Golden Jackal Female (Canis aureus)
The golden jackal (Canis aureus) is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. Compared with the Arabian wolf, which is the smallest of the grey wolves (Canis lupus), the jackal is smaller and possesses shorter legs, a shorter tail, a more elongated torso, a less-prominent forehead, and a narrower and more pointed muzzle. The golden jackal's coat can vary in colour from a pale creamy yellow in summer to a dark tawny beige in winter. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its widespread distribution and high density in areas with plenty of available food and optimum shelter. The ancestor of the golden jackal is believed to be the extinct Arno river dog that lived in Mediterranean Europe million years ago. 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 ice age. The oldest golden jackal fossil, found at the Ksar Akil rock shelter near Beirut, Lebanon, is 20,000 years old. The oldest golden jackal fossils in Europe were found in Greece and are 7,000 years old. There are seven subspecies of the golden jackal. The golden jackal is more closely related to the grey wolf, coyote, African golden wolf, and Ethiopian wolf than it is to the African black-backed or side-striped jackals. It is capable of producing fertile hybrids with both the grey wolf and the African golden wolf. Jackal–dog hybrids called Sulimov dogs are in service at the Sheremetyevo Airport near Moscow where they are deployed by the Russian airline Aeroflot for scent-detection. Golden jackals are abundant in valleys and beside rivers and their tributaries, canals, lakes, and seashores. They are rare in foothills and low mountains. The golden jackal is a social species, the basic social unit of which consists of a breeding pair and any young offspring.
Size: 3722px × 2973px
Location: România
Photo credit: © Intellifix / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: abundant, adaptable, arno, asia, aureus, beige, breeding, canid, canis, carnivore, coat, coyote, diet, dog, europe, forager, gold, golden, gray, greeting, grey, grooming, jackal, omniverous, omnivorous, opportunistic, pair, predator, river, rivers, scavenger, sociable, social, subspecies, tawny, tolerance, tolerant, valleys, widespread, wolf, wolf-, yellow
