Juvenile makeup as a distinctive feature of the dingo

Everyone knows one of the most obvious differences between the dingo and the domestic dog (Canis familiaris).

This is that most individuals of the dingo have plain colouration (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/37808149) with whitish around the mouth (https://www.shutterstock.com/nb/image-photo/close-dog-dingo-animal-zoo-mouth-1188179503 and https://www.shutterstock.com/nb/image-photo/dingo-sanctuary-melbourne-australis-1973462144 and https://www.alamy.com/portrait-of-dingo-dog-lupus-dingo-in-australia-image177730747.html and https://www.shutterstock.com/nb/image-photo/dingo-sanctuary-melbourne-australia-1976693408).

Because this facial pattern, standard in the dingo, is shared with all the wild species in the genus Canis, it helps to give an impression that the dingo has partly reverted to wild-type colouration.

The following show the whitish facial feature in all the wild species of Canis:

Canis aureus https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/golden-jackal-close-up-portrait-gm1226896827-361639214

Canis anthus https://www.shutterstock.com/nb/image-photo/african-golden-wolf-canis-anthus-known-1256673595

Canis latrans https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattknoth/4841118345

Canis lupus https://lindaursin.net/wp-content/blogs.dir/26/files/2018/09/wolf-face.jpg

Canis simensis https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/ethiopian-wolf-canis-simensis-in-the-bale-mountains-national-park-the-ethiopian-wolf-is-the-rarest-of-the-wild-dogs-or-wolves-and-strictly-protected-the/X8C-1097123/1

However, what is not generally realised about the dingo is that it differs from both the domestic dog and wild species of Canis in infantile and juvenile colouration.

More particularly, it is only the dingo that goes through a series of ontogenetic changes in facial colouration, that lasts perhaps half of its usual lifespan of about eight years.

In other forms of Canis including most breeds of the domestic dog, such ontogenetic changes hardly occur. In the few breeds with pale faces as adults, the face is already pale at birth. In the many breeds with dark faces as adults, the face is already dark at birth.

By contrast, in infants of the dingo there is a complex pattern in which the muzzle is largely dark but there are whitish marks on parts of the lips and chin, aside the rhinarium, and in some cases extending to the distal part of the rostrum. These markings are individually variable but present in most individuals of the standard colour-morph.

As infants grow into juveniles, the pattern loses its pale flecks and becomes indistinctly dark over much of the muzzle (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89225693 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/81983214 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/71663760 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/67124636).

Adolescents retain traces of the darkness despite reaching sexual maturity at one to two years old (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/93544162). It is only in full maturity (older than four years) that all traces of the dark are replaced by whitish.

There are a few domestic breeds which show similar ontogenetic changes, but these are the ones most closely related to the dingo. An example is the Shiba Inu of Japan, which is always kept as a pet but has both the same range of adult colouration as the dingo and some of the same aloof and independent demeanour.

Dingo

https://www.buzzfeed.com/annamendoza/dingo-puppies-cute

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=HSWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldsun.com.au%2Fnews%2Fvictoria%2Fget-up-close-and-cuddle-a-dingo-pup-at-the-dingo-discovery-sanctuary-and-research-centre%2Fnews-story%2F35cf7c8cad171f949432b44939abdbad&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-cold-test-noscore&V21spcbehaviour=append

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/606734/stray-puppy-australia-endangered-alpine-dingo

https://www.facebook.com/CampsAustraliaWide/photos/a.419224444781063/1596678647035631/

https://phys.org/news/2019-11-lost-pup-rare-purebred-dingo.html

https://www.bigstockphoto.com/image-345400699/stock-photo-australian-dingo-pup

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/56116470

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-23/mine-worker-by-dingo-in-pilbara-telfer/10024610

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/64421737

https://www.alamy.com/close-up-shot-showing-face-of-dingo-in-the-wild-at-australian-outback-image62175652.html

Canis familiaris