Monday, January 23, 2017

Futuristic island mammal fauna Part 3: Shorehounds

                           
         
                       My 3rd quest lands on a lonely placid beach scattered with towering palm trees                                  littered around with decaying logs & fronds of long fallen ones, on another                                            remote tropical island that lies straight across from a not-so distant volcanic island                                shrouded by passing trains of stormy clouds... These isolated land & seascapes                                      made me think of the gathered chunks of volcanic islands that surround the                                            southeastern coastline of Papua New Guinea?? Something along those lines??                                      One late morning when I came out of the weedy fronds facing the beachfront I                                      spotted a small pack of large dingo-like wild dogs... From my last sessions of                                        observations on these indigenous primitive canids, from what Ive watched so far,                                  their lifestyle & behaviour are more or less like dingos & wolves.. One thing for                                  certain was that they tend not gather in large packs & tend to inhabit the beaches                                  coastlines circling the islands though I never seen any of them when I was farther                                inland. They also head into the waves but never swim far off in deep water they                                    stay around the shallow tides... That was when I came up with a common name for these                      island shore inhabitants, the shorehounds & its not known of there are more than one                            endemic species of them wandering on the other side of this island let alone other                                neighboring islands. From what I visualized is that these wild dogs resemble more like                        stowaways of Thai ridgeback dogs which are an established modern-day breed in                                  Thailand (possibility that this dog has branched off from this sorta breed??) but the only                      differences are that they have tall ears that are reminiscent of modern-day Pharaoh                                hounds & longer tails are rowed with thick spikey hair perhaps overgrown to provide                            them better balance while swimming & communication.. Another thing I noted is that a                        thick row of spiky hair run down their necks & backs as well... Their overall coloration                        varies in individuals, very much shades of brown although I've claimed to have seen                            light grey, fawn, & reddish individuals wandering around the shorelines... As far as their                      overall diet is concerned from my best observations, their diet might've consisted of                              mostly carrion ranging from fish to beached dolphins, crustaceans, reptiles such as small                      monitor lizards, sea turtle hatchlings & their eggs, sea snakes, rodents, ground-dwelling                      birds & their eggs after my latest observation on the small pack digging deep into the                          sand layer after layer possibly for any buried reptile eggs  However, it's not entirely                              certain that they hunt in well-organized packs although I did witnessed a few dogs                                ganging up together chasing off a deer, monitor lizard, & a seperate small pack joined                          together to harass a juvenile crocodilian on the tideline...
                             
                                                                     pen & ink on paper, 11" x 17"