How Mumbai’s golden jackals endure

In the metropolis of Mumbai, as urbanisation accelerates and encroaches on the city’s natural habitats, golden jackals – which inhabit the city’s mangrove ecosystem – seem to be battling for space, prey, and survival.

Yet, against all odds, they endure, finds a 2024 study conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society-India, in partnership with the Mangrove and Marine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation. “Though we do not know their [jackals] exact numbers, we observed pups of various ages during our two-month survey, suggesting that breeding occurs year-round,” says Nikit Surve, research manager at Wildlife Conservation Society-India and one of the authors of the study. “Even in smaller packs, we found pups and lactating females, which is a strong indicator of a healthy, active breeding population – not a stagnant one.”

However, new threats loom on the horizon, such as hybridisation with feral dogs and loss of contiguous mangrove habitat.

Hide and seek

In India, the golden jackal inhabits a wide range of environments, including most protected areas, as well as semi-urban and rural landscapes, but is absent from the high-altitude regions of the Himalayas. Though classified as a species of Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a recent amendment to the Wildlife (Protection) Act in 2022 has elevated the golden jackal’s status in India,...

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