Am I the only one here who thinks there's a logical explanation for every deviation from the mainstream universe, because some days it awfully feels like it. While I realize 343 had to take some artistic liberties when they were designing Halo 4, I personally believe there is a logical explanation for everything they did... well, mostly everything.
My own headcanon suggests that the Jackals in Halo 4 belong to a subspecies of Jackal I would call [b]Monitors[/b], who were simply Jackals who went down a different evolutionary path than the common Jackal (the subspecies I dub the [b]Vulture[/b]). Monitor Sniper helmets are different because Monitors don't have the elongated snout of the Vultures.
Stuff like that. So, do you think there's an explanation for everything?
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It could also be different races of Jackals, instead of a separate subspecies. Appearances could also be dictated by the environment they live in. The jackal planet is not uniform in weather (as no planet is), so jackals living in high mountainous areas may have different features that those living in the swamps or deserts.