Golden jackal
The golden jackal is similar to the gray wolf but is distinguished by its smaller size, lighter weight, more elongated torso, less-prominent forehead, shorter legs and tail, and a muzzle that is narrower and more pointed. The legs are long in relation to its body, and the feet are slender with small pads. Males measure in body length and females . Males weigh and females weigh . The shoulder height is for both. In comparison, the smallest wolf is the Arabian wolf ("Canis lupus arabs"), which weighs on average .
European jackal
In Greece, rodents, insects, carrion, and fruits comprise the jackal’s diet, though they rarely eat garbage, due to large numbers of stray dogs preventing them access to places with high human density. Jackals in Turkey have been known to eat the eggs of the endangered green sea-turtle. In Hungary, their most frequent prey are common voles and bank voles. In Dalmatia, mammals (the majority being even-toed ungulates and lagomorphs) made up 50.3% of the golden jackal's diet, fruit seeds (14% each being common fig and common grape vine, while 4.6% are "Juniperus oxycedrus") and vegetables 34.1%, insects (16% orthopteras, 12% beetles, and 3% dictyopteras) 29.5%, birds and their eggs 24.8%, artificial food 24%, and branches, leaves, and grass 24%. Information on the diet of jackals in North-Eastern Italy is scant, but it is certain that they prey on small roe deer and hares.