very social and intelligent animals and animals you wouldn’t want to meet face-to-face in the wild.

Finally, we have jackals. They are most similar to coyotes, specifically the Golden Jackal. Coyotes and Jackals are relatively close relatives, as they only separated around 800,000 years ago. These animals are about the size of domestic dogs. They mostly live in Africa, though can live in other places such as America, as well. Jackals have one mate for life, having around 2-4 pups per litter. To avoid the death of pups, Jackals will change dens around every 2 weeks. Once they have reached about 11 months old, the pups will either leave or stay to take care of the new litter. Jackals typically live up to 10-12 years. These animals don’t usually stay with their family, living for over a decade in the wild.

There are many other subspecies in the Canidae family as well. Dogs are more domesticated than wild, living with humans, wolves live with packs, foxes typically live independently, coyotes are with packs half of the year, and jackals can either split or stay in small groups. All animals in this family are very unique and are some overall amazing species.