A rare sighting of a black-furred canid in southern Israel has drawn the attention of wildlife experts, who say the animal may be a golden jackal-dog hybrid rather than a pure jackal.
Yonatan Sikulor, 17, of the Negev town of Meitar, photographed what appeared to be a black golden jackal earlier this week in the northern Negev woodlands. The animal’s large size led some researchers to suggest it may be a hybrid, though others believe it could be a melanistic jackal — a jackal with a rare genetic mutation that causes black fur.
The sighting is considered highly unusual.
Sikulor later returned to the same site and documented what experts believe are black jackal pups, likely melanistic individuals. He said he found the den while searching for adult animals.
“I came across the pups by accident,” Sikulor told Israeli outlets Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth. “I ducked into a bush and began photographing right away. That same night, I returned with a hideout and camouflage netting and waited for sunrise.”
He said he counted five pups — three black and two golden-colored — that emerged repeatedly to explore their surroundings and play. “I haven’t managed to photograph the adults with the pups up close, but I’ve seen them nearby. They’re much more cautious,” he said.
Dr. Shlomo Preis-Bloom, an ecologist who has studied domestication traits in golden jackals in Israel, said the adult animal's behavior suggested it could be a hybrid. “What we have here is one big genetic salad,” he said. “The Middle East is a fascinating region for canid genetics.”
He added that hybridization between golden jackals and domestic dogs, while rare, does occur. “In Russia, jackals are crossbred with dogs to produce animals that can detect explosives in airports,” he said. “It’s not very common, but it happens.”
Preis-Bloom believes the pups are likely pure jackals, based on their appearance.
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Israel’s location between continents makes it a key area for canid genetic diversity, Preis-Bloom said. “Melanism in jackals is rare, but not unheard of. It’s rare enough to be interesting, but common enough to be studied.”
Similar cases have been documented elsewhere. In Turkey, researchers recorded a black-furred golden jackal in a 2009–2010 study using trail cameras. A 2015 Croatian study reported a black-furred jackal-dog hybrid, and a 2017 observation in India also documented a melanistic golden jackal.