title: Golden jackal (Canis aureus) in the Czech Republic: the first record of a live animal and its long-term persistence in the colonized habitat.
abstract: A golden jackal (Canis aureus) individual was recorded ~40 km east of Prague in the Czech Republic. It is the first record of a living golden jackal in the country; up to now several individuals have been recorded but all of them were either shot dead or killed by a vehicle. The observed animal was documented by camera traps set up for research of carnivore diversity in different habitats in the study area. It was first photographed on 19 June 2015, and in total there were 57 records made by 12 traps until 24 March 2016 when the animal was still present in the area. Forty-nine of the 57 records were made in a shrubby grassland over an area of ~100 ha, 39% of sightings were during the day and 61% in the night. There were two distinct peaks in the circadian activity of the animal, from 4 to 10 a.m., and from 6 p.m. to midnight. We also review the verified records of the golden jackal in the Czech Republic, some of which were only published in local hunting magazines. However, the observation reported in this paper represents the first evidence of a long-term occurrence in Europe of the same golden jackal individual, that persisted for at least nine months and over winter, northwest of Hungarian-Austrian border where the population has been known to reproduce.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-12844 Prague 2, Czech Republic; Institute of Botany, Department of Invasion Ecology, The Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ-25243 Průhonice, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Klára
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pyšková
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-12844 Prague 2, Czech Republic; Center for Theoretical Study, Charles University and The Czech Academy of Sciences, Jilská 1, CZ-11000, Prague 1, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Storch
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-12844 Prague 2, Czech Republic; Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-12844 Prague 2, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Horáček
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-12844 Prague 2, Czech Republic; Institute of Botany, Department of Invasion Ecology, The Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ-25243 Průhonice, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ondřej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kauzál
authors.affiliation: Institute of Botany, Department of Invasion Ecology, The Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ-25243 Průhonice, Czech Republic; Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-12844 Prague 2, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pyšek
keywords: Golden jackal; Habitat; Persistence; Range expansion