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Nematode Eggs Were Found in Nine of 11 Golden Jackal Samples From Southern Poland

Golden jackal sitting in natural habitat
Research · Disease, parasites & microbiology

Poland’s first parasitological study of recently established golden jackals (Canis aureus) found nematode eggs in nine of 11 examined faecal samples from the country’s south, according to research published on 31 March 2026. The work focused on an area south of the Nysa Reservoir where a breeding group had been confirmed after the species’ recent expansion into Poland.

A transect is a predefined line or route used to survey an area systematically, with observations, signs or sampling points recorded along it.

Researchers used trained detection dogs to search 154 kilometres of transects in 2022. Seventeen scats were collected, of which genetic testing identified nine as golden jackal samples. Two additional samples came from hunted jackals, giving 11 samples for the parasitological analyses.

Several parasite groups were detected

Nine of the 11 samples contained eggs belonging to Toxocara and Trichuris, or to the Capillariidae and Ancylostomatidae families. Molecular testing also detected DNA from the tapeworm Mesocestoides litteratus in three samples and Taenia serialis in one sample from a hunted jackal.

Camera traps showed that places visited by golden jackals were also used by domestic dogs and cats. This overlap was relevant because several of the detected parasites can circulate among wild and domestic carnivores, and some parasite groups include species of zoonotic importance.

The study did not identify a major new health threat

Despite the parasite detections, the authors conclude that their results do not indicate that golden jackals currently represent a significant or emerging threat to the health of wildlife or people in southern Poland. The study was deliberately described as preliminary: the number of samples was small, and individual identification was possible for only three of the nine field-collected jackal scats.

The researchers nevertheless argue that continued disease surveillance is useful as golden jackals establish themselves in new parts of Europe. Monitoring can show whether parasite communities change as the species becomes more common and comes into contact with other wildlife and domestic animals.

Sources and image credit

  1. Bojarska, K., Kondratek, K., Leszczyńska, A., Sionek, K., Hatlauf, J., Karamon, J., Samorek-Pieróg, M., Okarma, H., Śnieżko, S., Didkowska, A., Orłowska, B., & Pyziel, A. M. (2026). Golden jackals as hosts of zoonotic parasites: Preliminary findings from southern Poland. Journal of Veterinary Research, 70(1), 69–74. https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2026-0018Primary open-access article published 31 March 2026 under CC BY 4.0. Nematode eggs were found in nine of 11 golden jackal samples from southern Poland; Mesocestoides litteratus DNA was detected in three samples and Taenia serialis in one.

Image: Didier Delavaud / Wikimedia Commons — golden jackal in natural habitat at the Danube Delta; representative species image, not an animal from the southern Poland study. · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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