Telemetry reveals dispersal pathways, excursions, and resting site selection of golden jackals across Alpine–Dinaric and Pannonian landscapes

Abstract The golden jackal ( Canis aureus ) has expanded rapidly across Europe, yet quantitative evidence on dispersal routes, exploratory excursions, and resting-site selection across contrasting environments remains limited. We analysed GPS telemetry from twelve jackals tracked in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia from 2018 to 2023. Movement states were segmented using MigrO stay-region clustering and validated with net-squared displacement. We quantified dispersal and excursion duration, distances, trajectories, river and highway crossings, resting-site clusters during non-home-range movements, and pre- and post-dispersal home ranges. Seven jackals exhibited nine dispersal events, including four short-term dispersals lasting ≤ 2 days and five long-term dispersals lasting 17–61 days. Long-term dispersers frequently crossed major rivers of up to 600 m and highways up to 21 times, indicating high permeability of linear infrastructure. Resting sites used during dispersal were occupied for shorter periods but showed higher fidelity than those used during excursions, consistent with risk-sensitive stopovers. Resting site selection was shaped by interactions with anthropogenic features: agricultural areas were avoided near roads but selected farther away, while proximity to roads was selected outside agricultural areas. Effects of distance to water were context-dependent and reversed in urban areas, while selection decreased with elevation. Post-dispersal home ranges increased in the Alpine–Dinaric region but decreased in the Pannonian region. Tracked golden jackals dispersed through both natural and human-modified landscapes, with resting site selection reflecting context-dependent trade-offs between cover and human influence. Incorporating wolf presence may further improve future analyses.