# What Do Golden Jackals Eat?

> What golden jackals eat: Omnivore — rodents, fruit, insects, carrion, and refuse, foraging style, and seasonal shifts in Savannas, farmland, scrub, and forest edges across Eurasia and Africa.

- **Species:** Golden Jackal (*Canis aureus*)
- **Conservation status:** Least Concern
- **Diet:** Omnivore — rodents, fruit, insects, carrion, and refuse
- **Habitat:** Savannas, farmland, scrub, and forest edges across Eurasia and Africa
- **Lifespan:** 11–13 years in the wild
- **Top speed:** Up to 32 km/h (20 mph) in sustained trot
- **Canonical HTML:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/jackal/what-do-jackal-eat/
- **Parent profile:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/jackal/
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-16

## Quick answer

The golden jackal is a medium-sized canid with a golden coat and pointed ears, found from Africa through the Middle East to southern Asia and expanding into Europe. Omnivorous and adaptable, jackals weigh 7–15 kg (15–33 lb), pair-bond for life, and vocalise with yips and howls at dusk.

## Who should skip this page

Skip this if you need a captive feeding plan from a veterinarian. This page is wild diet, not a pet-care sheet.

## Omnivorous opportunist

Golden jackals thrive on varied diets — hunting rodents and hares, scavenging kills, eating fruit and insects, and raiding crops and rubbish near villages. This flexibility helps explain their expansion into new areas including parts of central and eastern Europe.

## Help protect the Golden Jackal

Even familiar animals lose ground as wild habitat keeps shrinking worldwide.

[Donate to wildlife protection](https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/donate/)

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Source: Global Animal Guide (https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/jackal/what-do-jackal-eat/). Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for non-commercial reuse with attribution.