A wildlife camera in the Bavarian Forest took a rare picture at the end of April.
A rare predator roamed the border area with the Czech Republic.
Bayerisch Eisenstein - It triggered at March 22nd on April 26th.
The wildlife camera was set up on a hiking trail near the Czech border in the Freyung-Grafenau * district.
She caught a rare guest who is actually not at home in the Bavarian Forest National Park.
That is why the rangers were amazed when they discovered a member of the Canis aureus species - a golden jackal - on the footage.
The rare golden jackal has only been sighted four times in Bavaria
"This is a little sensation for us," explains Dr.
Christian Fiderer, responsible for wildlife monitoring in the national park, in a press release.
So far only four specimens have been spotted in Bavaria.
Last year, a golden jackal in the Chiemgau near Ruhpolding fell into the photo trap of a wildlife camera.
In 2017, an animal was fatally injured in a car accident on the A9 near Freising *.
The first confirmed sighting was also in the Bavarian Forest.
“On April 26, 2012, we were able to detect an animal at the Revenge Service Hut using a game camera.
We also photographed the second golden jackal on April 26th - but only nine years later, ”says Fiderer.
The shy animals are actually not native to Germany.
Besides the wolf, they are the only representative of the Canis genus that lives on the European continent.
Actually, its distribution area is the Balkans.
Because the animals prefer warm regions with open spaces.
"Although the golden jackal is as flexible in its choice of habitat as the red fox and wolf and can adapt well to different conditions, the animals feel rather uncomfortable in snowy and rainy areas, such as the Bavarian Forest," explains Fiderer.
The golden jackal rarely attacks farm animals
The population of the animals is estimated by the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe (LCIE) at around 97,000 to 117,000 animals. The golden jackal's preferred foods are insects, rodents, birds, amphibians and even young gazelles. Carrots, fruits and berries as well as human slaughterhouse waste are also on the menu of the approximately eleven kilogram predator. However, it is rare that it attacks farm animals.
Actually, the camera was set up on the trail to monitor the lynx, but this time a golden jackal went in front of her lens. "Many wild animals prefer to use the trails in the national park at night because getting ahead is simply less strenuous than in the undergrowth," says Fiderer. “For us, the cameras along the paths have the advantage that we take pictures of animals much more frequently and also receive even more precise images, on which the animals can usually be seen in their entirety and from the side.” The golden jackal in the area even longer will linger is unlikely. He must have “been passing through”, suspects Fiderer.
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List of rubric lists: © Bavarian Forest National Park Administration
