A golden jackal observed for the first time in Brittany

This is the first time that this species has been identified in the west as well. Originally from Eurasia, the golden jackal had never been observed in Brittany. However, it would seem that an individual of the canidae race has passed through the region in recent years. According to West France, photographs taken in March 2022 in an educational farm in Finistère have been closely studied by specialists. The latter are formal: the animal that we see in the pictures is indeed a golden jackal.

Observed for the first time in France in 2017 in the Alps, the animal has gradually made its way west. In recent years, several observations have been made in Deux-Sèvres using camera traps. According West-France, it is the same system which made it possible to obtain clear images of a golden jackal, in Plonéour Lanvern, in the south of Finistère. It was an ecologist from the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae) who saw the photos and formally identified him. Agents from the French Office for Biodiversity should soon make it official.

Halfway between the fox and the wolf, the golden jackal weighs between 7 and 14 kg. Able to move about for several days without drinking or eating, it feeds on small mammals or the corpses of wild boar or deer.

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