Survival strategem ~ Behavioural & morphological variation

elatively late the following day, Scott Hunt called pursuant to the conversation we'd had and the information contained in my email. He announced that he had both "good" and "bad" news. First the bad news was offered. His company had been retained to provide services related to the upcoming election primary (Tallahassee being the capitol seat) and as a result he would not be able to begin any contract until after that was completed. Disappointing news for me, in point of fact, because I was not intending to inform Doug that I'd been to Florida yet, and wished to maintain contact by email. "Not a problem, Ma'am. I could begin some time in late November" Scott declared.

The "good" was that if I wished to identify the correct company that Doug was associated with in Tallahassee, Mr. Hunt believed that it shouldn't be too difficult, if just some of the range of facts I had about Doug were true. Of course, we both suspected that "Doug Reynolds" was not his name, nor was RS&H, necessarily, the company Doug ran. If none of the facts were true then we'd be starting from scratch, almost like finding a needle in a haystack, but even so, not an insurmountable task. Just a lot more costly and time consuming to accomplish. More important than the fact that more work would be required to perform the search, was what Hunt claimed as the hazard that should be identified.

"Hazard?" I enquired, "Yes, Ma'am. I don't wish to be at all alarmist, but it might be wise to investigate further, should we run into any "what ifs". You should at least consider it,” he answered. Mr. Hunt had been apprised of the manner in which Doug and I had met and the fact that I had been forthcoming on matters regarding my identity. Doug had significant information about me that I wouldn't necessarily have shared with a stranger, under normal circumstances. "Simply put, your friend chose not to disclose his true identity. I'd be inclined to want to know who has this information about you and why".

The whole notion was disturbing to even contemplate and I assured Mr. Hunt that I was certain that there were no untoward motives behind Doug's friendship with me. "Well, I hope you're right, but we'll soon see. I can contact you in mid November to see if you wish to move forward then" he said. I couldn't embrace the thought that Doug had an underlying MO, as Mr. Hunt had speculated and rested on the knowledge that Doug was of significant wealth and having been betrayed in the past it had caused him to be very, very wary and, as he claimed, somewhat "paranoid" as a consequence.

Analogies to science, more specifically to biology and ecology have been commonplace throughout this blog. Hence, why could it not also be conceivable that humans would employ means for protection as other members of the animal kingdom do? It's not at all unusual for individuals of certain species or communities to develop clear survival strategies as a means of protection. For example, birds engage in a variety of survival techniques to include:

~ selection of safe habitats that are out of reach ~ choosing a roost location where known and natural predators would be scarce and making sure their nests are located in dense cover, if not to prevent predators from approaching, at least providing some form of alert when they do.
~ flight ~ the most simple and direct means and one reason many small birds have such quick reflexes.
~ employing "mobbing" strategies ~ this involves surrounding a predator and calling incessantly from nearby branches alerting others in the assemblage to the location of the predator
~ flocking ~ some species work as a collective group in intimidating and frustrating a would be predator
~ aggressive harassment ~ harassment serves to make any unwelcome intruder uncomfortable enough to leave the immediate vicinity
~ behavioural distraction ~ using distinct colouration patterns of plumage and engaging or luring the predator's attention from the nest and drawing a predator away
~ colouration or camouflage ~ plumage camouflage assists the bird in appearing to blend with its natural environment, coupled with an ability to remain motionless when a predator approaches.

Colouration is an interesting phenomenon. Take for example, once again, the Melanerpes formicivorus, or Acorn Woodpecker. Hesiquio Benitez-Diaz performed a study on the Geographic Variation in Coloration and Morphology of the Acorn Woodpecker. His empirical data revealed that even though geographic variation is considered relatively slight, there still exists some differentiation from communities in Northern California and those native to regions farther south.

His research proved that plumage colouration varied in the following
~ Throat colouration ranges from white to a bright yellowish hue (Colombian populations exhibit bright yellow throats, whereas populations native to Mexico have stark white throats)
~ Upper chest region ~ red feathers are either present or absent (red feathers on the chest present in Panamanian communities);
~ Streaking on the chest ranges from minimal, as in narrow bands to heavy thick black bands (breast streaking becomes lighter in the southern populations) and finally the degree and colour of iridescence on the back plumage ranges from a bluish to greenish hue.

Further to his work, subtle morphological variance was observed in terms of the length and depth of the bill; the width of the beak; the dimensions of the tail; the length of the bird's leg (tarsus) and the wing chord.

Benitez-Diaz concluded that there were 7 distinct geographic groups of populations of Acorn Woodpeckers. The Bairdi comprised populations from Oregon to California where populations from Arizona and New Mexico throughout most of Mexico were members of the Formicivorus group. The Angustifons inhabited pine-oak woodlands in the mountains of Baja California, while theLineatus were located from Oaxaca to Nicaragua. The Albeolus group were noted in the north of Honduras and Belize. TheStriatipectus were native to the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama and finally the Flavigula group comprised populations in the Andes. Indeed, species morphology relates to their environment.

Given that camouflage, mimicry or displays are used in other organisms as a means of protection from harm, was it not entirely possible, therefore, that Doug may have employed some of these techniques to protect himself? Adopting a different name or company affiliation could have been some form of distraction, or alternatively, perhaps his personnel had used some form of flocking when I made my approach. I realised that some of these questions wouldn't be answered until Mr. Hunt had done some preliminary footwork.