Golden jackal

Appearance

Longer-legged and stockier than a fox. The coat is yellowish grey to golden brown, darker on the back with black-tipped hairs. The tail is shorter than a fox's, with a black tip. It weighs 7–15 kg.

It prefers dense scrub, reed beds, wetlands and agricultural mosaics. It spread north from the Balkans; it disappeared from Hungary in the mid-20th century, returned from the 1990s, and is now found across much of the country, especially in southern Transdanubia and the Great Plain.

It lives in pairs or family groups and announces its territory with loud group howling, often heard at night. An omnivore, it eats rodents, small game, roe deer fawns, carrion, insects, fruit and crops. Pups are born in spring.

Because of its rapid spread, its effect on small game and roe deer populations is an important game management issue.

• Track: somewhat larger and rounder than a fox's; the pads of the two middle toes often appear fused.
• Call: characteristic drawn-out group howling and yapping at dusk and at night.
• Droppings: similar to a fox's, often larger, with lots of fur and bone.

The trophy is the skull, measured by length and width like a fox skull.