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Camera Trap Provided Xinjiang’s First Documented Photographic Golden Jackal Record

Golden jackal portrait
Conservation · Population & status

A camera trap in Xiata Kyrgyz Township, Zhaosu County, photographed a golden jackal (Canis aureus) in September 2025. The image came from a survey totalling 372 camera-days. One camera operating for one full day equals one camera-day, so the figure describes the survey’s accumulated camera effort rather than the number of cameras used.

The researchers compared the animal’s visible external features with those of other canids and identified it as a golden jackal. The identification was based on morphology in the photograph rather than genetic material.

The authors describe the detection specifically as the first documented photographic record of golden jackal in Xinjiang, China. They interpret it as filling a distributional gap along China’s northwestern border. That claim is narrower than saying the species had never previously been reported or suspected anywhere in Xinjiang.

The camera-trap detection documents occurrence at this site and date. It does not provide an estimate of population size or broader population status in Xinjiang.

Sources and image credit

  1. Jiang, X., Zhu, L., Zhai, X., Lin, X., Maimaititi, A., Wang, R., Kamalejiang, T., Li, S., & Cai, X. (2026). First camera-trap record of the golden jackal (Canis aureus) in Xinjiang, China. Acta Theriologica Sinica, 46(3), 463–464. https://doi.org/10.16829/j.slxb.151220Primary short report. The journal lists Online: 30 May 2026 and Published: 4 June 2026. A golden jackal photographed in September 2025 during a 372-camera-day survey in Xiata Kyrgyz Township, Zhaosu County, was identified from morphological characteristics. The authors describe it as the first documented photographic record in Xinjiang and as filling a distributional gap along China’s northwestern border region.

Image: Вых Пыхманн / Wikimedia Commons — golden jackal photographed in Yarkon Park, Tel Aviv, Israel, 18 September 2013; representative species image, not the Xinjiang animal · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

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