Commentary on the Serengeti jackal (Canis anthus bea or Canis lupaster bea)
@kiterchris @jakob @tonyrebelo @jeremygilmore @aguilita @biohexx1 @hutan123
Today, I added the following comment to https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/123859368.
"The confusion has arisen as follows.
For years, this was known as the golden jackal, part of the same species as in Eurasia, from the Mediterranean to Thailand.
That classification was always wrong. The tail is far shorter, and the ears are far smaller, in the true golden jackal (Canis aureus), a typical location for which is India.
Then taxonomists woke up, and reclassified the African populations as Canis anthus (subspecies bea, in the case of the Serengeti ecosystem). This is the name I prefer.
To this day, nobody in East Africa calls this a 'wolf'. It is obviously a jackal. By the way, it happens to be remarkably similar in appearance to the coyote (Canis latrans) - whether by coincidence or common ancestry.
Then some taxonomists started calling the species Canis lupaster, probably because many of the populations in North Africa have hybridised with the wolf. It is because of this hybridisation that an association with 'wolf' has crept into a species that, in its pure form in East Africa, has nothing to do with wolves, apart from belonging to the same genus.
Whether one calls this Canis anthus bea, or Canis lupaster bea, what we have here is an East African counterpart for that American 'jackal', the coyote.
Please bear in mind that the concept of any pure species in the genus Canis is an ideal, rather than a reality.
The following are all now probably extinct in pure form, owing to hybridisation: the wolf, plus the coyote, plus all the subspecies of Canis anthus other than this one in East Africa.
What is called the wolf, in e.g. Yellowstone, is actually a wolf/dog hybrid.
What is called a coyote, in much of the USA, is actually a three-way hybrid (coyote/wolf/dog).
Canis anthus bea, of East Africa, is actually something special in the genus Canis, a relatively uncompromised, original, 'pure' form of wild canid.
So, I am against calling this a 'wolf', and would even prefer to call it an 'East African coyote' if those were the only choices. But perhaps it is time to introduce a new common name, e.g. 'Serengeti jackal'.
Regardless of taxonomic confusion (which will probably continue to swirl for years), what we have in the Serengeti ecosystem is a fauna of three jackals, all about similar in body size (10 kg) and form, but separated by habitat.
These are
- the side-striped jackal (Lupulella adusta) in woodland,
- the black-backed jackal (Lupulella mesomelas) in open savanna, and
- the present species (Canis anthus) in treeless grassland.
It is this species, Canis anthus, that - far from being some southerly form of 'wolf' - is, in a sense, distinctively African and equatorial." This is because treeless grassland is the central feature of the Serengeti ecosystem and its herbivorous migrations.
The 'Serengeti jackal' is the only form of Canis, worldwide, that has managed to insinuate itself into the most complex remaining guild of large predators, including lion, spotted hyena, cheetah, and African hunting dog.
This stands in contrast to the wolf, the niche of which was as
- a versatile top predator, and
- a replacement for such carnivores, rather than merely one among several coexisting guild-members.
It also stands in contrast to the coyote, which in its original, 'pure' form was restricted to the southwestern parts of North America (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2004.01163.x#:~:text=Results%20Historical%20coyote%20records%20show,Europeans%20in%20the%20sixteenth%20century.), relatively unsuitable for either the wolf or the puma (Puma concolor).
(None of the above should be taken as any denial that,
- if the Serengeti jackal and wolf mated, they would probably produce fertile offspring, and
- there happens to be strong similarity in colouration between the Serengeti jackal and the wolf.)
Comentários
I’ve heard Canis lupastsr and all it’s radiations arise from Canis lupus (probably with affinity to the wolves in the levant and arabian peninsula) hybridizing with Canis simensis (which was once more widespread, presumably). Canis latrans is speculated to be a dwarf version of North American Canis lupus populations. Arising as recently as 20 thousand years ago (apparently, there’s much confusion).
The wolves in North America are certainly large, except for the lycaon, baileyi and nubilus forms. In contrast, occidentalis, and arctos (the purest form) are typically large like eurasian wolves, if not larger.
I don’t know about the most recent studies on the ‘Canis rufus’ and ‘Canis lycaon’, but there is reason to believe them to be recent (late pleistocene-holocene origins) hybridizations, not ancient taxa that speciated a million years ago.
If it’s the case the pure populations have nothing to do with wolves per sensu stricto (Canis lupus), it’s definitely interesting nevertheless that they have substantial Canis simensis (ethiopian “wolf”) admixture.
@jeremygilmore @tonyrebelo @jakob @ttk8642 @michalsloviak @paradoxornithidae
CHOOSING SUITABLE COMMON NAMES (continuing the comment thread from https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/123859368 ):
If Canis lupaster is a valid species, deciding on a preferred common name remains a problem. My best suggestion is North African jackal.
In the case of Canis simensis, we may have to start from scratch, because none of the current common names seems apt.
My best suggestion is kekebero, on the following basis.
Firstly, this is derived from the main language of the area, namely Amharic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amharic).
Secondly, the components are 'kebero' for the noun jackal and 'k'eyi' for the adjective red (https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Translate+red+into+amharic&sxsrf=ALiCzsaRuau7SFhEbu13BUQsi_aigFddQw%3A1662743035123&source=hp&ei=-3EbY_GlBczb4-EP9NqomAs&iflsig=AJiK0e8AAAAAYxuAC1lt0UizQuyKoZM4i4Q68dkxO6KE&ved=0ahUKEwixj9a_mIj6AhXM7TgGHXQtCrMQ4dUDCAo&uact=5&oq=Translate+red+into+amharic&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyCAghEB4QFhAdOgcIIxDqAhAnOgQIIxAnOgoIABCxAxCDARBDOgQIABBDOgUIABCRAjoHCC4Q1AIQQzoLCC4QsQMQgwEQ1AI6BQguEJECOhEILhCABBCxAxCDARDHARDRAzoLCAAQgAQQsQMQgwE6BQgAEIAEOgUIABCGAzoGCAAQHhAWOggIABAeEA8QFjoKCAAQgAQQRhD_AToFCCEQoAE6BwghEKABEApQhwtYlF5g8XZoAXAAeACAAaYCiAHgL5IBBDItMjaYAQCgAQGwAQo&sclient=gws-wiz).
Thirdly, the Amharic name 'ky kebero' is currently given in the Wikipedia site for Canis simensis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_wolf).
Fourthly, the spelling 'kekebero' has the advantage that it is easily pronounced, and seems unlikely to be inconsistently pronounced by the various anglophone accents (mainly British vs American).
Please see https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/54541-advertisement-colouration-in-a-carnivore-the-kekebero-canis-simensis#.
So, the following is the gist of my current suggestion for common names, in order of importance for raising public awareness w.r.t. conservation:
1) Serengeti jackal for Canis anthus bea/Canis lupaster bea
2) kekebero for Canis simensis
3) North African jackal for Canis lupaster (which is largely derived from hybridisation between Canis anthus and Canis lupus, the latter probably having already been hybridised with Canis familiaris).
Illustration of dorsal cross-out in Canis anthus bea:
The following (http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7127/3146/1600/jackal%203.jpg) shows the dorsal cross-out in the Serengeti jackal.
This feature consists of a small-scale dark/pale contrast, running diagonal to and adjacent to the dorsal outline, just posterior to the withers.
The scale of the tonal contrast is too small to confer conspicuousness at the scale of the whole animal. Instead, by virtue of its small size and intersection of the dorsal outline, it ‘crosses out’ the animal relative to its background, i.e. it hides the whole animal in plain sight.
The Serengeti jackal and the coyote (Canis latrans) can be extremely similar, and I have not yet found any difference between them in the occurrence of the dorsal cross-out.
However, this individual can be distinguished from the coyote by its relatively short legs, its dark tail, and the dark marking running diagonally across the haunch.
Photos of Canis anthus in Awash national park, Ethiopia:
Canis anthus, mislabelled as black-backed jackal:
http://www.ljaxphotos.com/storage/BasicImage/2014-12-099544_Canis_mesomelas_Awash_NP_Ethiopia.jpg
http://paradiseethiopia.com/images/k2/20/9/Common%20Jackal.jpg
How many spp. of true Canis are indigenous to North Africa, bearing in mind the presence of feral populations of Canis familiaris?
Canis anthus may possibly be widespread in North Africa. It is the regional counterpart of Canis latrans (North America) and Canis aureus (Eurasia).
The form (subspecies bea) usually photographed in the Serengeti ecosystem seems atypically short-legged, in keeping with its incursion into mesic climates and just south of the equator.
Canis lupus, or a species closely related to it, is to be expected in North Africa, for the simple reason that at least one species of ‘true wolf’ is present in Arabia and the Middle East, and there was formerly a land-bridge to Africa between Sinai and the Nile Delta. Because ‘true wolves’ are exceptionally widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, it would be remarkable if they never reached North Africa.
If no surviving population in North Africa falls into any species of ‘true wolf’ as a purebred entity, then there remain four possibilities, assuming that ‘true wolves’ did once live in North Africa.
Firstly, ‘true wolves’ have simply been exterminated in North Africa, despite surviving in Arabia. All that is now left is C. anthus, and this has, in purebred form, increased in body size in some parts of North Africa, in partial compensation for the absence of ‘true wolves’.
Under this scenario, any animal that is purebred, but looks like a ‘true wolf’, is just an example of the genetic plasticity inherent in C. anthus, i.e. a jackal that phenotypically resembles a wolf somewhat.
Secondly, there exist populations hybridised between ‘true wolves’ and the feral domestic dog. These hybrids may resemble ‘true wolves’, but are genetically contaminated along much the same lines as most populations of so-called Canis lupus in the USA, which have interbred to some degree with C. familiaris. If so, I would predict the occurrence of all-black individuals in North Africa.
Thirdly, the last individuals of ‘true wolves’ in North Africa interbred with Canis anthus, producing hybrid populations which look like rangy, long-legged and large-bodied versions of Canis anthus. On one hand, there seems to be less evidence of ‘true wolves’ interbreeding with jackals than there is of ‘true wolves’ interbreeding with the coyote (Canis latrans). On the other hand, C. lupus has interbreed with C. latrans, indicating that it should be able to interbreed with C. anthus.
Fourthly, there has been hybridisation between C. familiaris and C. anthus, followed by compensation for the absence of ‘true wolves’, producing somewhat wolf-like animals that are actually jackal-dog hybrids, sometimes in large and leggy form.
Are there any other possibilities?
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