A live wild jackal has been seen and photographed found in northern Jutland.
Thomas Secher Jensen, a biologist and curator at the Natural History Museum in Aarhus, called the find “a biological sensation” after viewing the photos of a golden jackal spotted in Lille Vildmose in Himmerland.
“This is the first time that a live golden jackal has been photographed in Denmark,” Jensen told Nordjyske Stiftstidende.
The only other jackal ever seen in Denmark was found dead near Karup in Jutland last year.
Lucky shot
Nature photographer Carsten Clausen unexpectedly captured the images of the rare-to-these-parts animal when he was out on the moor photographing birds and animals.
“It was pretty fast,” he said. “At first I thought it was a large fox, but I realised quickly that it wasn’t.”
Clausen has posted his photos in a Facebook group that supports the moor called ‘Vild med Lille Vildmose’.
The golden jackal resembles a small wolf with a bushy tail. They normally weigh about 7-15 kg, a bit more than a fox, but significantly less than a wolf, which usually weighs 25-60 kilos.
