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Animal Size

Golden jackal size: How big do they get?

How big does a Golden jackal get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:

A grown Golden jackal (Canis aureus) reaches an average size of 83 cm (2′ 9″).

When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). During their lifetime of about 16 years, they grow from 212 grams (0.47 lbs) to 9.67 kg (21.32 lbs). A Golden jackal has 4 babies at once. The Golden jackal (genus: Canis) is a member of the family Canidae.

As a reference: Humans reach an average body size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) while carrying 62 kg (137 lbs). A human woman is pregnant for 280 days (40 weeks) and on average become 75 years old.

The average adult size of a Golden jackal is  (2' 9

The golden jackal (Canis aureus) is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. Compared with the Arabian wolf, which is the smallest of the gray wolves (Canis lupus), the jackal is smaller and possesses shorter legs, a shorter tail, a more elongated torso, a less-prominent forehead, and a narrower and more pointed muzzle. The golden jackal’s coat can vary in color from a pale creamy yellow in summer to a dark tawny beige in winter. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its widespread distribution and high density in areas with plenty of available food and optimum shelter.The ancestor of the golden jackal is believed to be the extinct Arno river dog that lived in Mediterranean Europe 1.9 million years ago. It is described as having been a small, jackal-like canine. Genetic studies indicate that the golden jackal expanded from India around 20,000 years ago towards the end of the last ice age. The oldest golden jackal fossil, found at the Ksar Akil rock shelter near Beirut, Lebanon, is 7,600 years old. The oldest golden jackal fossils in Europe were found in Greece and are 7,000 years old. There are seven subspecies of the golden jackal. The golden jackal is more closely related to the gray wolf, coyote, African golden wolf, and Ethiopian wolf than it is to the African black-backed jackal or side-striped jackal. It is capable of producing fertile hybrids with both the gray wolf and the African golden wolf. Jackal–dog hybrids called Sulimov dogs are in service at the Sheremetyevo Airport near Moscow where they are deployed by the Russian airline Aeroflot for scent-detection.Golden jackals are abundant in valleys and beside rivers and their tributaries, canals, lakes, and seashores. They are rare in foothills and low mountains. The golden jackal is a social species, the basic social unit of which consists of a breeding pair and any young offspring. It is very adaptable, with the ability to exploit food ranging from fruit and insects to small ungulates. They will attack domestic fowl and domestic mammals up to the size of domestic water buffalo calves. The jackal’s competitors are the red fox, wolf, jungle cat, wildcat, in the Caucasus the raccoon, and in Central Asia the Asiatic wildcat. The jackal is expanding beyond its native grounds in Southeast Europe into Central and Northeast Europe, occupying areas where there are few or no wolves.

Animals of the same family as a Golden jackal

We found other animals of the Canidae family:

  • Coyote with a size of 87.5 cm (2′ 11″)
  • Dhole with a size of 98.8 cm (3′ 3″)
  • Tibetan sand fox with a size of 60.2 cm (2′ 0″)
  • Pampas fox with a size of 62.2 cm (2′ 1″)
  • Bengal fox with a size of 52.3 cm (1′ 9″)
  • Red wolf with a size of 1.08 meter (3′ 7″)
  • Hoary fox with a size of 60 cm (2′ 0″)
  • Gray fox with a size of 60.3 cm (2′ 0″)
  • Culpeo with a size of 72 cm (2′ 5″)
  • Wolf with a size of 1.06 meter (3′ 6″)

Animals with the same size as a Golden jackal

Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Golden jackal:

Animals with the same litter size as a Golden jackal

Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (4) as a Golden jackal:

Animals with the same life expectancy as a Golden jackal

Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Golden jackal:

Animals with the same weight as a Golden jackal

As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Canis aureus: