In the previous blog, Rule No 1 was formulated like this: when approaching the pile of food (the ‘bowl’), one’s face must be towards Risk, and the back – to Safety. Continuing from there, we present Rule No 2: trust is for seniors, for juniors – distrust. How is this rule revealed by what happens at the bait-site (‘onstage’)?
There are many ways for the observant eye to get to know about this, but some basics first. They are about three easily seen features of jackal behaviour: gait, posture, and position. Below we describe them in their relation to the bait-site. To see it ‘from the jackals’ point of view’ we will use Fig. 1a from the previous story, with some new features added:
The bait-site opening is the ‘stage’ on which Golden Jackals appear when they leave the bush cover (top and right), heading for the ‘bowl’ in the centre of the ‘stage’. While ‘onstage’ they are under the gaze of the cameras (and they know it). Far more importantly, they may be attacked from above.
The risky features (R) are the tree and the bluff, rising behind the cameras. Risk coming from the ground may be also expected from the path to the camp (‘my father’s path’), but that is to be ignored for practical purposes. Attack has never come from that direction, quite the opposite: from that direction comes food. It is only when visitors come to the camp that the jackals become suspicious in respect of that particular quarter.
Other ground directions – from the camp-square or the river – are also of little concern. Should anyone come from there, one can hear them crashing through the morpha bushes well in advance. So, it is danger from above one must watch out for first and foremost.
Attack from above can be sudden and silent. It could be The Old Wildcat or equally deadly – for the cubs in particular – from an Owl. This is a powerful adversary who can take up a cub in his claws, first breaking his spine right behind the head. His ominous hooting can be often heard in the dead of night.
According to the aforementioned Rule 1, one's back should never be towards possible risks and cover should be in the immediate vicinity. In the following clip, the Uncle is seen by the bowl, together with the two siblings Big Ears. Suddenly, danger is sensed on top of the bluff. The youngsters dive back into cover, while the Uncle sprints up to chase away whoever is there:
Fig. 2. The Uncle in action
Beside safe positioning, ‘onstage’ manners are also revealing. A confident senior person walks up to the ‘bowl’ with straight legs and sure step. A timid junior crouches, dances, advances and retreats many times before actually taking from the bowl. Again, the confident senior eats right by the bowl, standing. A timid junior crouches and creeps, muzzle extended, finally grabs a piece, and then sprints back into the bushes to eat under cover – in the ‘wings’. Finally, a confident jackal may stand by the bowl with their back to the camera while timid juniors would never do that.
Let’s compare White Back’s bait-site manner with that of Round Ears: we’ll see the two extremes. White Back, as we know from before is one of the three senior jackals – he is six or maybe even seven years old. He is known around as the ‘Uncle’. In the clip below, he has gone up to the bowl and is eating there back-to-camera:
Fig. 3. White Back at the bowl
Let’s now compare White Back’s nonchalant stance to the very wary approach of Round Ears:
Fig. 4. Round Ears at the bowl
As we can see, Round Ears is very careful in his approach. To begin with, he fully observes Rule 1. His back is to the escape path, while he faces all risk-related features. But that does not seem to be enough for him. To eliminate all doubts, he does a variant of ‘twigging’ (cross-reference). This is ‘pawing’ with the front feet:
Fig. 5 a – b. Pawing
The meaning of this activity suggests precaution. An indication can be read in the fact that Round Ears paws, then stops and looks along the Safety-Risk line. Perhaps the noise he makes may incite a lurking enemy to make a movement and reveal themselves. It could be also to clean an area of dry leaves and twigs for a subsequent silent approach to the bowl. In all events, this activity is to be set apart from ‘earth-throwing’. That is done with the hind legs, while the front legs are less engaged. It is expressive of anger and wish to intimidate:
Fig. 6. Big Man earth-throwing
Predictably, it is the dominant male who is doing this. In the clip, he first urine-marks a morpha bush then does earth-throwing. An indication of excitement and anger is the horizontal position of the tail, the upturned neck and head pointing skywards. For whom was the ritual intended remains unclear. Perhaps for all concerned.
Teaching the rules.
Both rules (‘always face danger’, and ‘distrust is for juniors’) have critical importance for jackal survival as a family group. They address the junior contingent, while the seniors observe them selectively. The idea is that old-age seniors have enough experience to know when to observe a rule, and when to ignore it. It is the youngsters who make mistakes and that may cost their lives. Each lost life of a youngster is a lost chance for sustaining numbers and the creation of new families.
Zoologists have estimated that the greatest loss is suffered by the junior-adult contingent, i.e. the 1–3-year-olds. This group is the future of the family and special care has to be taken for their preservation.
Rule No. 3 ‘Keep back until safe’ is a group strategy for making the juniors behave properly. In this way, the group strives to sustain numbers and ensure a future.
To understand how the rule is taught we will go back to Fig. 1 (Stage, wings, bowl). ‘Keep back’ here means ‘Stand in the wings, food will be given to you there.’
It is important to note that the dictum consists of two parts: ‘stand back’ and ‘food will be given’.
The ‘stand back’ part derives organically from the right of first pick. During the denning period (mid-May-mid-July), the right of first pick is exercised by the Mother. This is done in the prime food slot (evening to midnight) and moreover, in the daylight portion of the prime slot. During the denning period, this begins at 18:30 – 19:00 when food is served. It ends an hour after sunset, i.e., at around 22:00 (all times DST).
During the daylight segment of the prime slot, there is the greatest abundance of choice morsels and that, as said earlier on, is ‘given’ to the Mother. She has every interest to be by herself at the bowl. Simultaneously, she is exposed to the greatest risk – the daylight segment is the riskiest part of the entire food-taking period. It is riskier even in comparison to the sunrise hours after four in the morning – humans have to be very determined to use the dawn hours. They prefer to be in bed and prowl about in the evening twilight and early darkness. This fact all animals know full well. They are even capable of adjusting from astronomical time to DST – a topic we shall develop in a post later on.
When using the very risky evening daylight slot, The Mother (or sometimes the other seniors) simply push out the youngsters from the stage:
Fig. 7. Pushing back
Our trail camera footage reveals that one of the youngsters (Big Ears), has gone out really early – at 20:42 (DST). For 6 June this is very early indeed – a predating human can easily pick him up from the tent with a simple shotgun. Behind him, in the cover of the wings there is another youngster, possibly his sister.
Then comes the Mother and pushes Big Ears back into the bush. Her tail is medium-raised – a sign of anger. She proceeds to eat while the youngsters are waiting for their turn in the wings.
This illustration presents two overlapping attitudes. On the one hand, the Mother is exercising her right of first pick, while on the other, she is simultaneously placing the youngsters out of risk. The underlying text is: ‘I am doing it for your own good (while I am benefitting from the situation)’. This somewhat hypocritical parental attitude helps to understand the whole mechanism behind Rule 3. Namely, that protecting the young can be seen as an extension of hierarchical privilege. The further hypocritical text (‘Do as I tell you, never mind what I am doing myself’), only adds to the overall ambiguities of Golden Jackals' parenthood. In the final account, the result is important: the young may go without (the choicest morsels), but they will be safer that way.
The lesson, with all its inherent contradictions, may be taught with a slight nudge, or even by a simple authoritative look. Let us see how this is done:
Fig. 8. The look in prime time
This is towards the end of prime time in late July. The Uncle is standing by the bowl, trying to find something more interesting. The youngsters are creeping up from behind. Only a look in their direction is sufficient for them to pull back.
Let’s look at the same, but in a different context. It is past 02:00 in mid-August. This is four hours later than prime time. All choice pieces are long gone. As we can see, the Uncle is nibbling at what is left – a pile of soaked oatflakes. The look only indicates that the established order is to be kept despite the late hour. By now, the selfish parental motif is to be ruled out – it is lean time at the bowl. What remains is about teaching order and patience:
Fig. 9. The look in lean time
From time to time, sterner measures become necessary. Here is a family scene in which the Uncle is reprimanding the culprit:
At times of danger, some rough pushing is applied:
Fig. 11. Danger calls for a heavy hand
The ‘stand back’ lesson is taught not only by shouting and pushing, but also by food offers. This is the carrot part. What it consists of is that the senior in charge places a piece of food in the wings. The juniors take it from there. There are many variations of this technique, but basically it looks like this:
Fig. 12. Placing food in the wings
White Back places a slice of bread in the wings. Big Ears trots up and takes it up to eat. Meanwhile, White Back has gone down to the water, confident that the junior will be eating in safety.
An important detail here is that the placing of food in the wings, with the implied message ‘eat here, not onstage’, happens a few minutes after midnight. This is two hours after the risky prime time, but White Back evidently thinks it is not late enough for free junior movement. That time comes after two o’clock and lasts until about six in the morning. Human danger is considered to be least likely in the early morning hours.
A variant of ‘wing-placing’ is carrying food all the way up to the family ‘home’. This concerns mainly the denning period. Since however the area around the den is considered the safest place around, it continues to be the daytime resting place all through the summer and until late autumn. This is what gives the place the statute of home. More about carrying food from the stage to home will be told in the next story.
