The Varied diet of the golden jackal (Canis Aureus): Experiences from stomach analyses

Authors

  • Shreya Bhattacharya Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Wildlife Management and NatureConservation, Gödöllő, Páter Károly u. 1, 2100 Hungary; University of Malaysia Sarawak, Institute of Biodiversity and EnvironmentalConservation, 94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak Corresponding author, e-mail: bshreya93@gmail.com
  • László Szabó Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Wildlife Management and NatureConservation, Gödöllő, Páter Károly u. 1, 2100 Hungary
  • Mihály Márton Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Wildlife Management and NatureConservation, Gödöllő, Páter Károly u. 1, 2100 Hungary
  • Miklós Heltai Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Wildlife Management and NatureConservation, Gödöllő, Páter Károly u. 1, 2100 Hungary

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18380/SZIE.COLUM.2023.10.2.5

Keywords:

Golden Jackals, Feeding Habits, Stomach Analysis

Abstract

The golden jackal population shows a rapid expansion in Europe during the recent decades, raising several management and conservation issues. Among others, the opportunistic feeding strategies might be a reason which is responsible for the invasive spreading and survival success of the species in various parts of Hungary. Our aim was to analyze the diet composition of the jackal through stomach content analysis to provide an insight about the evolution and behavioural adaptations of this mesopredator. The stomach samples were collected between 2003 and 2014 from different parts of Hungary. The percentage frequency of occurrence (%FO) as well as the biomass (%B) of the stomach content data were analyzed. Statistical analysis tests based on the presence and absence data of the remains of wild ungulates (cervids and wild boar) from seasonal data (winter-spring and summer-autumn) and between gender groups were conducted. Also, comparisons of the presence and absence data for the three main food categories (rodents, big game and vegetative/plant parts) were statistically tested.The results of the comparisons did not show any significant differences between the classes. This can be explained due to the high spatio-temporal variation of the data. The findings of our study shows the presence of a varied composition of food items such as rodents, insects, fruits, plant parts, ungulates (wild boar, cervids), reptiles (such as lizards and pond turtles), bird species (such as pheasants) as well as jaw remains of the red fox. It is noteworthy to mention in this context that majority of the ungulate remains from the stomach contents were associated with maggots, which indicated the presence of carrion consumption. Our study, based on varied diet composition, supports and confirms the opportunistic, scavenging and highly adaptive foraging of the golden jackal.

References

Aiyadurai, A., & Jhala, Y. V. (2006). Foraging and habitat use by golden jackals (Canis aureus) in the Bhal Region, Gujarat, India. Journal-Bombay Natural History Society 103(1), 5-12.

Brown, L., & Macdonald, D. (1995). Predation on green turtle Chelonia mydas nests by wild canids at Akyatan beach, Turkey. Biological Conservation 71(1), 55-60. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/0006- 3207(94)00020-Q

Ćirović, D., Penezić, A., Milenković, M., & Paunović, M. (2014). Winter diet composition of the golden jackal (Canis aureus L., 1758) in Serbia. Mammalian Biology 79(2), 132-137. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2013.11.003

Giannatos, G., Karypidou, A., Legakis, A., & Polymeni, R. (2010). Golden jackal (Canis aureus L.) diet in Southern Greece. Mammalian Biology 75(3), 227-232. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2009.03.003

Heltai, M., Szemethy, L., Lanszki, J., & Csányi, S. (2000). Returning and new mammal predators in Hungary: the status and distribution of the golden jackal (Canis aureus), raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) and raccoon (Procyon lotor) in 1997-2000. Beiträge zur Jagd- und Wildforschung 26(1), 95-102.

Heltai, M., Szucs, E., Lanszki, J., & Szabó, L. (2004). Latest data on the distribution of jackal in Hungary. Allattani Közlemények — Zoological Records 89(1), 43–52.

Jaeger, M. M., Haque, E., Sultana, P., & Bruggers, R. L. (2007). Daytime cover, diet and space-use of golden jackals (Canis aureus) in agro-ecosystems of Bangladesh. Mammalia 71(1/2), 1–10. doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/mamm.2007.016

Kuijper, D. P. J., Sahlén, E., Elmhagen, B., Chamaillé-Jammes, S., Sand, H., Lone, K., & Cromsigt, J. P. G. M. (2016). Paws without claws? Ecological effects of large carnivores in anthropogenic landscapes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 283(1841), 20161625. doi: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.1625

Lanszki, J., & Heltai, M. (2002). Feeding habits of golden jackal and red fox in south-western Hungary during winter and spring. Mammalian Biology 67(3), 129-136. doi: https://doi.org/10.1078/1616-5047- 00020

Lanszki, J., Körmendi, S., Hancz, C., & Zalewski, A. (1999). Feeding habits and trophic niche overlap in a Carnivora community of Hungary. Acta Theriologica 44(1), 429-442. doi: https://doi.org/10.4098/at.arch.99-41

Lanszki, J., Kurys, A., Heltai, M., Csányi, S., & Ács, K. (2015). Diet Composition of the Golden Jackal in an Area of Intensive Big Game Management. Annales Zoologici Fennici 52(4), 243–255. doi: https://doi.org/10.5735/086.052.0403

Lanszki, J., Molnár, M., & Molnár, T. (2006). Factors affecting the predation of otter (Lu- tra lutra) on European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis). Journal of Zoology 270(2), 219-226. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00132.x

Lanszki, J., Schally, G., Heltai, M., & Ranc, N. (2018). Golden jackal expansion in Europe: First telemetry evidence of a natal dispersal. Mammalian Biology 88(1), 81-84. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2017.11.011

Majumder, A., Sankar, K., Qureshi, Q., & Basu, S. (2011). Food habits and temporal activity patterns of the Golden Jackal Canis aureus and the Jungle Cat Felis chaos in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh. Journal of Threatened Taxa 3(11), 2221-2225. doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2713.2221-5

Matloff, N. (2011). The art of R programming: A tour of statistical software design. No Starch Press.

Mehta, C. R., & Patel, N. R. (1983). A Network Algorithm for Performing Fisher’s Exact Test in r ⇥ c Contingency Tables. Journal of the American Statistical Association 78(382), 427-434. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/2288652

Mondal, P. C. K., Sankar, K., & Qureshi, Q. (2012). Food habits of golden jackal (Canis aureus) and striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Western India. World Journal of Zoology 7(2), 106-112. doi: https://doi.org/10.5829/idosi.wjz.2012.7.2.63139

Mukherjee, S., Goyal, S. P., Johnsingh, A. J. T., & Pitman, M. R. P. L. (2004). The impor- tance of rodents in the diet of jungle cat (Felis chaus), caracal (Caracal caracal) and golden jackal (Canis aureus) in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, India. Journal of Zoology 262(4), 405-411. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952836903004783

Penezic,A.,& Ćirović, D. (2015). Diet of adult and juvenile golden jackals (Canis aureus) during cubs‘ dependency stage. Balkan Journal of Wildlife Research 2(1), 27-32. doi: https://doi.org/10.15679/b- jwr.v2i1.27

Szabó, L., Heltai, M., Lanszki, J., & Szűcs, E. (2007). An indigenous predator, the golden jackal (Canis aureus L., 1758) spreading like an invasive species in Hungary. Bull USAMV-CN 63(1), 1-6.

Szabó, L., Heltai, M., Szűcs, E., Lanszki, J., & Lehoczki, R. (2009). Expansion range of the golden jackal in Hungary between 1997 and 2006. Mammalia 73(4), 307-311. doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/mamm.2009.048

Teerink, B. (1991). Atlas and identification key hair of West-European mammals (Tech. Rep.). Research Institute for Nature Management.

Tóth, T., Krecsák, L., Szűcs, E., Heltai, M., & Huszár, G. (2009). Records of the golden jackal (Canis aureus Linnaeus, 1758) in Hungary from 1800th until 2007, based on a literature survey. North-Western Journal of Zoology 5(2), 386-405.

Trouwborst, A., Krofel, M., & Linnell, J. D. C. (2015). Legal implications of range expansions in a terrestrial carnivore: the case of the golden jackal (Canis aureus) in Europe. Biodiversity and Conservation 24(10), 2593-2610. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0948-y

Ujhelyi, P. (1989). A magyarországi vadonélo ̋ emlo ̋sállatok határozója (Küllemi és csonttani bélyegek alapján). Budapest: A Magyar Madártani Egyesület kiadványa.

Yumnam, B., Negi, T., Maldonado, J. E., Fleischer, R. C., & Jhala, Y. V. (2015). Phylogeog- raphy of the Golden Jackal (Canis aureus) in India. PLOS ONE 10(9), e0138497. doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/jour- nal.pone.0138497

Downloads

Published

2023-12-29

Issue

Section

Article

How to Cite

The Varied diet of the golden jackal (Canis Aureus): Experiences from stomach analyses. (2023). COLUMELLA – Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, 10(2), 5-12. https://doi.org/10.18380/SZIE.COLUM.2023.10.2.5

Similar Articles

1-10 of 27

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.