Range expansion of the golden jackal (Canis aureus) into Poland: first records

Abstract

The range of the golden jackal (Canis aureus) in Europe has been expanding in recent decades. We describe the first three records of golden jackal from Poland and attribute them to the natural range expansion of the species. A young male jackal was found dead on a road in western Poland, close to the German border, on 13th April 2015. Morphological examination and genetic analysis confirmed the species identification. This individual had the same mitochondrial DNA haplotype as a comparative individual from the wild population in southern Ukraine. The two other observations of jackals, confirmed from photographs, were reported in May and June 2015 from the Biebrza river valley and the Polesie region, both in eastern Poland. The records suggest a natural expansion of the species into Poland, probably from different source populations, and indicate the urgent need to determine the status of the golden jackal in this part of Europe.