Why Lupulella adusta could be called the baffledog

The mainly nocturnal side-striped jackal (Lupulella adusta, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side-striped_jackal and https://www.ewt.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/7.-Side-striped-Jackal-Canis-adustus_LC.pdf) blends into the background, even by day (see https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/photo/side-striped-jackal-has-the-perfect-camouflage-to-royalty-free-image/1169039775?adppopup=true and https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/photo/side-striped-jackal-forages-for-food-in-a-drought-royalty-free-image/1166516845?adppopup=true).

However, the patterns of its colouration suggest an anti-predator strategy based on 'buying time with confusion', once spotted.

The appearance of this species is so individually and ontogenetically variable that - given its secretive ways and sparse populations - the superior predators in its habitat are unlikely to be able to recognise it immediately.

This would tend to stall any attack, giving the side-striped jackal precious seconds to slip away.

First let us look at individual variation in the tail, which includes bushiness (e.g. see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/68194156), darkness, and the presence of a pale tip.

There is a large pale tail-tip in https://www.flickr.com/photos/momathew/7581208970 and https://www.ipmimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1589027 and https://www.flickr.com/photos/mustafakasapoglu/20358557743 and https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Canis_adustus#/media/File:Side-striped_Jackal.jpg and https://www.shutterstock.com/nb/image-photo/sidestriped-jackal-south-africa-166909106 and https://retrieverman.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/side-striped-jackal.jpg.

By contrast, the pale tail-tip is absent in https://www.flickr.com/photos/willievs/9183592078 and https://www.shutterstock.com/nb/image-photo/side-striped-jackal-well-camouflaged-1435456526 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/40303484 and https://www.alamy.com/side-striped-jackal-canis-adustus-malamala-game-reserve-south-africa-image345573267.html and https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/side-striped-jackal-canis-adustus-okavango-botswana-s/FHR-10605-00007-075 and https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/photo/side-striped-jackal-mother-with-pup-canis-adustus-royalty-free-image/128113393?adppopup=true and https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/kaffa-side-striped-jackal-lupulella-adusta-kaffensis.520268/ and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9364508.

Let us turn now to the individual variation in the pattern on the flank and haunch.

In some individuals there is virtually no banding: https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/news-photo/botswana-okavango-delta-moremi-wildlife-reserve-side-news-photo/453332312?adppopup=true and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/7102563. In others there is a definite pale band sandwiched between two dark bands: https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/photo/side-striped-jackals-canis-adustus-standing-jackal-royalty-free-image/128117577?adppopup=true and https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/side-striped-jackal-canis-adustus-chobe-national-park-botswana-africa/MEV-10848950.

Other individuals again show various combinations and intermediate patterns. The pale band varies in shape and orientation.

The following illustrate these bewildering variations, which only partly correlate with subspecies: https://www.naturepl.com/stock-photo-side-striped-jackal-canis-adustus-standing-in-grassland-kopjes-image01312252.html and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/85742147 and https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/photo/side-striped-jackal-showing-characteristic-side-royalty-free-image/128118754?adppopup=true and https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/photo/side-striped-jackal-royalty-free-image/680297560?adppopup=true and https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/photo/side-striped-jackal-hunting-for-food-canis-adustus-royalty-free-image/128113397?adppopup=true and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/53813876.

There is also independent variation in the presence and shape of a subsidiary pattern on the haunch: https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/kaffa-side-striped-jackal-lupulella-adusta-kaffensis.520271/ and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/49457367.

Finally turning to ontogenetic variation, the following show how different juveniles look from the adults above: https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/photo/side-striped-jackal-pup-two-months-old-canis-royalty-free-image/128113395?adppopup=true and https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/photo/side-striped-jackal-royalty-free-image/1185518352?adppopup=true and https://www.alamy.com/side-striped-jackal-canis-adustus-standing-in-a-forest-kenya-image376771778.html and https://www.biolib.cz/en/image/id379867/ and http://resizeme.club/imageresizer-219_01221912.html.

The two species of Lupulella differ in their dependence on cover, their times of activity, and their diets. Both have odd colouration - particularly on the flanks - for canids.

However, the conspicuous colouration of L. mesomelas (http://justfunfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/jackal.jpg and https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/54623-why-is-the-black-backed-jackal-the-only-carnivore-marked-like-a-gazelle#) makes sense for a partly diurnal species of open vegetation, which tends to hunt relatively large prey cooperatively.

In the case of the timid, omnivorous side-striped jackal, the oddness is mainly in the inconsistency - which has the opposite effect from promoting rapid recognition.

This 'baffledog' seems to play on the likelihood that superior predators will not yet have formed an appropriate search-image, while at the same time boosting the number of encounters needed for them to form this search-image.

Posted on 07 August, 2021 09:01 by milewski milewski

Comments

There is surprising variation in the body proportions of Lupulella adusta.
 
I realise that canids have proportionately short legs and large head when juvenile. However, what we see below seems to exceed anything that can be explained ontogenetically.
 
The two photos below were taken not far apart, and probably belong to the same subspecies. The first was take at Bangweulu in Zambia and the second at Moremi, in the Okavango in northern Botswana.
 
The first photo shows an animal so dumpy that, if its tail were docked and its colouration made plain brown, it might pass as that extremely dumpy little canid, Speothos venaticus.
 
The second photo shows an animal to gracile and small-headed that, if were more rufous with bigger ears, it might be reminiscent of Chrysocyon – which is virtually the opposite of Speothos. Please note that, in the second photo, the full length of the feet can be inferred from the position of the hock, despite the fact that most of the feet is hidden in the fallen grass.
 
The tails are correspondingly extremely different in length, e.g. relative to the size of the head.
 
The adult body mass of L. adusta is about 10 kg, but it seems unlikely that animals with such different proportions have similar body masses. The leggier, smaller-headed, second specimen looks far larger than the first specimen, more like 15 kg versus 8 kg, not so?
 
Does L. adusta have something approaching indeterminate growth, from adulthood through middle age, in which the body keeps getting larger, and the legs keep lengthening?? Does this species show polymorphism in body form, in which endomorphic and ectomorphic individuals are borne in a single litter and represent different phenotypes of the same genotype along similar lines to the colour-polymorphism of Vulpes vulpes? If so, I have  not heard of this kind of polymorphism in any other canid.
 
Furthermore, I have examined the photographic material on L. mesomelas, and I have found no such variation in body form in that species.
 
L. adusta at Bangweulu:
http://www.imaginature.nl/pages/Zambia-Malawi%203/805141esg.jpg

L. adusta at Moremi, Okavango (photo by Wolfgang Kaehler):
https://www.alamy.com/botswana-okavango-delta-moremi-wildlife-reserve-side-striped-jackal-image344409360.html

Posted by milewski almost 2 years ago

PHOTOS OF LUPULELLA ADUSTA

https://www.wnf.nl/upload_mm/c/1/7/4462_fullimage_gestreepte_jakhals_canis_adustu s_bianca_mallegrom.jpg 

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/sidestriped-jackal-eating-serengeti-tanzania-picture-id129836251?s=170667a 

http://www.rawnaturephoto.com/ImageLibrary/var/resizes/Mammals/Carnivora/Dogs-and-allies/Jackals/Side-striped-Jackal-1594.jpg?m=1338540386

http://image.iltaw.com/20150712/87/117/CYolOPtJgpG8HUWu.jpg

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/01/27/article-1351029-0CEF8A8D000005DC-167_468x427.jpg

http://raptorsview.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Side-stripe.jpg

http://www.tunturisusi.com/juovasakaali4.jpg

http://www.outdoorphoto.community/forum/photopost/data/517/Side_striped_Jackal.jpg

http://www.zoosite.com.ua/img/poroda/507/507_2.jpg

http://www.zooclub.ru/attach/wild/244.jpg

http://photo.colorsofwildlife.net/201006-0603668001276865168-19210914036.jpg

http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/201410/10/06/e0183106_128292.jpg

http://www.doubutsu-no-kuni.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/%E3%83%A8%E3%82%B3%E3%82%B9%E3%82%B8%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%83%E3%82%AB%E3%83%AB-2.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_LAXSDA6Euhs/SxgFj4DtoeI/AAAAAAAAA3c/jxLK3t5Nozg/s320/chacal.jpg

http://www.zootierliste.de/imagedb/1120128/jwdpnisx/4b238dcfce369.jpg

http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/mammals/carnivora/images/2961228558_327w.jpg

http://matirasafari.com/m/sss.jpg

http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=dyatrima&logNo=70105350229&parentCategoryNo=8&categoryNo=&viewDate=&isShowPopularPosts=true&from=search

http://auto.img.v4.skyrock.net/6883/82666883/pics/3102380533_1_22_viqjXU6E.jpg

Posted by milewski almost 2 years ago

common names are often misnomers,good writing

Posted by paradoxornithidae over 1 year ago

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