Natural History Sciences. Atti Soc. it. Sci. nat. Museo civ. Stor. nat. Milano, 9 (2): 59-62, 2022 DOI: 10.4081/nhs.2022.614 Short Communication The golden jackal Canis aureus L. 1758 (Carnivora: Canidae) on the Tuscan Apennines Francesco Bacci1,2, Enrico Lunghi1,3* 1 Natural Oasis, Via di Galceti 141, 59100 Prato, Italia. 2 Fondazione Parsec - Centro di Scienze Naturali, Via di Galceti 74, 59100 Prato, Italia. E.mail: bacci@fondazioneparsec.it 3 Dipartimento di Medicina clinica, sanità pubblica, scienze della vita e dell'ambiente (MESVA), Piazzale Salvatore Tommasi, 1, 67100 Coppito (L'Aquila), Italia. * Corresponding author: enrico.arti@gmail.com © 2022 Francesco Bacci, Enrico Lunghi Received for publication: 5 February 2022 Accepted for publication: 4 April 2022 Online publication: 20 October 2022 Abstract - We report the first observations of the golden jackal on the Tuscan Apennines (Italy). We observed two individuals 15 times in the district of Prato, between 21 November 2021 and 5 Janu- ary 2022. Their presence has been assessed through camera traps at the edge of an urbanized area. The southernmost presence data for Italy reported in the literature is documented for Emilia-Romagna, about 200 km north from Prato, while a recent unpublished report records its presence in northern Lazio, about 300 km south. These observations highlight the need to increase the research effort to monitor the expansion of the golden jackal along the Italian penin- sula more efficiently. Key words: carnivore, climate change, distribution, range expan- sion. Riassunto - Lo sciacallo dorato Canis aureus L. 1758 (Carnivora: Canidae) sull’Appennino Toscano. Qui riportiamo la prima osservazione di sciacallo dorato sull’Ap- pennino toscano (Italia). Tra il 21 novembre 2021 e il 5 gennaio 2022 abbiamo osservato 15 volte due individui nell’area di Prato. La loro presenza è stata valutata attraverso fototrappole ai margini di un’area urbanizzata. Il dato di presenza più meridionale per l’Italia riportato in letteratura è documentato per l’Emilia-Romagna, circa 200 km a nord di Prato, mentre una recente segnalazione inedita ne registra la presenza nel Lazio settentrionale, circa 300 km a sud. Queste osservazioni evi- denziano la necessità di aumentare lo sforzo di ricerca per monitorare con maggiore efficienza l’espansione dello sciacallo dorato lungo la penisola italiana. Parole chiave: cambiamenti climatici, carnivoro, distribuzione, espansione di areale. The golden jackal Canis aureus L. 1758 (Carnivora: Canidae) is a medium-sized mammalian carnivore who- se European distribution has been mostly confined to the southeastern part of the continent (Trouwborst et al., 2015). This species underwent to a remarkable expan- sion in Europe during the last century, which brought it from the most southeastern Balkan areas to the northern countries (Tóth et al., 2009; Trouwborst et al., 2015; Spassov & Acosta-Pankov, 2019; Torretta et al., 2020). Besides the potential good protection policy offered by the European countries (Trouwborst et al., 2015), the strong expansion of the golden jackal may have been promoted by multiple factors, such as the transforma- tion of land use (Šálek et al., 2014), climate change (Fabbri et al., 2014) and reduction of natural competi- tors (Liberg et al., 2012; Lapini et al. 2021). Reproductive populations of the golden jackal in Italy are mainly known from Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Fabbri et al., 2014; Torretta et al., 2020) with sporadic observations also from other areas of its Italian distribu- tion (Lapini et al. 2021). Until recently, the presence of the golden jackal south of the Po Valley was not docu- mented in the scientific literature (Lapini et al., 2018). We observed for the first time two individuals of gol- den jackal on Tuscan Apennines, in the district of Prato (Fig. 1). The area is located on Monteferrato (Fig.1), an ophiolitic hill formation with elevations ranging from 100 m to 400 m a.s.l., and characterized by sub-Medi- terranean climatic conditions (Chiarucci et al., 1998). This hill is located about 200 km south from the sou- thernmost observation for Italy reported by Lapini et al. (2018). Indeed, this area seems to be particularly sui- table for the species, as it offers shelters into the dense vegetation and abundant food thanks to the municipal landfill site (Pecorella, 2021). The presence of the two individuals was assessed using camera traps placed in a forest at the edge of an urbanized area. Individual identification carried out thanks to the pattern of fur on the muzzle, made it possible to establish that they were two individuals recorded 15 times between 21 Novem- ber 2021 and 5 January 2022 (Fig. 2). Considering the limited home range known for the species (≤15 km2: Mihelič & Krofel, 2012) and the relatively low proba- bility of encounters, ours is certainly a noteworthy ob- servation. 60 Currently, our record represents the first record for the golden jackal in Tuscany. As far as Italy is concer- ned, the southernmost record for this canid was obtained with camera traps in Lazio, in the Circeo National Park (about 300 km south of ours) in the period 6-21 May 2020. However, the confirmation of this sighting only came on 2 February 2022 after the re-examination of the images obtained in 2020. For details of the case, see Fer- ri & Lapini (2022). Fig. 1 - Map showing the area where the two golden jackals have been observed in Tuscany. The precise coordinates are omitted for species conservation reasons (Lunghi et al., 2019). / Mappa che mostra l’area in cui sono stati osservati i due sciacalli dorati in Toscana. Le coordinate precise sono omesse per motivi relativi alla conservazione della specie (Lunghi et al., 2019). These observations confirm that the Italian distribu- tion of the species is larger than we previously thought and that the knowledge gap is probably due to an unba- lanced sampling effort, as already highlighted by some authors (Lapini et al., 2018; Torretta et al., 2020). The reason for the range expansion of the golden jackal in Italy is not clear in all its aspects, but Polemio & Ca- sarano (2008) hypothesized that the species is moving towards areas with more suitable climatic conditions. SHORT COMMUNICATION 61 Fig. 2 - The first (A-B) and the second (C-D) of the two golden jackals observed in Tuscany. Individual recognition was carried out by the pattern of the muzzle fur (in the area indicated by the red circle). Photo taken with Victure HC300 trail camera. The full video of the observation can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0wO4i4SNXA. / Il primo (A-B) e il secondo (C-D) dei due sciacalli dorati osservati in Toscana. Il riconoscimento individuale è stato effettuato attraverso il disegno del pelo del muso (nell’area indicata dal cerchio rosso). Foto scattata con la trail camera Victure HC300. Il video completo dell’osservazione può essere visto su https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0wO4i4SNXA. However, we warn that this expansion can potentially bring to a conflict with local farmers and hunters, as they may see this animal as a possible predator of livestock or game animals (Markov & Lanszki, 2012; Ćirović et al., 2014). 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