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Watch out cats 鈥� there鈥檚 a new dog in town. Golden jackals (Canis aureus) are expanding their range in Europe, and the acquisition of new territory may come at the expense of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx).

According to new research, jackals have been seen scavenging carcasses of deer killed by lynx in southern Slovenia. While the evidence is limited at this point, it shows the first recorded incidents of kleptoparasitism 鈥� the act of stealing food 鈥� against lynx in Europe by jackals.

鈥淭here are a lot of concerns about what impact jackals will have ecologically because they are a new species [in parts of Europe] and they are spreading fast,鈥� says at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.

Historically, golden jackals were found mostly in the Middle East and south Asia. In Europe, they were usually only found in the islands and coastal areas of the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea. In the 20^th century, they began expanding northwards, reaching Slovenia by 1955. Today, they can be found as far north as Norway.

Wildlife researchers have long wondered how this expansion may affect other carnivores, but had scant evidence of direct interactions. Krofel and his colleagues had been conducting a long-term study from 2006 to 2021 on lynx in the Dinaric mountains in Slovenia when they found evidence of jackals stealing prey.

Two different incidents captured on camera showed at least two jackals eating deer killed recently by lynx in the more recent years of this study. In both cases, the research showed that the lynx didn鈥檛 return to the kill site after the jackals arrived. It is unclear whether the lynx were scared away from their meal. Krofel says that a lynx would probably beat a jackal in a one-on-one fight, but jackals are known to travel in packs, which would give them the upper hand.

The impact of jackals on lynx may be limited, since the latter normally occur in the same places as wolves, Krofel says. Wolves tend to control the population numbers of smaller jackals, either by killing them or just pushing them to the edges of their territory.

But in areas with no wolves and where jackals occur in great numbers, the lynx could experience pressure from these meal-stealers. So far, jackals have colonised about 13 per cent of the lynx鈥檚 range in Europe, but this is up from a 2 per cent overlap in the previous decade. The current overlap includes parts of two highly threatened lynx populations in the Balkans and the Dinaric mountains. If jackals were to increase in numbers and steal food often from lynx, it could add another pressure for these populations.

鈥淭his is the first very concrete case of what jackals in the new ecosystem might represent,鈥� Krofel says.

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