Night+Dingo+-+Future+animal

To Present animal - the Dingo -To Past animal - The Dire wolf

**__ The Night Dingo __** By:Keith Lai The Night Dingo ( Canis Lupis dingo noctis) is a predecessor of the Australian Dingo and has grown to adapt to the ever-changing Australian environment. The Night Dingo has similar features to the old dingo, however is known to be smaller and possesses different colours of the fur. This new species of Dingoes are nocturnal and eat a wide mix of foods. The majority of the population resides in the deserts of Australia. The Night Dingo has evolved to adapt to the Australian terrain. Due to Australia’s harsh climates, there has been a reduction in the number of animals and plants living in Australia. The dingo hunts for foods like [|rabbits], wombats and [|lizards]. The Night Dingo has also adapted to scavenge human waste left in dumps and eat carcasses due to the lack of food available.

**__Habitat __** Located only in Australia, the Night Dingo has adapted to Australia’s hot desert climates. Australia’s outback has turned into a desert country where water is scarce and precious to acquire. The Night Dingo has evolved to survive this harsh condition. Over the past 500 years, the world has changed greatly due to the process of global warming. Due to the excess emission of CO2, the ice caps have are melting, causing sea levels to rise. This would cause the average temperate of the world rises by approximately 6° Celsius and changed countries’ coastlines. In addition, this has caused a lot of winds and sandstorms during the day and throughout the night. Because of the climate change, many species of flora have become extinct as they could not migrate in time or have not adapted fast enough. Plants who survived are either found on the coasts of Australia or have learnt how to absorb water and function for a substantial amount of time with a small amount of rain. Some plants that survived these 500 years are the eucalyptus trees and the cactus which was introduced by humans.

 As the environment changed, animals such as [|rabbits] had adapted to withstand the heat and reproduce more often. Due to the increased population in rabbits, 50% of the Night Dingoes’ diet consists of [|rabbits] which are found in burrows where the temperatures are cooler. The Night Dingo’s diet also includes wombats and [|lizards] which also live in burrows. Some of the competitors include the kangaroo and the future jackal (introduced by humans). There are predators that hunt the Night Dingo like the red fox. However, the main predator of the Night Dingo is humans. The Night Dingo is known to live in dens, caves, rabbit holes, hollowed logs and other places which gives them shelter from the sunlight. Under desperate circumstances, night dingos may create their own holes by digging with their front two paws. This is a direct adaptation arising from Australia’s overwhelming temperature, with maximum temperatures of up to 55° (Celsius).

. **__Structural Adaptation 1: Dark-coloured fur __**  To survive in the wild, one of the most important things that are needed is to camouflage into its surroundings so it does not get spotted. That is why the Night Dingo has developed dark fur. The colour of the fur can range from dark grey to black and sometimes dark yellow (very rare). When they sleep, they tend to hind in dark shaded areas and curl up into a big ball so they look like rocks in shadows, making them hard to spot. Another use for the fur is when they are hunting. When the Night Dingo finds a prey that it can eat it moves so slowly that to the prey, it looks just like a bush blowing back and forth by the wind. This adaptation has helped them survive as its predators who try to hunt them while they are asleep will have less chance of spotting them. This adaptation was formed due to environmental pressures that the Night Dingo faces. The fact that as if the Night Dingo were to sleep during the day time and a predator like the red fox(which still roams around in the day time) could spot it easily, then they could hunt them down while they are defenceless. This adaptation arose as they needed a way so that they could not get caught by predictors while and still having a good, shady place to live.  **__Structural Adaptation 2: Small body__**  Over the past 500 years, the Night Dingo has evolved by shrinking in size compared to its ancestors. It is around 40-50 cm tall from his feet to his shoulde rs, 90 to 104 cm from nose to tail tip and weighs around 8-10kgs. By becoming smaller they have gained a lot of advantages such as being able to run away from attacking predators easier as their size will make it hard for the predator to catch them. They can hide in small gaps where the predators cannot catch them due to the predator's large body size and therefore having a higher chance of survival. Another advantage that the Night Dingo gets from being smaller is the advantage of hiding better. When they go to sleep as they have less chance of being spotted by passing predators. Also having a small body means that they will need to consume less food and water to survive and perform to their maximum capacity. One of the main reasons why this is a good adaptation is because humans cannot This adaptation was formed due to the climate change which makes the Night Dingo have less food to eat. This also was formed due to the lack of food and the scarce amount of water that is found in Australia. This led to the Night Dingo being smaller as it would have eaten less food and therefore making his body size shrink. **__Behavioural adaptation 1: Active during the night __**  As the name suggests, the Night Dingo has turned into a half nocturnal animal to a full nocturnal animal which only is active during the night. This adaptation has benefited the Night Dingo as the temperatures during the day time rise up to being unbearable for the Night Dingo. At night when the temperature drops, it can roam freely to hunt for food and has a higher chance to catch prey due to the fact that more animals will be looking for food during the night as well. They can see in the dark due to developed nocturnal eyesight and locate the where the prey are with his strong, sensitive ears. Being active during the night also helps it hide from predators as in the night there is less chance of being spotted. This adaptation has made the Night Dingo live for longer as during the night there is more prey to catch, meaning that the Night Dingo will have more food and therefore more of a chance of survival. This adaptation might have occurred due to the change of climate. As the temperatures in the day become so high, the Night Dingo will rest so they save energy for cooler hours at night. **__Behavioural adaptation 2: Scavenger __**  Although the Night Dingo is good at hunting animals, it sometimes cannot find enough food for the animal to survive. So that is why the Night Dingo has developed to eat carcasses that are less than a week old. This adaptation is useful as it still has a food source that the Night Dingo can rely on when it cannot catch any prey, giving them a better chance of survival. This adaptation would have been caused due to the decreasing number of preys that they can find in the region and the increasing number of competition sharing the same food sources. **__Physiological Adaptation: Heart rate __** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> When the Night Dingo is asleep, its heart rate can drop to an amazingly low 20 beats per minute. The slow heart rate conserves precious energy that the dingo needs to survive. It is the opposite when he is not resting. His heart rate when chasing a prey can exceed up to 270 beats per minute. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">This adaptation helps them survive as when the heart slows down, the rate of which calories are burned are decreased, which therefore conserves energy. However, when this heart rate speeds up, the blood flow is increased and enhances the Night Dingo's senses and his quick reflexes, making them perform better and having a higher chance of catching prey. This adaptation arose as there are less prey in the habitat, making Night Dingoes have to conserve all the energy they can to when they are actually hunting for food. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">**__Selection Pressure__** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> In the future the Night Dingo will have a chance to become extinct due to human interference. As humans the human population expands, there is an increasing need for expansion as they do not have enough space. The population of the human race us approximately one hundred billion in the year 2511. Humans will start to expand to remote places like the desert and will destroy the habitat. Humans will be able to live in these harsh climates due to their advanced technology. However, with humans expanding it will destroy the Night Dingoes’ habitat and therefore having fewer places to live. Also when humans expand to places they will exterminate certain animals, giving the Night Dingo less to eat and therefore reducing their chances to live. Another contributing factor would be the temperature. As the ice caps melt, the temperature of the earth will steadily increase. The Night Dingo hunts at night as the temperature is cooler than at day time. However, as this temperature increases, even the night time temperatures will turn unbearable for the Night Dingo. This will lead to the Night Dingo population dying out as they will suffer from the lack of water and heatstroke.

= Bibliography =

Garden Guides. ( 2010). //What Plants Grow in the Australian Outback?// Retrieved June 26, 2011, from Garden guides: http://www.gardenguides.com/108866-plants-grow-australian-outback.html Wikipedia. (2011). //Nocturnality//. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturnal Yahoo. (2008). //What are the advantages of heaving a slow heart rate?// Retrieved June 26, 2011, from Yahoo: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080523082749AASOR8K