Status of Golden Jackal Canis aureus and ungulates in a small enclosed area- Van Vihar National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India

<p>We estimated densities of Golden Jackals and five ungulate species in Van Vihar National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is an enclosed area of about 4.45km², out of which 3.5km² is available for free ranging animals. Twenty-six transects with a combined length of 22.6km and an effort of 50.2km were walked. A total of 1079 animal detections belonging to six different species were made. The density of jackals was (17±3.8SE)/km². Among the ungulates, chital had the highest density (118±18.8SE)/km²followed by Sambar (34.1±6.9 SE)/km², Nilgai (13.1±2.8SE)/km², Blackbuck (6.6±1.5 SE)/km² and Wild Pig (3.7±0.8 SE)/km². The ungulate biomass was found to be (12979.2±2463.26 SE)kg/km². Chital biomass was the highest at (5574.2±886.58 SE)kg/km², followed by Sambar biomass of (4569.4±913.75 SE)kg/km², Nilgai (2358±523.24 SE)kg/km², Blackbuck (211.2±66.18 SE)kg/km² and Wild Pig (118.4±28.37 SE)kg/km². The sex ratio was calculated and most ungulates had female-biased adult sex ratio.</p><div>