What is he? I've seen him in hieroglyphs and always wondered what creature his head is based off of.

SLet me try an answer, tho I'm not really qualified: Historians aren't really sure if he is based ona real animal. Some say he's a donkey or a tapir. Some say some kind of antelope (because of the strange horns), okapi aardvark. There may be a now extinct species it is based upon, but today most scientists say that it'S some kind of fictitious animal and that the horns may initially have been arrows shot at that animal, the Egyptians themselfs forogt about that and drew it into horns/ears later...

Wow, very cool. Thanks.

I've always liked to believe that he was a jackal (disfigured for his corruption) myself

hm, sounds neat. And since no one can really say what he "really" was, I guess this version is as real as any other. The Egyptians tented to depict their gods in different ways, so why not a corrupted jackal, it would fit to this god.