How do the children describe the dead jackal?

The Swiss Family Robinson is a classic novel written by Johann David Wyss in 1812 about a family who gets stranded on an island in the East Indies after their ship is wrecked on a reef, and they are abandoned by all others on the boat.
After the Robinsons make their way over to the island from the crashed ship, they begin preparing for life on the island, creating shelter and finding more food. One night, shortly after the family members have all gone to sleep, "the cackling of hens overhead and the barking of dogs," wakes them up. Their two dogs are attempting to fight off a group of jackals and have already killed a few of them. Fritz and Mr. Robinson shoot at the jackals, killing two, wounding some, and scaring the rest off. Fritz decides to bring the body of the jackal he killed into his tent to show his younger brothers in the morning.
When they wake up in the morning and Fritz shows them the dead jackal, each of the younger boys are "greatly surprised to see the strange animal at the door." None can name the animal, as "Ernest said that it was a fox, Jack declared that it was a wolf, while Frank said that it was a yellow dog."