Golden Jackals Were Recorded 84% Less Often at Carrion in Grazed Areas of Northern Israel

January 14, 2026

Female golden jackal in Yarkon Park, Israel

Research · Ecology

A carrion experiment at Carmel, Amud and Meitzar in northern Israel found clear differences between areas with and without livestock grazing. Golden jackals (Canis aureus) were recorded 84% less often at the experimental carrion in grazed areas than in nearby areas without grazing.

The researchers placed paired pieces of cattle and wild-boar carrion in pastoral and nonpastoral areas and monitored them with camera traps. The carrion was held inside reinforced cages, so animals could smell and investigate it but were largely prevented from removing and eating it. The data therefore describe visits and activity around carrion rather than how much each species consumed.

Golden jackals showed the clearest land-use difference

Wild boar (Sus scrofa), golden jackal and red fox (Vulpes vulpes) dominated the camera records. All three were recorded less often in grazed areas, but only golden jackals showed a statistically supported difference: 84% fewer camera events in grazed areas.

Carrion type also mattered differently among species. Red foxes were recorded less often at cattle carrion than at wild-boar carrion, whereas golden jackals and wild boar showed no clear preference between the two bait types.

Scavenger species showed different relationships with and without grazing

The researchers also tested whether camera activity by gray wolves (Canis lupus), wild boar, golden jackals, red foxes and cats was related. In grazed areas, none of the tested relationships between species was clear enough to distinguish from random variation. Outside the grazed areas, several relationships were negative: more camera activity by one species tended to coincide with less activity by another. These were statistical patterns in the camera records, not direct observations of competition. Striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) was also one of the focal scavengers, but it was recorded only eight times at two locations and could not play the same role in this analysis.

The authors interpret the contrast as possible evidence that food resources are more abundant or more widely dispersed in pastoral landscapes because of livestock husbandry. If so, scavengers may compete less strongly around individual carcasses. The study did not directly measure background carrion availability, so this remains the authors’ explanation for the differences among scavengers rather than a demonstrated mechanism.

The experiment therefore found two differences between grazed and ungrazed areas: how often scavengers were recorded at carrion, and how the species’ activity varied in relation to one another. The authors caution that the experiment had few repetitions, some species — especially wolves — were recorded rarely, and the novel caged-carrion method may have influenced the animals’ responses.

Sources and image credit

Shapira, O., Izhaki, I., Zemah-Shamir, S., & Malkinson, D. (2026). How Pastoral Are Pastoral Landscapes? Scavenger Assemblage Structure in Human-Dominated Landscapes: A Case Study From Mediterranean Pastures. Ecology and Evolution, 16(1), e72839. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72839Open-access peer-reviewed primary study published 14 January 2026. Experimental cattle and wild-boar carrion pieces were caged at pastoral and nonpastoral sites in Carmel, Amud and Meitzar. Species-specific models estimated lower camera-event rates in pastoral habitat for foxes (−35%), golden jackals (−84%) and wild boar (−79%), with the jackal effect statistically significant. PSEM models found no significant scavenger interactions in pastoral areas and several mostly negative associations in nonpastoral areas.

Image: Artemy Voikhansky — female golden jackal (Canis aureus) in Yarkon Park, Israel, 21 June 2014. Representative photograph, not from the study. Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 3.0. · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ · Source