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Golden jackal
सियार (siyar)
A medium dog-like animal, sandy-grey with a black-tipped tail, living in scrub and along riverbanks on the edge of Indian cities.
👀 How to recognise it
Most often heard: a rising chorus of howls at dusk, taken up by several animals at once. Seen best at first light on open ground.
Protection
Schedule II, Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972
Where to see it
Delhi
Camera traps set across Asola Bhatti in 2021–2022 by the BNHS and the Delhi forest department caught jackals scavenging nilgai carcasses, and never more than two of them in one frame.
Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary (Neeli Jheel) (often) · Aravalli Biodiversity Park (often) · Sanjay Van (in season)
Auroville
The jackal's return is one of the clearest measures of the restoration here: a predator only settles where there is enough prey and enough cover, which on this plateau did not exist before the planting began.
Pitchandikulam Forest