Talk:Golden jackal

Geography
According to the current entry, "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."

According to the Royal Society, the Golden Jackal also occurs in Northern and Northeast Africa, "The golden jackal (Canis aureus) is a medium-sized species, currently distributed in northern and northeastern Africa, southeastern Europe and large parts of southern Asia [7]."

First evidence of hybridization between golden jackal (Canis aureus) and domestic dog (Canis familiaris) as revealed by genetic markers 2001:1C00:1E31:5F00:E5A9:7FB8:DCCE:4C73 (talk) 11:48, 2 February 2021 (UTC)


 * And the statement is from 2015. No surprises there. It's out of date. The study the document describes was done before the discovery that the "golden jackals" in Africa are actually Canis lupaster and not Canis aureus. Mariomassone (talk) 12:20, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * A change already well covered in this article (and the C. lupaster article, naturally). Is it too much for commentators to actually read the article before calling for changes? (Or for them to actually put new threads at the bottom of the talk page like they're supposed to?) oknazevad (talk) 14:56, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Or even read just the hatnote at the top of this article: "This article is about the canid native to Eurasia. For the canid native to Africa, see African golden wolf." I am sure the editor thought that they were trying to help. William Harris (talk) 00:06, 5 February 2021 (UTC)

Golden Jackal Distribution
I find the article section "distribution" very difficult to read and overcrowded by countries and references marks. It is presented by geographical sections in the article and i follow this. I just believe a presentation such as below is way clearer and easier for anyone to read and clearly distinguish the geographical entities (South Asia, Central Asia, Southwestern Asia and Europe). The [XX] are the references in-text.

In South Asia, the golden jackal inhabits :

*Afghanistan *Pakistan *Sri Lanka *Bangladesh *Myanmar *Thailand [38] *India *Nepal *Bhutan [4]

In Central Asia, the golden jackal inhabits :

*Tajikistan *Turkmenistan *Uzbekistan [38]

There have been two reported sightings from Cambodia, three from southern Laos, and two from Vietnam – each sighting made only in lowland, open deciduous forest, and no specimens were presented.[74]

In Southwestern Asia, the golden jackal inhabits :

*Iran [38] *Iraq [38] *Israel [38] *Jordan [38] *Kuwait [4] *Lebanon [38] *Oman [38] *Saudi Arabia [38] *Qatar [4] *Syria [38] *Turkey [38] *United Arab Emirates [38] *Yemen [38]

In Europe, the golden jackal inhabits :

*Albania [38] *Armenia [75] *Austria [4] *Azerbaijan [75] *Bosnia and Herzegovina,[76] *Bulgaria [4] *Croatia [38] *Estonia [77] *Georgia [75] *Greece [38] *Hungary [77] *Italy [38] *Kosovo [75] *Latvia [77] *Lithuania [77] *Macedonia [38] *Moldova [75] *Montenegro [75] *Poland [77] *Romania [77] *Russian Federation [75] *Serbia [77] *Slovakia [78] *Slovenia [38] *Switzerland [79][77] *Turkey [38] *Ukraine [77]

It has been sighted in Belarus,[75] the Czech Republic,[80] and Germany.[77] 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.[81][82][83] It has been reported in the media in the  Netherlands but it is unclear if this jackal was an escapee from a private zoo.[84] In July 2019, golden jackal was sighted in Eastern Finland, about  100 kilometers from the Russian border,[85] and subsequently evidence was discovered of an earlier 2018 sighting near Kajaani in Central Finland.[86]  In 2020, one individual was recorded by a camera trap in northern Norway, making it the northernmost sighting of the species so far.[87] In 2022, the  northernmost established population of golden jackals was identified in Estonia; this population is largely isolated from the more southern  populations.[88]

Instead of having the current organization :

In South Asia 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 Vietnam – each 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. 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 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; this population is largely isolated from the more southern populations.

What do you think ? - Gimly24 (talk) 02:12, 29 January 2023 (UTC)

Range
Hello @ I think this was correct. Invasive Spices (talk) 16:48, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

"Jackal's horn" is entirely fictitious
In the description section, last two sentences of the second paragraph, there is a description of so called "jackal's horns" which grow to a very small size and are concealed by fur. These jackal horns are entirely fictitious from what I can tell. The listed source is the only such article I could access claiming its existence, and it was published in 1861. I have found multiple articles and papers asserting its nonexistence, a couple of which I will list below. Writing here to inform everyone that I will be modifying or removing any mentions of this "jackal's horn" due to its factual inaccuracy and I ask everyone else to do so as well if I miss some.

"A tale of non-existent jackal horns and their online sales" "In India, jackals are being poached for their ‘magical’, non-existent horns" "Unraveling the mystery of confiscated "jackal horns" in India using wildlife forensic tools", a study in which zero of the 342 examined samples turned out to be real jackal horns Vreee (talk) 04:15, 24 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Good job. Note that the IJLM article very carefully manages to avoid stating "no such thing exists" - they just say that none of the specimens they analyzed could have been the real thing. So maybe that will have to be rephrased accordingly ("no evidence for its existence has been presented" or similar). -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 06:45, 24 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Or else could just take it out completely, because it is pseudoscientific bunk and we don't need to dignify the fraud with any mention whatsoever. It's so obviously false. No canid has horns. Dogs, wolves, coyotes, none of them. Call a spade a spade and call a myth a myth, don't use weasel words. oknazevad (talk) 15:29, 24 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Sigh... yes, pat on the back, oh mega-debunker... your devotion notwithstanding, bone spurs are a thing, and that's what is implied here. I suggest reading one of the cited articles before rolling out the verbiage. -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 16:40, 24 February 2024 (UTC)
 * This is a good point, and feel free to correct any of my edits if you think the phrasing could be improved. I'll take a quick look right now to see if I can improve it anywhere Vreee (talk) 00:49, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

Range map
Wikimedia Commons has a different range map from the one used in this article. See: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canis_aureus_distribution_map.png

Thought I'd bring this up instead of changing it myself because I don't know which mape is correct. ZoeStorm (talk) 16:04, 21 March 2024 (UTC)