It's mostly just speculation, but it's pretty good. Maybe you guys can work based on some of these theories and come up with actual answers. Anyway, I just noticed the Jackal now has carnivorous teeth in the one pic. Mybe there's different species or maybe a plan change? I dunno but read! The Anatomy of the Jackal 1.1 What is the Jackal? The Jackal (roughly translated from the Covenant language) is a species and member of the Covenant. The Jackals are sentient and possess superior senses of sight, smell and hearing compared to other known Covenant species. 1.2 How a Jackal Fights The Jackals, being stealthy and quiet, prefer to use personal, handheld energy shields that attach to their wrists. Jackals mostly fight with plasma pistols and plasma rifles but do not, however, throw grenades. Because of their superior senses, Jackals are usually employed on reconnaissance and assassination missions but also serve as good soldiers. With its energy shield, one Jackal can hold its own against several marines firing projectile weapons. 1.3 The Jackal Society Little is known about the society of the Jackal except that they consider themselves of a higher social class than the Grunt. Because of this, Jackals and Grunts usually engage in brawls and whenever they’re stuck without a leader, one will try to take control of the other. 1.4 Jackal Communication Not much is known about how Jackals communicate but it is known that they emit high-pitched growls and other strange noises. They also use their hands a lot when showing a buddy or a group an enemy. 2.1 The Jackals Body With an adapted body such as the Jackal has, it’s no wonder why it excels in crafty missions and battle field operations. As previously said the Jackal has extremely keen senses of sight, hearing and smell and uses these to its advantage in every situation. Some speculation as to why the Jackal has such extremely good senses include theories that the Jackal has had extremely long to evolve, or has evolved in harsh conditions in which it needed every good sense it could get. 2.2 Frills or no Frills? One interesting thing about Jackals is that some appear to have some plumage on their heads while some do not. The frills could be a status indicator or a gender marker where the male Jackal has them whereas the females do not. There is no other reported use for these frills. 2.3 Give them the Evil Eye Jackals have enormous eyes that enable it to see so well although no one knows how it sees through those eyes. Due to their bright nature, it can be speculated that they use these for night vision although it is not known for sure. 2.4 My!! What Big Teeth You Have Mr Jackal!! Jackals have a big row of teeth that look like dinosaur teeth leading to the belief that the Jackal is a herbivore. The reason the teeth are quite intriguing is because the Jackal seems to have most the traits of a carnivore and not a herbivore. The teeth contradict the theory that the Jackals evolved from birds because then the Jackal would most likely be a meat eater although the birds on its home planet might not be what we call ‘normal’. 2.5 What a Big Middle Finger One theory of how the Jackal evolved involves tree creatures. This is largely due to the Jackals ‘hands’ because it might have used them to hold on to the branches of a high tree with those three fingers. In this case the Jackal might have used its large middle finger to hold on to branches, although the lack of more fingers suggest that the Jackal isn’t well suited to handle things properly like sticks or other objects. 2.6 The Hooves And finally, there are the hooves. The fact that Jackals have hooves similar to a horse or a deer, suggest that it is well suited for running across fields and maybe hopping across mountains. This theory completely contradicts the thought that Jackals evolved from tree creatures because then it would have no need for hooves. Afterword These theories are just mere speculation and should not be considered official. I am in no way affiliated to Bungie Studios except being a very devoted fan. I enjoyed writing this, and I hope you will enjoy reading it!! Sources The Halo: Combat Evolved manual The Covenant Primer (http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?story=covenanthierarchy&p=41894) Dinosaur Teeth (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/anatomy/Teeth.shtml) If you find any mistakes or would like to add something (appropriate credit will be given) then e-mail me at MajSilva@aol.com or if im online, just send me a message. Also, if you would like to post this on a website, give credit to me and the people who helped and also e-mail me too OK? Ok.