Among all the various visitors appearing on the stage of the bait-site, a badger certainly stood out. This badger, named Gosho by my father, was the only visitor who would behave at the bait-site as an equal to the members of Boldy’s family. More than that: at times, he would assume the role of a dominant host. And finally, and most surprisingly, the jackals accepted this new order.
For the first time, Gosho appeared in the Spring of 2019. Thereafter, he was a regular bait-site visitor all through the period 2019-21. After mid-summer ’21 he suddenly disappeared. The reason for his vanishing from the scene remains unclear. He may have been a victim of roadkill, or shot dead during a hunt. Our hope was that the whole badger family may have moved to a new location, getting tired of jackals. Badger Gosho would invariably be the only badger recorded at the bait-site. An exception was made by a smaller and darker one, possibly a younger member of a resident badger family. In any case, there never was more than one badger in a visual recording.
In scientific terms, Gosho’s peaceful relationship with the jackal family at Km 727 is called ‘non-antagonistic interactions between the golden jackal (Canis aureus) and the European badger (Meles meles).’ Jackal-badger interactions of this type had not been previously recorded in any part of the global Golden jackal habitat. This stimulated my father and his co-authors to announce the finding: first records of jackal-badger association (see the reference in Footnote 1).
The first appearance of a badger at the bait-site was recorded on the night of 24-25 May (2019), and the first record of a jackal and a badger eating together was on the night of 28-29 May (2019). For the whole period (2019-2021), a total of 181 jackal-badger interactions had been recorded, including many in which a jackal and a badger were eating side by side or nose-to-nose.
When a jackal or jackals shared their dinner with a badger (Gosho, or the younger one), the event would be generally peaceful. Serious fighting was never recorded. As in any relationship, however, tensions rose from time to time.
Truth to be said, the jackals were never at ease in the presence of a badger. As we can see in Fig. 2 above, the Mother was eating together with a younger (and darker) badger, but she looked tense. She was half-crouching and creeping up to the bowl, looking as if she would jump back at the slightest provocation. The badger, by contrast, was eating stolidly, totally unperturbed by the presence of a senior adult jackal. He only blinked from time to time and then went on eating. On the whole, no fear was shown by the badgers. Quite the opposite: they behaved as if they were the bait-site hosts, not the jackals.
Another peculiar pattern of jackal behaviour we called ‘jackal sentry response’. While the badger was steadily eating, a jackal or jackals would be standing on the side in a ‘sentry’ pose and looking around in all directions.
What is surprising here is that, in this particular case, it was the dominant male (‘Big Man’) who provided the sentry service. In this way, he was acknowledging the superior status of Badger Gosho. We can understand him. The bone-crushing badger bite would be well-known in jackal circles.
In other instances, there would be two jackals standing sentry, while Badger Gosho was enjoying his oats:
A similar relationship has been observed between coyotes (Canis latrans) and the American badger (Taxidea taxus). Researchers have called it ‘coyote sentinel’. When hunting ground-squirrels (chipmunks) (Tamias striatus), a coyote would be standing ‘sentinel’, watching out for approaching danger, while the badger dives into chipmunk burrows.
A question to be asked is what each one of the parties ‘gets’ from their peaceful relations - as different from a state of hostility and fighting. The answer to this is that both sides would be aware of possible injuries. For wild-living animals, a wound is a serious thing. There are no vets and caring humans to turn to. Mutual tolerance is the wiser option and this is what is being done.
The ‘standing sentry’ jackal behaviour is suggesting that there could be something more: something like an alliance. It appears to revolve not only around what the two sides avoid (dangerous injuries), but what they can get from each other. On the jackals’ part, this could be getting a birthing-den without any great effort. Touching up a part of a badger-sett, or enlarging a ventilation-vent may easily provide denning space. So the badger's den could be seen by the jackals as a quick Upper-Fixer (to use my partner's David beloved term).
On the badger’s part, someone standing sentry would be useful during the hunting season. In Bulgaria, the wild-pig hunting season is from 1 Oct. to 31 Dec. (but in reality, it goes on until mid-January). The Autumn-Winter months are a time of heavy hunting pressure. The principal game is wild-pigs and they are driven towards shooters with dogs. Ever-warming autumn and even winter months reduce hibernation of badgers and thus they can be surprised by hunting dogs. My father tells a story of seeing how hunters set their dogs on a surprised badger, saying that it was good baiting-practice for the dogs. The hunting season is a time of much increased risk for all animals, not only the principally hunted wild pigs. It is not improbable that the jackal-badger relationship may revolve around this. Badgers could be warned by jackals of approaching danger, while jackals may be saving their lives by diving into badger setts.
Be as it may, it was not peace and love all the time. There were cases when the dominant jackal male would demand submission from a young badger:
When Badger Gosho was around, such shows of dominance were not tolerated. Or rather, there could be some posturing, but with a fizzling out ending:
As we can see in the clip, a junior adult growls in the direction of the river sensing Badger Gosho coming. He then grabs a slice from the ground and beats it into the bush while Badger Gosho majestically assumes his place at the bowl. He has the dignified appearance of someone who finds paying attention to jackal antics undeserving of his attention.
Minor tensions were registered from time to time, but not leading to big quarrels. Badger Gosho certainly wielded authority and the jackals were attentive to his moods. A mere turn of the head could send a jackal flying back:
Even the smaller darker badger commanded respect. Simply looking point-blank at the dominant male, made the latter retreat:
In spite of minor tensions, tolerance certainly prevailed. Over two thirds of all occasions of mutual contact at the bait-site – nearly two hundred for the three registered seasons - registered a badger eating together with one or more members of the jackal family. Badger tolerance was certainly greater in respect of the younger jackals. In particular, that of Badger Gosho. Cases were recorded when a youngster would literally take a morsel from under Badger Gosho’s mouth, if not from the mouth itself:
The peaceful relationship continued for three whole seasons. Or, at least, that was what the cameras registered – it may have continued beyond their reach. As regards the camera-covered stage, Badger Gosho or another badger were no longer seen after July ‘21. My father’s hope is that the badgers may appear yet again. Maybe even in the forthcoming season of ’25.
This story is an adapted version of a previously published article: Konstantinov, Y., N. Spassov, I. Acosta-Pankov (2022). First records of golden jackal and European badger non-antagonistic interaction at the Lower Danube (Bulgaria). North-Western Journal of Zoology 18 (1): 100-103. http://biozoojournals.ro/nwjz/index.html
Gosho is a diminutive of the Bulg. personal name Georgi – like George, Georgie in English.
For those interested in this form of co-operation between two species we advise reading Minta, S.C., Minta, K.A., Lott, D.F. (1992): Hunting associations between badgers (Taxidea taxus) and coyotes (Canis latrans). Journal of Mammalogy 73 (4): 814-820.
