The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a
wolf-like canid that is native to
Southeast Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...
,
Southwest Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...
,
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...
, and regions of
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy yellow in summer to a dark tawny beige in winter. It is smaller and has shorter legs, a shorter tail, a more elongated torso, a less-prominent forehead, and a narrower and more pointed muzzle than the
Arabian wolf
The Arabian wolf (''Canis lupus arabs'') is a subspecies of gray wolf native to the Arabian Peninsula, the Negev Desert, the Sinai Peninsula, and Jordan. It is the smallest wolf subspecies, and a desert-adapted subspecies that normally lives in ...
. It is listed as
Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. ...
on the
IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolo ...
due to its widespread distribution and high density in areas with plenty of available food and optimum shelter.
Despite its name, the golden jackal is not closely related to the African
black-backed jackal
The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas),'' also called the silver-backed jackal, is a medium-sized canine native to eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly 900 kilometers.
One region includes the southe ...
or
side-striped jackal, which are part of the genus ''
Lupulella
''Lupulella'' is a genus of canine found in Africa. This genus consists of only two extant species, the black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas'') and the side-striped jackal (''Lupulella adusta'').
Taxonomy
The two species had previously ...
''. It is instead closer to wolves and coyotes. The ancestor of the golden jackal is believed to be the extinct
Arno river dog that lived in
southern Europe
Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alb ...
. It is described as having been a small, jackal-like canine. Genetic studies indicate that the golden jackal expanded from India around 20,000 years ago, towards the end of the last
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent.
Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eu ...
. The oldest golden jackal fossil, found at the
Ksar Akil
Ksar Akil (also Ksar 'Akil or Ksar Aqil) is an archeological site northeast of Beirut in Lebanon. It is located about west of Antelias spring on the north bank of the northern tributary of the Wadi Antelias. It is a large rock shelter below ...
rock shelter near
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, Lebanon, is 7,600 years old. The oldest golden jackal fossils in Europe were found in Greece and are 7,000 years old. There are seven
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...
of the golden jackal. It is capable of producing fertile
hybrids with both the gray wolf and the African wolf.
Jackal–dog hybrids called
Sulimov dogs are in service at the
Sheremetyevo Airport
Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport ( rus, links=no, Международный аэропорт Шереметьево имени А. С. Пушкина, p=ʂɨrʲɪˈmʲetʲjɪvə ''Mezhdunarodny aeroport Sheremetyevo imen ...
near Moscow, where they are deployed by the Russian airline
Aeroflot
PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...
for scent-detection.
The golden jackal is abundant in valleys and beside rivers and their tributaries, canals, lakes, and seashores, but rare in foothills and low mountains. It is a social species, the basic social unit of which consists of a breeding pair and any young offspring. It is very adaptable, with the ability to exploit food ranging from fruit and insects to small
ungulates
Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, ca ...
. It attacks domestic fowl and domestic mammals up to the size of domestic
water buffalo
The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...
calves. Its competitors are the
red fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...
,
steppe wolf,
jungle cat
The jungle cat (''Felis chaus''), also called reed cat, swamp cat and jungle lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to the Middle East, the Caucasus, South and Southeast Asia and southern China. It inhabits foremost wetlands like swamps, littoral ...
,
Caucasian wildcat
The Caucasian wildcat (''Felis silvestris caucasica'') is a European wildcat subspecies that inhabits the Caucasus Mountains and Turkey.
Taxonomy
''Felis silvestris caucasica'' was described by Konstantin Satunin in 1905 on the basis of a skin ...
, the
raccoon
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...
in the Caucasus and in Central Asia, and the
Asiatic wildcat. It is expanding beyond its native grounds in Southeast Europe into
Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...
and
Northeast Europe into areas where there are few or no wolves.
Etymology and naming
The word 'jackal' appeared in the
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...
around 1600. It derives from the Turkish word ''çakal'', which originates from the Persian word ''šagāl''.
It is also known as the common jackal.
[
]
Taxonomy
The biological family Canidae
Canidae (; from Latin, '' canis'', " dog") is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). There are three subfamilies found withi ...
is composed of the South American canids, the fox-like canids, and the wolf-like canids.[ All species within the wolf-like canids share a similar morphology and possess 78]chromosome
A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins ar ...
s, allowing them potentially to interbreed.[ Within the wolf-like canids is the jackal group, which includes the three jackals: the ]black-backed jackal
The black-backed jackal (''Lupulella mesomelas),'' also called the silver-backed jackal, is a medium-sized canine native to eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly 900 kilometers.
One region includes the southe ...
(''Lupulellamesomela''), the side-striped jackal (''Lupulella'' ''adusta''), and the golden jackal (''Canis aureus''). These three species are approximately the same size, possess similar dental and skeletal morphology, and are identified from each other primarily by their coat color. They were once thought to have different distributions across Africa with their ranges overlapping in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa:
Due to the historica ...
(Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania).[ Although the jackal group has traditionally been considered as homogenous, genetic studies show that jackals are not ]monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...
(they do not share a common ancestor),[ and they are only distantly related.][ The accuracy of the colloquial name "jackal" to describe all jackals is therefore questionable.][
]Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
(mDNA) passes along the maternal line and can date back thousands of years.[ Thus, ]phylogenetic analysis
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
of mDNA sequences within a species provides a history of maternal lineages that can be represented as a phylogenetic tree
A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...
.[ A 2005 genetic study of the canids found that the ]gray wolf
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
and dog are the most closely related on this tree. The next most closely related are the coyote
The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological nich ...
(''Canis latrans''), golden jackal, and Ethiopian wolf
The Ethiopian wolf (''Canis simensis''), also called the Simien jackal and Simien fox, is a canine native to the Ethiopian Highlands. In southeastern Ethiopia it is also known as the horse jackal. It is similar to the coyote in size and build, ...
(''Canis simensis''), which have all been shown to hybridize with the dog in the wild. The next closest are the dhole
The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It ...
(''Cuon alpinus'') and African wild dog
The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lyca ...
(''Lycaon pictus''), which are not members of genus ''Canis''. These are followed by the black-backed and side-striped jackals, members of the genus ''Lupulella'' and the most basal members of this clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...
.[
Results from two recent studies of mDNA from golden jackals indicate that the specimens from Africa are genetically closer to the gray wolf than are the specimens from Eurasia.][ In 2015 a major DNA study of golden jackals concluded that the six ''C.aureus'' subspecies found in Africa should be reclassified under the new species ''C.anthus'' (African wolf),][ reducing the number of golden jackal subspecies to seven. The phylogenetic tree generated from this study shows the golden jackal diverging from the wolf/coyote lineage 1.9million years ago and the African wolf diverging 1.3million years ago. The study found that the golden jackal and the African wolf shared a very similar skull and body morphology and that this had confused taxonomists into regarding these as one species. The study proposes that the very similar skull and body morphology is due to both species having originated from a larger common ancestor.][
]
Evolution
The Arno river dog (''Canis arnensis'') is an extinct species of canine
Canine may refer to:
Zoology and anatomy
* a dog-like Canid animal in the subfamily Caninae
** ''Canis'', a genus including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals
** Dog, the domestic dog
* Canine tooth, in mammalian oral anatomy
People with the surn ...
that was endemic to Mediterranean Europe
Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alba ...
during the Early Pleistocene
The Early Pleistocene is an unofficial sub-epoch in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, being the earliest division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently estimated to span the time ...
around 1.9million years ago. It is described as a small jackal-like dog and probably the ancestor of modern jackals.[ Its anatomy and morphology relate it more to the modern golden jackal than to the two African jackal species,][ the black-backed jackal and the side-striped jackal.][
The oldest golden jackal fossil was found at the ]Ksar Akil
Ksar Akil (also Ksar 'Akil or Ksar Aqil) is an archeological site northeast of Beirut in Lebanon. It is located about west of Antelias spring on the north bank of the northern tributary of the Wadi Antelias. It is a large rock shelter below ...
rock shelter located northeast of Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, Lebanon. The fragment of a single tooth is dated approximately 7,600 years ago.[ The oldest golden jackal fossils found in Europe are from ]Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The orac ...
and Kitsos in Greece and are dated 7,000–6,500 years ago.[ An unusual fossil of a heel bone found in Azykh Cave, in ]Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...
, dates to the Middle Pleistocene
The Chibanian, widely known by its previous designation of Middle Pleistocene, is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. Th ...
and is described as probably belonging to the golden jackal, but its classification is not clear. The fossil is described as being slightly smaller and thinner than the cave lynx
The cave lynx or Mediterranean cave lynx (''Lynx spelaeus'' or ''Lynx pardinus spelaeus'') is an extinct felid species that lived during the Pleistocene. It is controversially discussed to be a subspecies of the modern Iberian lynx (''Lynx pardin ...
, similar to the fox, but too large, and similar to the wolf, but too small. As the golden jackal falls between these two in size, the fossil possibly belongs to a golden jackal.[ The absence of clearly identified golden jackal fossils in the ]Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...
region and Transcaucasia
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
, areas where the species currently resides, indicates that the species is a relatively recent arrival.[
A ]haplotype
A haplotype ( haploid genotype) is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent.
Many organisms contain genetic material ( DNA) which is inherited from two parents. Normally these organisms have their DNA o ...
is a group of genes
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...
found in an organism that is inherited from one of its parents.[ A ]haplogroup
A haplotype is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent, and a haplogroup (haploid from the el, ἁπλοῦς, ''haploûs'', "onefold, simple" and en, group) is a group of similar haplotypes that share ...
is a group of similar haplotypes that share a single mutation
In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, m ...
inherited from their common ancestor.[ The mDNA haplotypes of the golden jackal form two haplogroups: the oldest haplogroup is formed by golden jackals from India, and the other, younger, haplogroup diverging from this includes golden jackals from all of the other regions.][ Indian golden jackals exhibit the highest ]genetic diversity
Genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species, it ranges widely from the number of species to differences within species and can be attributed to the span of survival for a species. It is dis ...
, and those from northern and western India are the most basal, which indicates that India was the center from which golden jackals spread. The extant golden jackal lineage commenced expanding its population in India 37,000 years ago. During the Last Glacial Maximum, 25,000 to 18,000 years ago, the warmer regions of India and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
provided a refuge from colder surrounding areas. At the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the beginning of the warming cycles, the golden jackal lineage expanded out of India and into Eurasia to reach the Middle East and Europe.[
Outside of India, golden jackals in the Caucasus and Turkey demonstrate the next highest genetic diversity,][ while those in Europe indicate low genetic diversity,][ confirming their more recent expansion into Europe.][ Genetic data indicates that the golden jackals of the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece and the ]Dalmatian coast
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
in Croatia may represent two ancient European populations from 6,000 years ago that have survived into modern times.
Jackals were absent from most of Europe until the 19th century, when they started to expand slowly. Jackals were recorded in Hungary with the nearest population known at that time being found in Dalmatia, some 300 kilometers away. This was followed by rapid expansion of jackals towards the end of the 20th century. Golden jackals from both Southeast Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...
and the Caucasus are expanding into the Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
*Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
. In the Middle East, golden jackals from Israel have a higher genetic diversity than European jackals. This is thought to be due to Israeli jackals having hybridized with dogs, gray wolves, and African golden wolves,[ creating a ]hybrid zone
A hybrid zone exists where the ranges of two interbreeding species or diverged intraspecific lineages meet and cross-fertilize. Hybrid zones can form ''in situ'' due to the evolution of a new lineage but generally they result from secondary contact ...
in Israel.[
]
Admixture with other ''Canis'' species
Genetic analysis reveals that mating sometimes occurs between female jackals and gray wolves, producing jackal-wolf hybrids that experts cannot visually distinguish from wolves.[ Hybridization also occurs between female golden jackals and male dogs, which produces fertile offspring,][ a jackal–dog hybrid. There was 11–13% of ancient ]gene flow
In population genetics, gene flow (also known as gene migration or geneflow and allele flow) is the transfer of genetic material from one population to another. If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will have equivalent a ...
into the golden jackal from the population that was ancestral to wolves and dogs, and an additional 3% from extant wolf populations.[ Up to 15% of the Israeli wolf ]genome
In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ...
is derived from admixture with golden jackals in ancient times.[
In 2018, ]whole genome sequencing
Whole genome sequencing (WGS), also known as full genome sequencing, complete genome sequencing, or entire genome sequencing, is the process of determining the entirety, or nearly the entirety, of the DNA sequence of an organism's genome at a ...
was used to compare members of the genus ''Canis''. The study supports the African wolf
The African wolf (''Canis lupaster'') or golden wolf, formerly known as the African golden jackal, is a canine native to North Africa, West Africa, the Sahel, northern East Africa, and the Horn of Africa. It is listed as least concern on the IU ...
being distinct from the golden jackal, and with the Ethiopian wolf
The Ethiopian wolf (''Canis simensis''), also called the Simien jackal and Simien fox, is a canine native to the Ethiopian Highlands. In southeastern Ethiopia it is also known as the horse jackal. It is similar to the coyote in size and build, ...
being genetically basal to both. There is evidence of gene flow between African golden wolves, golden jackals, and gray wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
. One African wolf from the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...
showed high admixture with the Middle Eastern gray wolves and dogs, highlighting the role of the land bridge between the African and Eurasian continents in canid evolution. There was evidence of gene flow between golden jackals and Middle Eastern wolves, less so with European and Asian wolves, and least with North American wolves. The study proposes that the golden jackal ancestry found in North American wolves may have occurred before the divergence of the Eurasian and North American wolves.[
]
Subspecies and populations
The golden jackal was taxonomically subordinated to the genus ''Canis
''Canis'' is a genus of the Caninae which includes multiple extant species, such as wolves, dogs, coyotes, and golden jackals. Species of this genus are distinguished by their moderate to large size, their massive, well-developed skulls and de ...
'' by Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...
in his 1758 publication ''Systema Naturae
' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial ...
''. 13 subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all specie ...
were described since then.[
]
Description
The golden jackal is similar to the gray wolf but is distinguished by its smaller size, lighter weight, more elongated torso, less-prominent forehead, shorter legs and tail, and a muzzle that is narrower and more pointed.[ The legs are long in relation to its body, and the feet are slender with small pads.][ Males measure in body length and females . Males weigh and females weigh . The shoulder height is for both.][ In comparison, the smallest wolf is the ]Arabian wolf
The Arabian wolf (''Canis lupus arabs'') is a subspecies of gray wolf native to the Arabian Peninsula, the Negev Desert, the Sinai Peninsula, and Jordan. It is the smallest wolf subspecies, and a desert-adapted subspecies that normally lives in ...
(''Canis lupus arabs''), which weighs on average .[
The skull is most like that of the ]dingo
The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient ( basal) lineage of dog found in Australia. Its taxonomic classification is debated as indicated by the variety of scienti ...
, and is closer to that of the coyote (''C.latrans'') and the gray wolf (''C.lupus'') than to that of the black-backed jackal (''L.mesomalas''), the side-striped jackal (''L.adustus''), and the Ethiopian wolf (''C.simensis'').[ Compared with the wolf, the skull of the golden jackal is smaller and less massive, with a lower nasal region and shorter facial region; the projections of the skull are prominent but weaker than those of the wolf; the ]canine teeth
In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dog teeth, or (in the context of the upper jaw) fangs, eye teeth, vampire teeth, or vampire fangs, are the relatively long, pointed teeth. They can appear more flattened howeve ...
are large and strong but relatively thinner; and its carnassial
Carnassials are paired upper and lower teeth modified in such a way as to allow enlarged and often self-sharpening edges to pass by each other in a shearing manner. This adaptation is found in carnivorans, where the carnassials are the modified f ...
teeth are weaker.[ The golden jackal is a less specialized species than the gray wolf, and these skull features relate to the jackal's diet of small ]bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
s, rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...
s, small vertebrates, insects, carrion,[ fruit, and some vegetable matter.][ Occasionally, the golden jackal develops a horny growth on the skull referred to as a "]jackal's horn
The Jackal's Horn (گیدڑ سنگھی ) is a boney cone-shaped excrescence which can occasionally grow on the skulls of golden jackals. It is associated with magical powers in South Asia. This horn usually measures half an inch in length, and ...
", which usually measures in length and is concealed by fur. This feature was once associated with magical powers by the people of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
.[
The jackal's fur is coarse and relatively short,][ with the base color golden, varying seasonally from a pale creamy yellow to a dark tawny. The fur on the back is composed of a mixture of black, brown, and white hairs, sometimes giving the appearance of the dark saddle like that seen on the black-backed jackal. The underparts are a light pale ginger to cream color. Individual specimens can be distinguished by their unique light markings on the throat and chest.][ The coats of jackals from high elevations tend to be more buff-colored than those of their lowland counterparts][ while those of jackals in rocky, mountainous areas may exhibit a grayer shade. The bushy tail has a tan to black tip.][ ]Melanism
The term melanism refers to black pigment and is derived from the gr, μελανός. Melanism is the increased development of the dark-colored pigment melanin in the skin or hair.
Pseudomelanism, also called abundism, is another variant of ...
can cause a dark-colored coat in some golden jackals, a coloring once fairly common in Bengal.[ Unlike melanistic wolves and coyotes that received their dark pigmentation from interbreeding with domestic dogs, melanism in golden jackals probably stems from an independent mutation that could be an adaptive trait.][ What is possibly an albino specimen was photographed in southeastern Iran during 2012.][
The jackal moults twice a year, in spring and in autumn. In Transcaucasia and ]Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
, the spring moult begins at the end of winter. If the winter has been warm, the spring moult starts in the middle of February; if the winter has been cold, it begins in the middle of March. The spring moult lasts for 60–65 days; if the animal is sick, it loses only half of its winter fur. The spring moult commences with the head and limbs, extends to the flanks, chest, belly and rump, and ends at the tail. Fur on the underparts is absent. The autumn moult occurs from mid-September with the growth of winter fur; the shedding of the summer fur occurs at the same time. The development of the autumn coat starts with the rump and tail and spreads to the back, flanks, belly, chest, limbs and head, with full winter fur being attained at the end of November.[
]
Adaptation
Distribution and habitat
In South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...
the golden jackal inhabits Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand,[ India, Nepal and Bhutan.][ In Central Asia it inhabits Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.][ There have been two reported sightings from Cambodia, three from southern Laos, and two from Vietnameach sighting made only in lowland, open deciduous forest, and no specimens were presented.][ In Southwestern Asia it inhabits Iran,][ Iraq,][ Israel,][ Jordan,][ Kuwait,][ Lebanon,][ Oman,][ Saudi Arabia,][ Qatar,][ Syria,][ Turkey,][ United Arab Emirates,][ and Yemen.][ In Europe it inhabits Albania,][ Armenia,][ Austria,][ Azerbaijan,][ Bosnia and Herzegovina,] Bulgaria,[ Croatia,][ Estonia,][ Georgia,][ Greece,][ Hungary,][ Italy,][ Kosovo,][ Latvia,][ Lithuania,][ Macedonia,][ Moldova,][ Montenegro,][ Poland,][ Romania,][ the Russian Federation,][ Serbia,][ Slovakia,][ Slovenia,][ Switzerland,][ Turkey,][ and Ukraine.][ It has been sighted in Belarus,][ the Czech Republic,][ and Germany.][ It was first recorded in Denmark in 2015, likely a natural migrant from further south, and the species has since been confirmed from several locations in ]Jutland
Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...
.[ It has been reported in the media in the Netherlands but it is unclear if this jackal was an escapee from a private zoo.][ In July 2019, golden jackal was sighted in Eastern Finland, about 100 kilometers from the Russian border, and subsequently evidence was discovered of an earlier 2018 sighting near ]Kajaani
Kajaani (; sv, Kajana) is the most populous town and the capital of the Kainuu Region of Finland. It is located southeast of Lake Oulu (Oulujärvi), which drains into the Gulf of Bothnia through the Oulu River (Oulujoki). As of , it had a pop ...
in Central Finland. In 2020, one individual was recorded by a camera trap in northern Norway, making it the northernmost sighting of the species so far. In 2022, the northernmost established population of golden jackals was identified in Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...
; this population is largely isolated from the more southern populations.
The golden jackal's omnivorous diet allows it to eat a large range of foods; this diet, together with its tolerance of dry conditions, enables it to live in different habitats. The jackal's long legs and lithe body allow it to trot over great distances in search of food. It is able to go without water for extended periods and has been observed on islands that have no fresh water.[ Jackals are abundant in valleys and along rivers and their tributaries, canals, lakes, and seashores, but are rare in foothills and low mountains. In Central Asia they avoid waterless deserts and cannot be found in the ]Karakum Desert
The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : " ...
nor the Kyzylkum Desert
The Kyzylkum Desert ( uz, Qizilqum, Қизилқум, قىزىلقۇم; kk, Қызылқұм, Qyzylqūm, قىزىلقۇم) is the 15th largest desert in the world. Its name means ''Red Sand'' in Turkic languages. It is located in Central Asia, i ...
, but can be found at their edges or in oases
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical im ...
.[ On the other hand, in India they can be found living in the ]Thar Desert
The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Subcontinent that covers an area of and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's 20th-largest desert, ...
.[ They are found in dense thickets of prickly bushes, reed flood-lands and forests. They have been known to ascend over up the slopes of the ]Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...
; they can withstand temperatures as low as and sometimes . They are not adapted to snow, and in snow country they must travel along paths made by larger animals or humans. In India, they will occupy the surrounding foothills above arable areas,[ entering human settlements at night to feed on garbage, and have established themselves around hill stations at ]height above mean sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''.
The c ...
.[ They generally avoid mountainous forests, but may enter alpine and sub-alpine areas during dispersal. In Turkey, the Caucasus, and Transcaucasia they have been observed up to above mean sea level, particularly in areas where the climate supports shrublands in high elevations.][ The Estonian population, which marks the only population of this species adapted to the ]boreal
Boreal may refer to:
Climatology and geography
*Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of northern Europe, during the Holocene epoch
*Boreal climate, a climate characterized by long winters and short, cool to mild ...
region, largely inhabits coastal grasslands
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur nat ...
, alvars
The Alvars ( ta, ஆழ்வார், Āḻvār, translit-std=ISO, lit=The Immersed) were the Tamil poet-saints of South India who espoused '' bhakti'' (devotion) to the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, in their songs of longing, ecstasy, an ...
, and reed beds, habitats where wolves are seldom present.
Diet
The golden jackal fills much the same ecological niche in Eurasia as the coyote
The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological nich ...
does in North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
; it is both a predator and a scavenger,[ and an omnivorous and opportunistic forager with a diet that varies according to its habitat and the season. In ]Keoladeo National Park
Keoladeo National Park or Keoladeo Ghana National Park (formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary) is a famous avifauna sanctuary in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, that hosts thousands of birds, especially during the winter season. Over 350 ...
, India, over 60% of its diet was measured to consist of rodents, birds, and fruit. In the Kanha Tiger Reserve, 80% of its diet consists of rodents, reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalia ...
s and fruit. Vegetable matter forms part of the jackal diet, and in India they feed intensively on the fruits of buckthorn
''Rhamnus'' is a genus of about 110 accepted species of shrubs or small trees, commonly known as buckthorns, in the family Rhamnaceae. Its species range from tall (rarely to ) and are native mainly in east Asia and North America, but found thr ...
, dogbane
Dogbane, dog-bane, dog's bane, and other variations, some of them regional and some transient, are names for certain plants that are reputed to kill or repel dogs; "bane" originally meant "slayer", and was later applied to plants to indicate tha ...
, Java plum, and the pods of mesquite
Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus '' Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas.
They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under gr ...
and the golden rain tree. The jackal scavenges off the kills made by the lion, tiger, leopard, dhole, and gray wolf. In some regions of Bangladesh and India, golden jackals subsist by scavenging on carrion and garbage, and will cache extra food by burying it.[ The Irish novelist, playwright and poet, ]Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel '' The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem '' The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his ...
, wrote about the golden jackal:
In the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, golden jackals primarily hunt hare
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The g ...
s and mouse
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
-like rodents, and also pheasant
Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia ...
s, francolin
Francolins are birds in the tribe Gallini that traditionally have been placed in the genus ''Francolinus'', but now commonly are divided into multiple genera.
As previously defined, they were paraphyletic as the genus '' Pternistis'', which wa ...
s, duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...
s, coot
Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually ...
s, moorhen
Moorhens—sometimes called marsh hens—are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family (Rallidae). Most species are placed in the genus ''Gallinula'', Latin for "little hen".
They are close relatives of coots. They are of ...
s, and passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...
s. Vegetable matter eaten by Jackals in these areas includes fruits, such as pear
Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the Family (biology), family Rosacea ...
s, hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
, dogwood
''Cornus'' is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous trees or ...
, and the cones of common medlar
''Mespilus germanica'', known as the medlar or common medlar, is a large shrub or small tree in the rose family Rosaceae. The fruit of this tree, also called medlar, has been cultivated since Roman times, is usually available in winter and eate ...
s. The jackal is implicated in the destruction of grape
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...
, watermelon
Watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 varie ...
, muskmelon
''Cucumis melo'', also known as melon, is a species of '' Cucumis'' that has been developed into many cultivated varieties. The fruit is a pepo. The flesh is either sweet or bland, with or without a musky aroma, and the rind can be smooth (such a ...
, and nut crops. Near the Vakhsh River
The Vakhsh ( Russian and Tajik: Вахш - ''Vaxsh'', fa, وخش), also known as the Surkhob (Сурхоб, سرخاب), in north-central Tajikistan, and the Kyzyl-Suu ( ky, Кызыл-Суу), in Kyrgyzstan, is a Central Asian river, and one o ...
, their spring diet consists almost exclusively of plant bulbs and the roots of wild sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...
, while during winter they feed on wild stony olives. Around the edges of the Karakum Desert
The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara-Gum ( tk, Garagum, ; rus, Караку́мы, Karakumy, kərɐˈkumɨ), is a desert in Central Asia. Its name in Turkic languages means "black sand": "" means sand; "" is a contraction of : " ...
, jackals feed on gerbil
The Mongolian gerbil or Mongolian jird (''Meriones unguiculatus'') is a small rodent belonging to the subfamily Gerbillinae. Their body size is typically , with a tail, and body weight , with adult males larger than females. The animal is us ...
s, lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia altho ...
s, snake
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...
s, fish
Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...
, muskrat
The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habita ...
s, the fruits of wild stony olives, mulberry
''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 ident ...
, dried apricot
An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus '' Prunus''.
Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are al ...
s, watermelons, muskmelons, tomato
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...
es, and grapes.[
In ]Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, str ...
, the golden jackal's diet consists of mammals, fruits, vegetables, insects, birds and their eggs, grasses and leaves.[ Golden jackals change their diet to more readily available foods. In Serbia, their diet is primarily livestock carcasses that are increasingly prevalent due to a lack of removal, and this may have led to the expansion of their population.][ In Hungary, 55% of their diet is composed of common voles and ]bank vole
The bank vole (''Myodes glareolus'') is a small vole with red-brown fur and some grey patches, with a tail about half as long as its body. A rodent, it lives in woodland areas and is around in length. The bank vole is found in much of Europe an ...
s, and 41% is composed of wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species i ...
carcasses.[ Information on the diet of the golden jackal in northeastern Italy is scant, but it is known to prey on small ]roe deer
The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...
and hares.[ In Israel, golden jackals are significant predators of snakes; during a poisoning campaign against golden jackals there was an increase in human snakebite reports, but a decrease when the poisoning ceased.][
]
Behavior
Social behavior
Golden jackals exhibit flexible social organization depending on the availability of food. The breeding pair
Breeding pair is a pair of animals which cooperate over time to produce offspring with some form of a bond between the individuals.Gaston, A. J.The evolution of group territorial behavior and cooperative breeding" The American Naturalist 112.988 ...
is the basic social unit, and they are sometimes accompanied by their current litter of pups. In India, their distributions are a single jackal, 31%, two jackals, 35%, three jackals, 14%, and more than three jackals, 20%.[ Family groups of up to 4–5 individuals have been recorded.][ ]Scent marking
In ethology, territory is the sociographical area that an animal consistently defends against conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against animals of other species) using agonistic behaviors or (less commonly) real physical aggression. A ...
through urination and defecation is common around golden jackal den areas and on the trails they most often use. Scent marking is thought to assist in territorial defense. The hunting ranges of several jackals can overlap. Jackals can travel up to during a single night in search of either food or more suitable habitat. Non-breeding members of a pack may stay near a distant food source, such as a carcass, for up to several days before returning to their home range. Home range sizes can vary between , depending on the available food.[
Social interactions such as greetings, grooming, and group ]howling
Howling is a vocal form of animal communication seen in most canines, particularly wolves, coyotes, foxes, and dogs, as well as cats and some species of monkeys. Howls are generally lengthy sustained sounds, loud and audible over long distances, ...
are common in jackals. Howling is more frequent between December and April when pair bonds are being formed and breeding occurs, which suggests howling has a role in the delineation of territory and for defense.[ Adult jackals howl standing and the young or subordinate jackals howl sitting.][ Jackals are easily induced to howl and a single howl may solicit replies from several jackals in the vicinity. Howling begins with 2–3 low-pitched calls that rise to high-pitched calls.][ The howl consists of a wail repeated 3–4 times on an ascending scale, followed by three short yelps.][ Jackals typically howl at dawn and in the evening, and sometimes at midday. Adults may howl to accompany the ringing of church bells, with their young responding to sirens or the whistles of steam engines and boats.][ Social canids such as golden jackals, wolves, and coyotes respond to human imitations of their howls.][ When there is a change in the weather, jackals will produce a long and continuous chorus.][ Dominant canids defend their territories against intruders with either a howl to warn them off, approach and confront them, or howl followed by an approach. Jackals, wolves and coyotes will always approach a source of howling.][ Golden jackals give a warning call that is very different from their normal howling when they detect the presence of large carnivores such as wolves and tigers.][
]
Reproduction
Golden jackals are monogamous and will remain with the one partner until death.[ Female jackals have only one breeding cycle each year. Breeding occurs from October to March in Israel and from February to March in India, Turkmenistan,][ Bulgaria, and Transcaucasia, with the mating period lasting up to 26–28 days. Females undergoing their first estrus are often pursued by several males that may quarrel among themselves.][ Mating results in a copulatory tie that lasts for several minutes, as it does with all other canids. Gestation lasts 63 days, and the timing of the births coincides with the annual abundance of food.][
In India, the golden jackal will take over the dens of the ]Bengal fox
The Bengal fox (''Vulpes bengalensis''), also known as the Indian fox, is a fox endemic to the Indian subcontinent from the Himalayan foothills and Terai of Nepal through southern India, and from southern and eastern Pakistan to eastern India an ...
and the Indian crested porcupine
The Indian crested porcupine (''Hystrix indica'') is a hystricomorph rodent species native to southern Asia and the Middle East. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It belongs to the Old World porcupine family, Hystricidae.
De ...
, and will use abandoned gray wolf dens.[ Most breeding pairs are spaced well apart and maintain a core territory around their dens. Den excavations commence from late April to May in India, with dens located in scrub areas. Rivulets, gullies, and road and check-dam embankments are prime denning habitats. Drainage pipes and culverts have been used as dens. Dens are long and deep, with between 1–3 openings. Young pups can be moved between 2–4 dens.][ The male helps with digging the den and raising the pups.][ In the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the burrow is located either in thick shrub, on the slopes of gullies, or on flat surfaces. In ]Dagestan
Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...
and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
, litters are sometimes located within the hollows of fallen trees, among tree roots, and under stones on river banks. In Central Asia, the golden jackal does not dig burrows but constructs lairs in dense tugai
Tugay is a form of riparian forest or woodland associated with fluvial and floodplain areas in arid climates. These wetlands are subject to periodic inundation, and largely dependent on floods and groundwater rather than directly from rainfall ...
thickets. Jackals in the tugais and cultivated lands of Tajikistan construct lairs in long grass, shrubs, and reed openings.[
In Transcaucasia, golden jackal pups are born from late March to late April,][ and in northeastern Italy during late April;][ they can be born at any time of year in Nepal.][ The number of pups born in a single litter varies geographically. Jackals in Transcaucasia give birth to 3–8 pups, Tajikistan 3–7 pups, ]Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
2–8 pups, and Bulgaria 4–7 pups; in India the average is four pups.[ The pups are born with closed eyes that open after 8–11 days, with the ears erecting after 10–13 days.][ Their teeth erupt at 11 days after birth,][ and the eruption of ]adult dentition
Permanent teeth or adult teeth are the second set of teeth formed in diphyodont mammals. In humans and old world simians, there are thirty-two permanent teeth, consisting of six maxillary and six mandibular molars, four maxillary and four mandibu ...
is completed after five months. Pups are born with soft fur that ranges in color from light gray to dark brown. At the age of one month, their fur is shed and replaced with a new reddish-colored pelt with black speckles. The pups have a fast growth rate and weigh at two days of age, at one month, and at four months.[ Females possess four pairs of teats, and ]lactation
Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all sexually mature female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The proces ...
lasts for up to 8–10 weeks.[ The pups begin to eat meat at the age of 15–20 days.][
Dog pups show unrestrained fighting with their siblings from 2 weeks of age, with injury avoided only due to their undeveloped jaw muscles. This fighting gives way to play-chasing with the development of running skills at 4–5 weeks. Wolf pups possess more-developed jaw muscles from 2 weeks of age, when they first show signs of play-fighting with their siblings; serious fighting occurs during 4–6 weeks of age.][ Compared to wolf and dog pups, golden jackal pups develop aggression at the age of 4–6 weeks, when play-fighting frequently escalates into uninhibited biting intended to harm. This aggression ceases by 10–12 weeks when a hierarchy has formed.][ Once the lactation period concludes, the female drives off the pups. Pups born late remain with their mother until early autumn, at which time they leave either singly or in groups of two to four individuals. Females reach sexual maturity after 10–11 months and males at 21–22 months.][
]
Foraging
The golden jackal often hunts alone, and sometimes in pairs, but rarely hunts in a pack. When hunting alone, it trots around an area and occasionally stops to sniff and listen. Once prey is located, the jackal conceals itself, quickly approaches its prey and then pounces on it.[ Single jackals hunt rodents, hares, and birds. They hunt rodents in grass by locating them with their hearing before leaping into the air and pouncing on them. In India, they can dig ]Indian gerbil
The Indian gerbil (''Tatera indica'') also known as antelope rat, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.
It is found in southern Asia from Syria to Bangladesh.
It is the only species in the genus ''Tatera''. Members of the genus ''Gerb ...
s out from their burrows, and they can hunt young, old, and infirm ungulates up to 4–5 times their body weight. Jackals search for hiding blackbuck
The blackbuck (''Antilope cervicapra''), also known as the Indian antelope, is an antelope native to India and Nepal. It inhabits grassy plains and lightly forested areas with perennial water sources.
It stands up to high at the shoulder. Ma ...
calves throughout the day during the calving period. The peak times for their searches are the early morning and the late evening. When hunting in pairs or packs, jackals run parallel to their prey and overtake it in unison. When hunting aquatic rodents or birds, they will run along both sides of narrow rivers or streams and drive their prey from one jackal to another.[
Pack-hunting of ]langurs
The Colobinae or leaf-eating monkeys are a subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 61 species in 11 genera, including the black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. Some classifications split ...
is recorded in India. Packs of between 5 and 18 jackals scavenging on the carcasses of large ungulates is recorded in India and Israel.[ Packs of 8–12 jackals consisting of more than one family have been observed in the summer periods in Transcaucasia.][ In India, the Montagu's harrier and the Pallid harrier roost in their hundreds in grasslands during their winter migration. Jackals stalk close to these roosting harriers and then rush at them, attempting to catch one before the harriers can take off or gain sufficient height to escape.][
]
Cooperation
In Southeastern Asia, golden jackals have been known to hunt alongside dhole
The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It ...
packs.[ They have been observed in the ]Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar
Blackbuck National Park is a national park in India located at Velavadar in the Bhavnagar District of Gujarat state, India.
Established in 1976 in the Bhal region of Saurashtra, the park is located around 42 km from the district headquar ...
, India, following Indian wolves (''Canis lupus pallipes'') when these are on a hunt, and they will scavenge off wolf kills without any hostility shown from the wolves.[ In India, lone jackals expelled from their pack have been known to form commensal relationships with ]tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living Felidae, cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily pr ...
s. These solitary jackals, known as ''kol-bahl'', will associate themselves with a particular tiger, trailing it at a safe distance to feed on the big cat's kills. A ''kol-bahl'' will even alert a tiger to prey with a loud "pheal". Tigers have been known to tolerate these jackals, with one report describing how a jackal confidently walked in and out between three tigers walking together.[ Golden jackals and ]wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species i ...
can occupy the same territory.[
]
Competition
The jackal's competitors are the red fox, wolf, jungle cat, wildcat, and raccoon in the Caucasus, and the steppe wildcat in Central Asia.[ Wolves dominate jackals, and jackals dominate foxes.][ In 2017 in Iran, an ]Indian wolf
The Indian wolf (''Canis lupus pallipes'') is a subspecies of gray wolf that ranges from Southwest Asia to the Indian Subcontinent. It is intermediate in size between the Himalayan wolf and the Arabian wolf, and lacks the former's luxuriant wi ...
under study killed a golden jackal.[ In Europe, the range of wolves and jackals is mutually exclusive, with jackals abandoning their territory with the arrival of a wolf pack. One experiment used loudspeakers to broadcast the calls of jackals, and this attracted wolves at a trotting pace to chase away the perceived competitors. Dogs responded to these calls in the same way while barking aggressively. Unleashed dogs have been observed to immediately chase away jackals when the jackals were detected.][ In Europe, there are an estimated 12,000 wolves. The jackal's recent expansion throughout eastern and western Europe has been attributed to the extermination of the local wolf populations. The present diffusion of the jackal into the northern Adriatic hinterland is in areas where the wolf is absent or very rare.][ In the past, jackals competed with tigers and ]leopard
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...
s, feeding on the remains of their kills and, in one case, on a dead tiger. Leopards and tigers once hunted jackals, but today, the leopard is rare, and the tiger is extinct in the jackal's range.[ ]Eurasian lynx
The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is a medium-sized wild cat widely distributed from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It inhabits temperate and boreal forests up to an eleva ...
es have also been known to hunt jackals. [Mengüllüoğlu, D.; Ambarlı, H.; Berger, A. & Hofer, H. (2018). "Foraging ecology of Eurasian lynx populations in southwest Asia: Conservation implications for a diet specialist". Ecology and Evolution. 8 (18): 9451–9463. doi:10.1002/ece3.4439. PMC 6194280. .]
Red foxes and golden jackals share similar diets. Red foxes fear jackals, which are three times bigger than them. Red foxes will avoid close proximity to jackals and fox populations decrease where jackals are abundant.[ Foxes can be found only at the fringes of jackal territory.][ Striped hyenas prey on golden jackals, and three jackal carcasses were found in one hyena den.][
A 2022 study indicated that the presence of golden jackals in portions of Eastern Europe leads to a decrease in the population of invasive ]raccoon dogs
The common raccoon dog (''Nyctereutes procyonoides''), also called the Chinese or Asian raccoon dog, is a small, heavy-set, fox-like canid native to East Asia. Named for its raccoon-like face markings, it is most closely related to foxes. Commo ...
(''Nyctereutes procyonoides''), indicating a potentially positive consequence of the jackal colonization of Europe.
Diseases and parasites
Some golden jackals carry diseases and parasites harmful to human health. These include rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. Early symptoms can include fever and tingling at the site of exposure. These symptoms are followed by one or more of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, ...
, and Donovan's ''Leishmania'' that is harmless to jackals but may cause leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis is a wide array of clinical manifestations caused by parasites of the trypanosome genus '' Leishmania''. It is generally spread through the bite of phlebotomine sandflies, ''Phlebotomus'' and ''Lutzomyia'', and occurs most freq ...
in people. Jackals in southwestern Tajikistan can carry up to 16 species of parasitic cestode
Cestoda is a class of parasitic worms in the flatworm phylum (Platyhelminthes). Most of the species—and the best-known—are those in the subclass Eucestoda; they are ribbon-like worms as adults, known as tapeworms. Their bodies consist of ...
s (flatworm), roundworms, and acanthocephala
Acanthocephala (Greek , ', thorn + , ', head) is a phylum of parasitic worms known as acanthocephalans, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterized by the presence of an eversible proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses to p ...
ns (thorny-headed worms), these are: '' Sparganum mansoni'', ''Diphyllobothrium mansonoides
''Diphyllobothrium mansonoides'' (also known as ''Spirometra mansonoides'') is a species of tapeworm (cestodes) that is endemic to North America. Infection with ''D. mansonoides'' in humans can result in sparganosis. Justus F. Mueller first repo ...
'', ''Taenia hydatigena
''Taenia hydatigena'' (thin-necked bladderworm, causative agent of cysticercosis) is one of the adult forms of the canine and feline tapeworm. This infection has a worldwide geographic distribution. Humans with taeniasis can infect other humans ...
'', '' T.pisiformis'', ''T.ovis'', '' Hydatigera taeniaeformis'', ''Dipylidium caninum
''Dipylidium caninum,'' also called the flea tapeworm, double-pored tapeworm, or cucumber tapeworm (in reference to the shape of its cucumber-seed-like proglottids, though these also resemble grains of rice or sesame seeds), is a cyclophyllid c ...
'', ''Mesocestoides lineatus'', ''Ancylostoma caninum
''Ancylostoma caninum'' is a species of nematode known as a hookworm, which principally infects the small intestine of dogs. The result of ''A. caninum'' infection ranges from asymptomatic cases to death of the dog; better nourishment, increasi ...
'', ''Uncinaria stenocephala
''Uncinaria stenocephala'' is a nematode that parasitizes dogs, cats, and foxes as well as humans. It is rare to find in cats in the United States. ''Uncinaria stenocephala'' is the most common canine hookworm in cooler regions, such as Canada ...
'', ''Dioctophyma renale
''Dioctophyme renale'', commonly referred to as the giant kidney worm, is a parasitic nematode (roundworm) whose mature form is found in the kidneys of mammals. ''D. renale'' is distributed worldwide, but is less common in Africa and Oceania. ...
'', ''Toxocara canis
''Toxocara canis'' (also known as dog roundworm) is a worldwide-distributed helminth parasite of dogs and other canids. The name is derived from the Greek word "," meaning bow or quiver, and the Latin word "caro," meaning flesh.Bassert , J., & T ...
'', ''Toxascaris leonina
''Toxascaris leonina'' is a common parasitic roundworm found in dogs, cats, foxes, and related host species. ''T. leonina'' is an ascarid nematode, a worldwide distributed helminth parasite which is in a division of eukaryotic parasites that, ...
'', ''Dracunculus medinensis
''Dracunculus medinensis'', or Guinea worm, is a nematode that causes dracunculiasis, also known as guinea worm disease. The disease is caused by the female which, at up to in length, is among the longest nematodes infecting humans. In contr ...
'', ''Filariata'' and ''Macracanthorhynchus catulinum''. Jackals infected with ''Dracunculus medinensis
''Dracunculus medinensis'', or Guinea worm, is a nematode that causes dracunculiasis, also known as guinea worm disease. The disease is caused by the female which, at up to in length, is among the longest nematodes infecting humans. In contr ...
'' can infect bodies of water with their eggs, which cause dracunculiasis
Dracunculiasis, also called Guinea-worm disease, is a parasitic infection by the Guinea worm, ''Dracunculus medinensis''. A person becomes infected by drinking water containing water fleas infected with guinea worm larvae. The worms penetrate t ...
in people who drink from them. Jackals may also play a large part in spreading coenurosis
Coenurosis, also known as caenurosis, coenuriasis, gid or sturdy, is a parasitic infection that develops in the intermediate hosts of some tapeworm species (''Taenia multiceps'', '' T. serialis, T. brauni,'' or ''T. glomerata''). It is caused by t ...
in sheep and cattle, and canine distemper
Canine distemper virus (CDV) (sometimes termed footpad disease) is a viral disease that affects a wide variety of mammal families, including domestic and wild species of dogs, coyotes, foxes, pandas, wolves, ferrets, skunks, raccoons, and felin ...
in dogs. In Tajikistan, jackals may carry up to 12 tick
Ticks (order Ixodida) are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living by ...
species (which include ''Ixodes
''Ixodes'' is a genus of hard-bodied ticks (family Ixodidae). It includes important disease vectors of animals and humans ( tick-borne disease), and some species (notably '' Ixodes holocyclus'') inject toxins that can cause paralysis. Som ...
'', ''Rhipicephalus
''Rhipicephalus'' is a genus of ticks in the family Ixodidae, the hard ticks, consisting of about 74 or 75 species. Most are native to tropical Africa.Olwoch, J. M., et al. (2007)Climate change and the genus ''Rhipicephalus'' (Acari: Ixodidae) in ...
turanicus'', ''R.leporis'', ''R.rossicus'', '' R. sanguineus'', ''R.pumilio'', ''R.schulzei'', ''Hyalomma
''Hyalomma'' is a genus of hard-bodied ticks common in Asia, Europe, and North Africa. They are also found in Southern Africa. The name is derived from Greek: hyalos (ὕαλος) crystal, glass; and omma (oμμα) eye.
The genus is believed to ...
anatolicum'', ''H.scupense'' and ''H.asiaticum''), four flea
Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...
species (''Pulex irritans
The human flea (''Pulex irritans'') – once also called the house flea – is a cosmopolitan flea species that has, in spite of the common name, a wide host spectrum. It is one of six species in the genus '' Pulex''; the other five are all confi ...
'', ''Xenopsylla nesokiae'', '' Ctenocephanlides canis'' and '' C.felis''), and one species of louse (''Trichodectes canis'').[
In Iran, some golden jackals carry intestinal worms (]helminths
Parasitic worms, also known as helminths, are large macroparasites; adults can generally be seen with the naked eye. Many are intestinal worms that are soil-transmitted and infect the gastrointestinal tract. Other parasitic worms such as ...
)[ and '']Echinococcus granulosus
''Echinococcus granulosus,'' also called the hydatid worm, hyper tape-worm or dog tapeworm, is a cyclophyllid cestode that dwells in the small intestine of canids as an adult, but which has important intermediate hosts such as livestock and hu ...
''.[ In Israel, some jackals are infected with intestinal helminths][ and '']Leishmania tropica
''Leishmania tropica'' is a flagellate parasite and the cause of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in humans. This parasite is restricted to Afro-Eurasia and is a common cause of infection in Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Algeria, M ...
''.[ In Romania, a jackal was found to be carrying '']Trichinella britovi
''Trichinella britovi'' is a nematode parasite responsible for a zoonotic disease called trichinellosis. Currently, eight species of ''Trichinella'' are known, only three of which cause trichinellosis, and ''Trichinella britovi'' is one of the ...
''.[ In northeastern Italy, the jackal is a carrier of the tick species '']Ixodes ricinus
''Ixodes ricinus'', the castor bean tick, is a chiefly European species of hard-bodied tick. It may reach a length of when engorged with a blood meal, and can transmit both bacterial and viral pathogens such as the causative agents of Lyme disea ...
'' and ''Dermacentor reticulatus
''Dermacentor reticulatus'', also known as the ornate cow tick, ornate dog tick, meadow tick, and marsh tick, is a species of tick from the family Ixodidae. It is the type species for the genus ''Dermacentor''.
''D. reticulatus'' is an ornate ti ...
'', and the smallest human fluke ''Metagonimus yokogawai
''Metagonimus yokogawai'' is a species of a trematode, or fluke worm, in the family Heterophyidae.
It is a human parasite causing metagonimiasis. It is among a few species of '' Metagonimus'' that cause metagonimiasis diseases (others being '' ...
'' that can be caught from ingesting infected raw fish.[ In Hungary, some jackals carry dog heartworm '']Dirofilaria immitis
''Dirofilaria immitis'', also known as heartworm or dog heartworm, is a parasitic roundworm that is a type of filarial worm, a small thread-like worm, that causes dirofilariasis. It is spread from host to host through the bites of mosquitoe ...
'',[ and some have provided the first record in Hungary of '']Trichinella spiralis
''Trichinella spiralis'' is a viviparous nematode parasite, occurring in rodents, pigs, bears, hyenas and humans, and is responsible for the disease trichinosis. It is sometimes referred to as the "pork worm" due to it being typically encount ...
'' and the first record in Europe of ''Echinococcus multilocularis
''Echinococcus multilocularis'' is a small cyclophyllid tapeworm found extensively in the northern hemisphere. ''E. multilocularis,'' along with other members of the ''Echinococcus'' genus (especially '' E. granulosus''), produce diseases known ...
''. The jackal is dispersing across Europe through rivers and valleys, bringing parasites into regions where these did not previously exist.[
]
Conservation
The golden jackal is listed as Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. ...
on the IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolo ...
due to its widespread distribution, with it being common throughout its range and with high densities in those areas where food and shelter are abundant.[ In Europe, golden jackals are not listed under the 1973 '''' nor the 1979 . Golden jackals in Europe fall under various international legal instruments. These include the 1979 '''', the '' 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity'', and the 1992 European Union '' Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. The Council Directive provides both guidance and limits on what participating governments can do when responding to the arrival of expanding jackals. These legislative instruments aim to contribute to conserving native wildlife; some governments argue that the golden jackal is not native wildlife but an invading species.][ The Golden Jackal informal study Group in Europe (GOJAGE) is an organization that is formed by researchers from across Europe to collect and share information on the golden jackal in Europe. The group also has an interest in the golden jackal's relationship with its environment across Eurasia. Membership is open to anyone who has an interest in golden jackals.][
In Europe, there are an estimated 70,000 golden jackals.][ They are fully protected in Albania, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, and Switzerland. They are unprotected in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina,] Czech Republic, Estonia, and Greece. They are hunted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. Their protection in Austria and Turkey depends on the part of the country. Their status in Moldova is not known.[
The Syrian jackal was common in Israel and Lebanon in the 1930s–40s, but their populations were reduced during an anti-]rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. Early symptoms can include fever and tingling at the site of exposure. These symptoms are followed by one or more of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, ...
campaign. Its current status is difficult to ascertain, due to possible hybridisation with pariah dogs and African golden wolves.[ The jackal population for the Indian subcontinent is estimated to be over 80,000.][ In India, the golden jackal occurs in all of India's protected areas apart from those in the higher areas of the Himalayas. It is included in ]CITES
CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
AppendixIII, and is listed in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted for protection of plants and animal species. Before 1972, India had only five designated national parks. Among other reforms, the Act established scheduled pr ...
, under ScheduleIII, thus receiving legal protection at the lowest level to help control the trade of pelts and tails in India.[
]
Relationships with humans
In folklore, mythology and literature
Golden jackals appear in Indian folklore
The folklore of India encompasses the folklore of the nation of India and the Indian subcontinent. India is an ethnically and religiously diverse country. Given this diversity, it is difficult to generalize the vast folklore of India as a unit.
...
and in two ancient texts, the ''Jakata
The Jātakas (meaning "Birth Story", "related to a birth") are a voluminous body of literature native to India which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. According to Peter Skilling, this genre is ...
s'' and the '' Panchatantra'', where they are portrayed as intelligent and wily creatures.[ The ancient Hindu text, the '']Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'', tells the story of a learned jackal who sets his friends the tiger, wolf, mongoose
A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to so ...
, and mouse against each other so he can eat a gazelle without sharing it. The ''Panchatantra'' tells the fable of a jackal who cheats a wolf and a lion out of their shares of a camel.[ In ]Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
tales, the jackal is regarded as being cunning in a way similar to the fox in European tales.[ One popular Indian saying describes the jackal as "the sharpest among beasts, the crow among birds, and the barber among men". For a person embarking on an early morning journey, hearing a jackal howl was considered to be a sign of impending good fortune, as was seeing a jackal crossing a road from the left side.][
In ]Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
, the jackal is portrayed as the familiar of several deities with the most common being Chamunda, the emaciated, devouring goddess of the cremation grounds. Another deity associated with jackals is Kali
Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hinduism, Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In t ...
, who inhabits the cremation ground and is surrounded by millions of jackals. According to the '' Tantrasara'' scripture, when offered animal flesh, Kali appears in the form of a jackal. The goddess Shivaduti is depicted with a jackal's head.[ The goddess ]Durga
Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars.
Durga's legend centres around c ...
was often linked to the jackal. Jackals are considered to be the vahana
''Vahana'' ( sa, वाहन, or animal vehicle, literally "that which carries, that which pulls") denotes the being, typically an animal or mythical, a particular Hindus, Hindu God is said to use as a vehicle. In this capacity, the vahana ...
s (vehicles) of various protective Hindu and Buddhist deities, particularly in Tibet.[ According to the flood myth of the Kamar people in ]Raipur district
Raipur district is a district in the Chhattisgarh state of India. Its administrative headquarters is the city of Raipur. The district is rich in mineral resources and there are many wildlife sanctuaries. With a population of 2 million, it is the m ...
, India, the god Mahadeo (Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
) caused a deluge to dispose of a jackal who had offended him.[ In ]Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
's Mowgli stories collected in ''The Jungle Book
''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...
'', the character Tabaqui
This is a list of characters that appear in Rudyard Kipling's 1894 '' The Jungle Book'' story collection, its 1895 sequel '' The Second Jungle Book'', and the various film adaptations based on those books. Characters include both human and talki ...
is a jackal despised by the Seeonee wolf pack due to his mock cordiality, his scavenging habits, and his subservience to Shere Khan the tiger.[
]
Attacks on humans
In the Marwahi forest division of the Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...
state in eastern India, the jackal is of conservation value and there were no jackal attacks reported before 1997. During 1998–2005 there were 220 reported cases of jackal attacks on humans, although none were fatal. The majority of these attacks occurred in villages, followed by forests and crop fields. Jackals build their dens in the bouldery hillocks that surround flat areas, and these areas have been encroached by human agriculture and settlements. This encroachment has led to habitat fragmentation and the need for jackals to enter agricultural areas and villages in search for food, resulting in conflict with humans. People in this region habitually chase jackals from their villages, which leads to the jackals becoming aggressive. Female jackals with pups respond with an attack more often than lone males. In comparison, over twice as many attacks were carried out by sloth bears over the same period.[ There are no known attacks on humans in Europe.][
]
Livestock, game, and crop predation
The golden jackal can be a harmful pest that attacks domestic animals such as turkeys
The turkey is a large bird in the genus ''Meleagris'', native to North America. There are two extant turkey species: the wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') of eastern and central North America and the ocellated turkey (''Meleagris ocellat ...
, lambs, sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...
, goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...
s, domestic water buffalo
The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...
calves, and valuable game species like newborn roe deer
The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...
, hare
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The g ...
s, coypu
The nutria (''Myocastor coypus''), also known as the coypu, is a large, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent.
Classified for a long time as the only member of the family Myocastoridae, ''Myocastor'' is now included within Echimyidae, the family of t ...
, pheasant
Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia ...
s, francolin
Francolins are birds in the tribe Gallini that traditionally have been placed in the genus ''Francolinus'', but now commonly are divided into multiple genera.
As previously defined, they were paraphyletic as the genus '' Pternistis'', which wa ...
s, grey partridge
The grey partridge (''Perdix perdix''), also known as the gray-legged partridge, English partridge, Hungarian partridge, or hun, is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. The scientific name ...
s, bustard
Bustards, including floricans and korhaans, are large, terrestrial birds living mainly in dry grassland areas and on the steppes of the Old World. They range in length from . They make up the family Otididae (, formerly known as Otidae). Bustar ...
s and waterfowl
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...
.[ It destroys grape, coffee, maize, sugarcane,][ and eats ]watermelon
Watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 varie ...
s, muskmelon
''Cucumis melo'', also known as melon, is a species of '' Cucumis'' that has been developed into many cultivated varieties. The fruit is a pepo. The flesh is either sweet or bland, with or without a musky aroma, and the rind can be smooth (such a ...
s, and nuts.[ In Greece, golden jackals are not as damaging to livestock as wolves and red foxes but they can become a serious nuisance to small stock when in great numbers. In southern Bulgaria, over 1,000 attacks on sheep and lambs were recorded between 1982 and 1987, along with some damage to newborn deer in game farms. The damage by jackals in Bulgaria was minimal when compared to the livestock losses due to wolves.][ Approximately 1.5–1.9% of calves born in the ]Golan Heights
The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...
die due to predation, mainly by jackals.[ The high predation rate by jackals in both Bulgaria and Israel is attributable to the lack of preventative measures in those countries and the availability of food in illegal garbage dumps, leading to jackal population explosions.][
Golden jackals are extremely harmful to fur-bearing rodents, such as coypu and ]muskrat
The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habita ...
s. Coypu can be completely extirpated in shallow water bodies. During 1948–1949 in the Amu Darya
The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...
, muskrats constituted 12.3% of jackal fecal contents, and 71% of muskrat houses were destroyed by jackals. Jackals also harm the fur industry by eating muskrats caught in traps or taking skins left out to dry.[
]
Hunting
During British rule in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, sportsmen conducted golden jackal hunting on horseback with hounds, with jackal coursing
Jackal coursing involves the pursuit of jackals (usually the golden jackal and black-backed jackal) with dogs.
Jackal coursing was an occasional pastime for sportsmen in British India. English Foxhounds were usually imported to India for the pu ...
a substitute for the fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...
of their native England. They were not considered as beautiful as English red foxes, but were esteemed for their endurance in the chase with one pursuit lasting hours. India's weather and terrain added further challenges to jackal hunters that were not present in England: the hounds of India were rarely in as good condition as English hounds, and although the golden jackal has a strong odor, the terrain of northern India was not good in retaining scent.[ Also, unlike foxes, jackals sometimes feigned death when caught and could be ferociously protective of their captured packmates.][
Jackals were hunted in three ways: with ]greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...
s, with foxhound
A foxhound is a Dog type, type of large hunting hound bred for strong hunting instincts, a keen sense of smell, and their bark, energy, drive, and speed. In fox hunting, the foxhound's namesake, packs of foxhounds track quarry, followed—usuall ...
s, and with mixed packs. Hunting jackals with greyhounds offered poor sport because greyhounds were too fast for jackals, and mixed packs were too difficult to control.[ From 1946 in ]Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, British diplomats and Iraqi riders conducted jackal coursing together. They distinguished three types of jackal: the "city scavenger", which was described as being slow and so smelly that dogs did not like to follow them; the "village jack", which was described as being faster, more alert, and less odorous; and the "open-country jack", which was described as being the fastest, cleanest, and providing the best sport of all three populations.[
Some indigenous people of India, such as the ]Kolis
The Koli is an Indian caste found in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir states in India. Koli is an agriculturist caste of Gujarat but in coastal areas the ...
and Vaghirs of Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
and Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
and the Narikuravas in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
, hunt and eat golden jackals, but the majority of South Asian cultures consider the animal to be unclean. The orthodox ''dharma
Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...
'' texts forbid the eating of jackals because they have five nails.[ In the area of the ]former Soviet Union
The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
, jackals are not actively hunted and are usually captured only incidentally during the hunting of other animals by means of traps or shooting during drives. In Transcaucasia, jackals are captured with large fishing hooks baited with meat and suspended from the ground with wire. The jackals can only reach the meat by jumping, and are then hooked by the lip or jaw.[
]
Fur use
In Russia and the other nations of the former Soviet Union, golden jackals are considered furbearers of low quality because of their sparse, coarse, and monotonously colored fur.[ Jackal hairs have very little fur fiber; therefore, their pelts have a flat appearance. The jackals of Asia and the Middle East produce the coarsest pelts, though this can be remedied during the dressing process. ]Elburz
The Alborz ( fa, البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs nort ...
in northern Iran produces the softest furs.[ Jackal skins are not graded to a fur standard, and are made into collars, women's coats, and fur coats. During the 1880s, 200 jackals were captured annually in Mervsk and in the Zakatal area of the Transcaucasus, with 300 jackals being captured there during 1896. In this same period, a total of 10,000 jackals were taken within Russia and their furs sent exclusively to the Nizhegorod fair. In the early 1930s there were 20,000–25,000 jackal skins tanned annually in the Soviet Union, but these could not be utilized within the country, and so the majority were exported to the United States. Commencing from 1949, they were all used within the Soviet Union.][
]
Sulimov dog
The golden jackal may have once been tamed in Neolithic Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
11,000 years ago, as there is a sculpture of a man cradling a jackal found in Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe (, "Potbelly Hill"; known as ''Girê Mirazan'' or ''Xirabreşkê'' in Kurdish) is a Neolithic archaeological site in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, between 9500 and 8000 BCE, the ...
.[ French explorers during the 19thcentury noted that people in the ]Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
kept golden jackals in their homes.[ The ]Kalmyk people
The Kalmyks ( Kalmyk: Хальмгуд, ''Xaľmgud'', Mongolian: Халимагууд, ''Halimaguud''; russian: Калмыки, translit=Kalmyki, archaically anglicised as ''Calmucks'') are a Mongolic ethnic group living mainly in Russia, w ...
near the Caspian Sea were known to frequently cross their dogs with jackals,[ and Balkan shepherds once crossed their sheepdogs with jackals.][
The Russian military established the Red Star kennels in 1924 to improve the performance of working dogs and to conduct military dog research. The Red Star kennel developed "Laikoid" dogs, which were a cross-breed of ]Spitz
Spitz (derived from the German word ''spitz'' 'pointed') is a type of domestic dog characterized by long, thick, and often white fur, and pointed ears and muzzles. The tail often curls over the dog's back or droops. While all of the breeds rese ...
-type Russian Laikas with German Shepherds
The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899.
It was originally bred as a herding dog, for h ...
. By the 1980s, the ability of Russia's bomb and narcotic detection dogs were assessed as being inadequate. Klim Sulimov, a research scientist with the DS Likhachev Scientific Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Environmental Protection, began cross-breeding dogs with their wild relatives in an attempt to improve their scent-detection abilities. The researchers assumed that during domestication dogs had lost some of their scent-detection ability because they no longer had to detect prey. Sulimov crossed European jackals with Laikas, and also with fox terriers to add trainability and loyalty to the mix. He used the jackal because he believed that it was the wild ancestor of the dog, that it had superior scent-detecting ability, and, because it was smaller with more endurance than the dog, it could be housed outdoors in the Russian climate. Sulimov favored a mix of one quarter jackal and three-quarters dog. Sulimov's program continues today with the use of the hybrid Sulimov dog
Sulimov is a municipality and village in Kroměříž District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered b ...
s at the Sheremetyevo Airport
Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport ( rus, links=no, Международный аэропорт Шереметьево имени А. С. Пушкина, p=ʂɨrʲɪˈmʲetʲjɪvə ''Mezhdunarodny aeroport Sheremetyevo imen ...
near Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
by the Russian airline Aeroflot
PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...
.[
The hybrid program has been criticized, with one of Sulimov's colleagues pointing out that in other tests the Laika performed just as well as the jackal hybrids. The assumption that dogs have lost some of their scent-detection ability may be incorrect, in that dogs need to be able to scent-detect and identify the many humans that they come into contact with in their domesticated environment. Another researcher crossed German Shepherds with wolves and claimed that this hybrid had superior scent-detection abilities. The scientific evidence to support the claims of hybrid researchers is minimal, and more research has been called for.][
]
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
Golden jackal being trained for scent detection
{{Taxonbar, from=Q128098
golden jackal
The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy y ...
Carnivorans of Asia
Carnivorans of Europe
Mammals of Southeast Asia
Mammals of Western Asia
Mammals of South Asia
Mammals of Central Asia
Least concern biota of Asia
Least concern biota of Europe
golden jackal
The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy y ...
golden jackal
The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy y ...
golden jackal
The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy y ...
golden jackal
The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy y ...