The golden jackal or common jackal (Canis aureus) is a species related to the wolf widely distributed from southeastern Europe (mainly in the Balkans) to southern Russia, the Middle East and much of southern Asia. The expansion of this species through various areas of central and southern Europe, reaching Italy and France, has been documented in recent years, but until recently its presence in Spain was not known.
The first documented case of golden jackal in the Iberian Peninsula occurred as a result of the fatal collision of a specimen of this species on January 8, 2023 on the A-1 national highway near Agurain/Salvatierra (Álava).
On May 19, 2023, an automatic camera (phototrapping) installed by Project Lobo technicians in a forested area between the Losa and Angulo valleys, on the borders of Burgos and Álava, captured images of what was initially thought to be being the first golden jackal seen alive in the wild in Spain. However, the review of these images by various experts determined that, most likely, it was not a jackal but a large fox with its tail severed.
The first confirmed observation of a live jackal in Spain could correspond to some images captured on February 24 with a trapping camera by Adrián Royo, a young naturalist and photography enthusiast. Among the surprises of this discovery, it stands out that the filming was made near the city of Zaragoza, in a natural area near the banks of the Ebro. In this case, the identity of the species to which the filmed animal belongs has been confirmed by several specialists. The first details about the meeting will be published in a short scientific article in the magazine Galemys, as confirmed by the Spanish Society for the Conservation and Study of Mammals (Secem), the publishing entity of this specialized publication.
Adrián Royo-Vicente explained in statements to La Vanguardia that the filming of the jackal near Zaragoza has been a complete surprise. “I make videos and photographs with automatic cameras as a hobby and in this case I put the camera on hoping to see the activity of the wild boars, but at first glance it seemed to me that I had filmed a wolf,” recalls Adrián Royo, referring to his initial impression after collecting the installed camera and review the images obtained.
“In more detail, when I saw the videos on the computer I thought it was a strange animal and I sent it to a friend who knows an expert, then they forwarded the images to other scientists until they reached Jennifer Hatlauf, an Austrian researcher who leads the project European Golden jackal, which confirmed that the Zaragoza images undoubtedly corresponded to a jackal,” says this young naturalist and amateur photographer. The scientific article that Galemys will publish is signed by Adrián Royo-Vicente and the biologist Francisco José García,
The authors indicate in their article that “the identification of the species was confirmed by all the specialists consulted, so it would be the second record of the presence of a golden jackal in the Iberian Peninsula, and the first of a living specimen.”
The confirmation and data of the sighting were communicated to the Government of Aragon, with whose technical staff a fluid exchange of information has been maintained throughout the process, the authors indicate in their article. Adrián Royo has detailed that “at the moment [until the date of this publication] no one from the Aragon government has called me and I have only received indirect comments that at the moment no new data has been obtained.” “I think that for the moment, the authorities will not do anything special with this case, hunting is not allowed but neither will they be given special protection, it seems that they will wait to see what happens…”, indicates Adrián Royo.
Citing several recent scientific publications on this species, the article by Adrián Royo and Francisco García recalls that “the golden jackal shows a high capacity to travel long distances during dispersal; this fact, together with its ecological plasticity and the environmental changes generated by the climate change, seems to predict that in the coming years the areas with climatic conditions similar to those of the current core of distribution of the golden jackal in Eastern Europe will expand towards the north, center and south of Europe”
Regarding the current situation and the future of the species, the article in Galemys indicates: “In a climate change scenario, these authors identify areas of high suitability in the northeast and center of the Iberian Peninsula. Currently the golden jackal is included in Annex V of Council Directive 92/43/EEC (Habitats Directive), where animal and plant species of Community interest are found and whose collection in the wild and exploitation may be the subject of management measures. Despite in the aforementioned Annex, most Central European countries have not yet included it in their catalogs or lists of native species present.
“Currently, the golden jackal has a different status in the different legislations of the countries where it is present, from protected as in Germany to susceptible to hunting exploitation as in Croatia. Without a doubt, the golden jackal is a colonizing species that will pose a new challenge for those responsible for biodiversity management in all continental European countries in the not too distant future, and also in Spain,” indicate the authors of the new study.
