The wolf-like golden jackal still thrives in some parts of India’s financial capital, Mumbai, according to a new study, reports contributor Sneha Mahale for Mongabay India. Historically, the golden jackal (Canis aureus) could be spotted in several areas of southern Mumbai, study co-author Nikit Surve, research manager at Wildlife Conservation Society-India told Mongabay India. “Today, their southernmost habitat is limited to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre [in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai], while thriving populations are found in the mangrove belts of Gorai, Manori [in north Mumbai] and Vashi,” he added. Surve and his colleagues set up camera traps across different mangrove areas in the Mumbai metropolitan region and captured nearly 3,000 images over the course of 938 nights. Of these, 790 images featured the golden jackal. These jackal populations seem to be doing well, Surve told Mongabay India. “Though we do not know their exact numbers, we observed pups of various ages during our two-month survey, suggesting that breeding occurs year-round,” Surve said. “Even in smaller packs, we found pups and lactating females, which is a strong indicator of a healthy, active breeding population — not a stagnant one.” Along with jackals, the cameras captured 1,666 images of people, although the jackals appeared to be more active at night, with their activity peaking during dawn and dusk, when human presence was low. Additionally, the researchers obtained 374 pictures of free-ranging dogs, suggesting that jackals and dogs were sharing the same spaces. This poses two challenges, Mahale reports. The overlap…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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