Toxocara canis

Holland, Celia V., 2023, A walk on the wild side: A review of the epidemiology of Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati in wild hosts, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 22, pp. 216-228 : 220-221

2.3. Golden jackal ( Canis aureus)

Of the other canids listed in Table 1, the golden jackal has received some attention including a synoptic overview of its parasites ( Gherman and Mihalca, 2017). This carnivore is a wild canid with one of the widest distributions in the world, inhabiting Europe, the Middle East and Central and Southeast Asia ( Moehlman and Hayssen, 2018). Recently, the species has been experiencing a rapid large-scale expansion almost all over Europe (Spassov and Acosta-Pankov, 2019). Studies from 8 different countries have revealed prevalences of T. canis that can exceed those of wolves but generally do not reach some of the higher values observed in foxes ( Table 4). As hosts of helminth parasites, jackals have been of particular focus in Iran and demonstrate prevalences ranging

220

from as low as 4.5%–27.2%, albeit in a sample size of just 11 animals. Overall, there is a lack of sufficient data on the abundance and intensity of T. canis in jackals.

In a recent review of the golden jackal’ s dietary composition, this canid was found to eat mainly small mammals (54% biomass), followed by domestic animals, ungulates and plants ( Lange et al., 2021). Their diet also includes birds and lagomorphs, but dietary composition varies considerably by season and geographic location. The authors concluded that the golden jackal can be described as a highly adaptive opportunistic omnivore ( Lange et al., 2021). The high consumption of small rodents coupled with birds, and in some instances even invertebrates, is likely to increase their exposure to parasites ( Gherman and Mihalca, 2017) particularly Toxocara and could explain the prevalences observed in some of the studies listed in Table 4. In a recent paper that explored the helminth parasites of golden jackals in Estonia (a new mammal species in that location), Tull et al. (2022) emphasised the potential significance of jackals as vectors of zoonotic helminths. A potential hazard to public health was identified since the habitats of the red fox and golden jackal overlap to some extent with that of free-ranging dogs, and with humans who interact with infected dogs. Furthermore, resettlement of key host species such as wolves and jackals in Europe may create new patterns of zoonotic infection, but the risk to human health is likely to be low due to small population sizes of these carnivores ( Otranto and Deplazes, 2019).