It is hard to guess what a Golden jackal weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Golden jackal (Canis aureus) on average weights 9.67 kg (21.32 lbs).
The Golden jackal is from the family Canidae (genus: Canis). It is usually born with about 212 grams (0.47 lbs). They can live for up to 16 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 83 cm (2′ 9″). Usually, Golden jackals have 4 babies per litter.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
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:
- Ethiopian wolf bringing 14.38 kilos (31.7 lbs) to the scale
- Crab-eating fox bringing 5.74 kilos (12.65 lbs) to the scale
- Falkland Islands wolf with a size of 96 cm (3′ 2″)
- Hoary fox bringing 4.23 kilos (9.33 lbs) to the scale
- African wild dog bringing 22 kilos (48.5 lbs) to the scale
- Pale fox bringing 2.8 kilos (6.17 lbs) to the scale
- Bush dog bringing 6.32 kilos (13.93 lbs) to the scale
- Culpeo bringing 8.62 kilos (19 lbs) to the scale
- Swift fox bringing 2.11 kilos (4.65 lbs) to the scale
- Wolf bringing 33.38 kilos (73.59 lbs) to the scale
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:
- François’ langur with a weight of 8.16 kilos (17.99 lbs)
- Western red colobus with a weight of 8.43 kilos (18.58 lbs)
- Tonkean macaque with a weight of 10.07 kilos (22.2 lbs)
- Southern pig-tailed macaque with a weight of 7.85 kilos (17.31 lbs)
- Red-shanked douc with a weight of 9.48 kilos (20.9 lbs)
- Patas monkey with a weight of 7.99 kilos (17.61 lbs)
- East Javan langur with a weight of 9.72 kilos (21.43 lbs)
- Black-footed gray langur with a weight of 10.03 kilos (22.11 lbs)
- Toolache wallaby with a weight of 10 kilos (22.05 lbs)
- Western long-beaked echidna with a weight of 8.95 kilos (19.73 lbs)
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:
- Large Indian civet with a size of 81.9 cm (2′ 9″)
- Bonobo with a size of 75.3 cm (2′ 6″)
- Ethiopian wolf with a size of 94.1 cm (3′ 2″)
- Hog badger with a size of 69.2 cm (2′ 4″)
- Caracal with a size of 74.1 cm (2′ 6″)
- African golden cat with a size of 79.9 cm (2′ 8″)
- Aardwolf with a size of 70.1 cm (2′ 4″)
- Maxwell’s duiker with a size of 84.6 cm (2′ 10″)
- Black-backed jackal with a size of 70.9 cm (2′ 4″)
- Hairy-nosed otter with a size of 76.5 cm (2′ 7″)
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:
- Gerbil mouse
- Bank vole
- Shrew gymnure
- Boehm’s gerbil
- Geata mouse shrew
- Eastern cottontail
- Spinifex hopping mouse
- Typical striped grass mouse
- Short-tailed shrew tenrec
- American mink
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Golden jackal
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Golden jackal:
- Northern flying squirrel with an average maximal age of 13 years
- Nile lechwe with an average maximal age of 18.67 years
- Gray fox with an average maximal age of 15 years
- Leopard cat with an average maximal age of 15 years
- Harnessed bushbuck with an average maximal age of 13 years
- Coquerel’s giant mouse lemur with an average maximal age of 15.25 years
- Dama gazelle with an average maximal age of 17.25 years
- Lowland paca with an average maximal age of 16 years
- Yellow mongoose with an average maximal age of 15.17 years
- Marsh mongoose with an average maximal age of 17.42 years