Assessment of Mercury Concentrations in Liver and Hair tissues of Golden Jackal (Canis aureus) in Central Mazandaran Province Coastline

The goal of this study was determination of concentration of mercury in hair and liver tissues of the golden jackal (Canis aureus), and to determine the relation between the mercury concentration in liver and hair and body weight and length, and sex. These data were then used to evaluate the suitability of using hair as a noninvasive technique for determining body burdens of mercury. Liver and hair samples from golden jackal were collected from Noor in the central coastline Mazandaran province. The samples of this study were taken from road-killed. The mercury was measured by the LECO AMA 254 Advanced Mercury Analyzer (USA) according to ASTM, standard No. D-6722. There wasn’t any significant difference neither between sexes nor in tissues. On the contrary, positive and significant differences (p>0.05) were found between mercury level in hair with weight and length of body. Mercury level was generally low; they do not reach levels that are known to cause potential adverse effects in animals. It's probably to be a first study for golden jackal for this purpose, and also this probe suggested easy and non-invasive sampling.