In Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, the jackal who serves Shere Khan is Tabaqui.
Tabaqui is a jackal and one of the most persistent antagonistic figures in the Mowgli stories. He lacks Shere Khan’s physical power, so he works through flattery, gossip, and opportunism. His close association with the tiger makes him a messenger and a source of trouble for the wolves and Mowgli.
Kipling portrays Tabaqui as a scavenger who is despised by many of the other jungle animals. His appetite and unpredictable behavior are linked to the traditional negative image of jackals in South Asian storytelling. In the opening Mowgli story, he brings Shere Khan’s demand to the wolf den and helps establish the conflict surrounding the human child.
Tabaqui is sometimes confused with other minor animals in Kipling’s collection, including Ikki the porcupine and Mang the bat. He is also different from Disney’s comic hyena characters, because the 1967 animated film does not use Tabaqui as a central named character.