The rise of a carnivore, the evolution of the presence of the golden jackal in Slovakia

Abstract

Abstract. The golden jackal (Canis aureus Linnaeus, 1758) is one of the most widespread canid species. Nowadays, it is a permanent species from the Slovak fauna. In recent years, their number has grown and the dispersion range has increased in our country. The first evidence of this species was recorded in 1947 and after 1989 the records of jackal presence increased steadily, most originating from the South of Slovakia. The presence of the golden jackal was quite evident from 2009 until 2016 as results demonstrate a great significance in terms of numbers during this period. The collected data is very consistent between culling data (strong evidence) and opportunistic observations (presumable evidence). Patterns of first migrating individuals presented in this work, confirmed previsions of the direction of the dispersion of this species to North from the Balkans region. Presumably, much of the migration occurred from Hungary as most of the first official records of the golden jackal in Slovakia are from areas close to the Hungarian border. This work aims to review and evaluate available official data and literature of Canis aureus in Slovakia. It also intends to summarise the status of this species and correlate it with historical data.