Dingo

Overview of Dingos

Database entry includes justification for why this subspecies is vulnerable | image = Dingo on the road.jpg | image_width = 250 px | image_caption = Australian dingo | regnum = ia | phylum = | classis = ia | ordo = | familia = | genus = Canis | species = C. lupus | subspecies = C. l. dingo | synonyms=antarcticus (Kerr, 1792), australasiae (Desmarest, 1820), australiae (Gray, 1826), dingoides (Matschie, 1915), macdonnellensis (Matschie, 1915), novaehollandiae (Voigt, 1831), papuensis (Ramsay, 1879), tenggerana (Kohlbrugge, 1896), harappensis (Prashad, 1936)) | trinomial = Canis lupus dingo | trinomial_authority = (, 1793) | range_map = Dingo-map.png | range_map_caption = Dingo range }} The Dingo (Canis lupus dingo) is a domestic dog which has reverted to a wild state for thousands of years and today lives largely independent from humans in the majority of its distribution.

The name "dingo" mostly refers to populations occurring in Australia, though dingoes have been proven to exist in Thailand through genetic analyses, where they mostly live close to humans. Also, there are dog-populations (e.g. the New Guinea Singing Dog), which bear similarities to the dingo, but have yet to be proven if they are indeed the same animal.

Nomenclature

Canis lupus dingo has several names in both scientific and non-scientific literature, of which the word dingo is the most common term. Furthermore, on the Australian continent, the term wild dog is now used very often in both areas. This term includes dingoes, dingo-hybrids and mostly all other feral dogs.

Scientific Name

Since its first official nomenclature in 1792 (Canis antarcticus) the scientific name of the dingo has changed several times.

The name Canis familiaris dingo, which treats the dingo as a subspecies of domestic dog (and the domestic dog as a species separate from wolves), has been the most frequently used term over the last 50 years. In taxonomy the most accepted name today is the term Canis lupus dingo, however this name is not very common in literature. Furthermore the terms Canis dingo, which classes the dingo as a separate species from both dogs and wolves, and Canis lupus familiaris dingo are used.

Colloquial Name

The most common name for this dog in the colloquial language is the term "dingo". This term originated in the early times of European colonization in New South Wales and most likely derived from the word "tingo", a term used by the aboriginal people of Port Jackson to describe their camp dogs.

The dingo has many names in the different Indigenous Australian languages. Those names include the terms Joogong, Mirigung, Noggum, Boolomo, Papa-Inura, Wantibirri, Maliki, Kal, Dwer-da, Kurpany, Aringka, Palangamwari and Warrigal. At the same time there are different names for the dogs depending on where they live. The Yarralin for instance call the dogs who live with them Walaku and the ones living in the wilderness Ngurakin.

Depending on the area where they live, the dingoes in Australia are occasionally called alpine dingoes, desert dingoes, northern dingoes, Cape York dingoes or tropical dingoes. In recent times people have begun to call them "Australian native dog" or an "Australian wolf".

Description

The dingo shares many characteristics with South-East Asian domestic dogs and Indian pariah dogs. Eye colour varies from yellow over orange to brown.

Build

Dingoes have a relatively broad head, a pointed muzzle and erect ears. Compared to other similarly sized domestic dogs, dingoes have longer muzzles, larger carnassials, longer canine teeth, and a flatter skull with larger nuchal lines.

The average dingo is 52–60 cm tall at the shoulders and measures 117 to 124 cm from nose to tag. The average weight is 13 to 20 kg, however there was a report of a wild dingo weighing 27 kg. Males are typically larger and heavier than females of the same age. Dingoes from the North and the North-West of Australia are larger than Central and South-Australian populations. Australian dingoes are invariably heavier than Asian ones.

The legs are about half the length of the body and the head put together. The hind feet make up a third of the hind legs and have no dewclaws. Dingoes can have saber-formed tails (typically carried erect with a curve towards the back) or tails which are carried directly on the back.

Fur

The fur of adult dingoes is short, bushy on the tail and varies in thickness and length, depending on the climate. The fur color is mostly sandy to reddish brown, but can include tan patterns and be occasionally black, light brown or white. Completely black dingoes probably were prevalent in Australia in the past, but have been sighted only rarely in recent times and are now more common in Asia than in Australia.

Most dingoes are at least bicolored, with small white markings on the chest, muzzle, tag, legs and paws being the most common feature. In case of reddish individuals, there can be small, distinctive and dark stripes on the shoulders. All other color and color-patterns on adult dingoes are regarded as evidence for interbreeding with other domestic dogs.

Communication

Like all domestic dogs, dingoes tend towards a phonetic communication, the difference being that they mostly use howling and whimpering and bark less frequently than other domestic dogs. During research, eight sound classes with 19 sound types could be concretized.

Barking

It is often wrongly asserted that dingoes do not bark. Compared to most other domestic dogs, the bark of a dingo is short and monosyllabic. During observations, the barking of Australian dingoes revealed itself to have a relatively small variability and sub-groups of barking, like among other domestic dogs, could not be found. Furthermore, only 5% of the observed vocalisations were made up of barking. Australian dingoes bark only in swooshing noises or in a mixture atonal/tonal. Also, barking is almost exclusively used for giving warnings. Warn-barking in a homotypical sequence and a kind of "warn-howling" in a heterotypical sequence has also been observed. The bark-howling starts with several barks and than fades into a rising and ebbing howl and is probably, similarly to coughing, used to warn the puppies and members of the pack. Additionally, dingoes emit a sort of "wailing" sound, which they mostly use when approaching a water hole, probably to warn already present dingoes.

According to the present state of knowledge, it is not possible to get Australian dingoes to bark more frequently by having them in contact with other domestic dogs. However Alfred Brehm reported a dingo who completely learned the more "typical" form of barking and knew how to use it, while its brother did not. Whether dingoes bark or bark-howl less frequently in general is not sure.

Howling

Australian dingoes have three basic forms of howling (moans, bark-howl, snuffs) with at least 10 variations. Usually there are three kinds of howls distinguished: long and persistent, rising and ebbing, and short and abrupt.

Observations have shown that every kind of howling has several variations, though their meanings are unknown. The frequency of howling varies depending on season and time of day, and is also influenced by breeding, migration, lactation, social stability and dispersal behaviour. Also, howling can be more frequent in times of food shortage, because the dogs become more widely distributed within their home range. Additionally howling seems to have a group-function and is sometimes an expression of elatedness (e.g. greeting-howls). Overall howling was observed less frequently than among grey wolves. It can happen, that one dog starts to howl and several or all other dogs howl back and bark from time to time. In the wilderness, dingoes howl over long distances to attract other members of the pack, to find other dogs and to keep intruders at bay. Dingoes howl in chorus with significant pitches and with increasing number of pack-members the variability of pitches also increases. Therefore it is suspected that dingoes can measure the size of a pack without visual contact.

Other forms of communication

During observations, growling made up 65% of the observed vocalizations. It was always used in an agonistic context, as well as for dominance and reactively as a defence sound. Similar to many other domestic dogs, a reactive usage of defensive growling could only be observed rarely or not at all. Growling very often occurs in combination with other sounds, and was observed almost exclusively in swooshing noises (similar to barking). Mix-sounds, mostly growl-mixes, are mostly emitted in an agonistic context.

During observations in Germany, there was a sound found among Australian dingoes which the observers called "Schrappen". It was only observed in an agonistic context, mostly as a defence against obtrusive pups or for defending resources. It was described as a bite intention, where the receiver is never touched or hurt. Only a silent, but significant, clashing of the teeth could be heard.

Aside from vocal communication, dingoes communicate like all domestic dogs via scent marking specific objects (e.g. spinifex) or places (waters, trails, hunting grounds etc.) using chemical signals from their urine, faeces and scent glands. Males scent-mark more frequently than females, especially during the mating season. They also scent-rub whereby a dog rolls on its neck, shoulders or back on something that is usually associated with food or the scent markings of other dogs.

Behaviour

Dingos are very often nocturnal in warmer regions, but more active during the day in cooler areas. Their main time of activity is around dusk and dawn. The periods of activity are short (often less than one hour) with short times of resting. They have two kinds of movement: a searching movement, apparently associated with hunting, and an exploratory movement, probably for contact and communication with other dogs.

In general, dingoes are shy towards humans. However, there are reports on dingoes who were not impressed by the presence of humans, for instance around camps in national parks, near streets or suburbs. According to studies in Queensland, the wild dogs there move freely at night through urban areas, cross streets and seem to get along quite well.

Dietary habits

170 species (from insects to buffaloes) have been identified as being part of the dingo diet. In general, livestock seems to make up only a small proportion of its diet. In continent-wide examinations, 80% of the diet of wild dogs consisted of 10 species: Red Kangaroo, Swamp Wallaby, cattle, Dusky Rat, Magpie-goose, Common Brushtail Possum, Long-haired Rat, Agile Wallaby and Common Wombat. This narrow range of major prey indicates that wild dogs are rather specialised, but in the tropical rainforests of North-Eastern Australia dingoes are supposed to be opportunistic hunters of a wide range of mammals. In certain areas, they tend to specialize on the most common prey, with a preference for medium to large sized mammals. The consumption of domestic cats has also been proven. Non mammalian prey is irregularly eaten and makes up only 10% of the dingo's diet. Big reptiles are only rarely captured, at least in Eastern Australia, although they are widespread. It is possible that especially big monitor lizards are too defensive and well armed or simply able to flee fast enough into dens or climb trees.

Dietary composition varies from region to region. In the gulf region of Queensland, feral pigs and agile wallabies are the dingo's main prey. In the rainforests of the North the main prey consists of magpie-geese, rodents and agile wallabies. In the southern regions of the Northern-Territory, the dogs mainly eat European rabbits, rodents, lizards and red kangaroos, in arid central Australia rabbits, rodents, lizards and red kangaroos and cattle carcass and in the dry North-West Eastern Wallaroos and red kangaroos. In the deserts of the South-West they primarily eat rabbits and in the eastern and south-eastern highlands wallabies, opossums and wombats. To what extent the availability of rabbits influences the composition of the diet could not be clarified. However due to the fact that rabbit haemorrhagic disease killed a large part of the Australian rabbit population at the end of the 20th century, it is suspected that the primary prey of the dogs has changed in the affected areas. Also, on Fraser Island, fish were proven to be a part of the dingo diet. However the main prey species were bandicoots and several rodents. They also ate a lot of echidnas, crabs, small skinks, fruits and other plants, as well as insects (mostly beetles). During these observations only 10% of the examined feces-samples contained human garbage (in earlier studies 50% were reported).

In scavenging, wild dogs primarily eat cattle and kangaroo carcasses. Dingoes in coastal regions regularly patrol the coast for dead fish, seals, penguins and other washed up birds.

In Asia, only a few dingoes live completely independent from humans, and their main food consists of carbohydrates (rice, fruits and other leftovers) provided by humans. In the rural areas of Thailand and Sulawesi, dingoes were observed to hunt insects, rats, lizards and other living prey along streets, rice fields and forests.

Wild dogs in general drink one litre of water in the summer and about half a liter in winter. During the winter in arid regions, dingoes could potentially live from the liquid in the bodies of their prey, as long as the number of prey is sufficient. Similarly, weaned pups in central Australia are able to draw their necessary amount of liquid from their food. There, regurgitation of water by the bitches for the pups was observed. During lactation, females have no higher need of water than usual, since they consume the urine and feces of the pups and therefore recycle the water and keep the den clean.

Hunting behaviour

Dingoes often kill by biting the throat and adjust their hunting strategies to suit circumstances. For bigger prey, due to their strength and potential danger, two or more individuals are needed. Such group formations are unnecessary when hunting rabbits or other small prey.

Kangaroo hunts are probably more successful in open areas than in places with high densities of vegetation, and immature dingoes possibly get killed more often than adults. Dingoes typically hunt large kangaroos by having lead dingoes chase the quarry toward their waiting pack mates, which are skilled at cutting corners in chases. In one area of Central Australia, dingoes hunted kangaroos by chasing them toward a wire fence which would hinder their escape. Birds can be captured when they do not fly or fail to take off fast enough. Dingoes also steal the prey of eagles and the coordinated attack of three dingoes for killing a large monitor lizard was observed. On Fraser Island dingoes, are supposed to have been hunting and killing horses in coordinated attacks. Additionally, active fishing has been proven on the island. There are also reports which state that some dingoes virtually live entirely on human food through stealing, scavenging or begging. In fact dingoes are well-known for such a behavior in some parts of Australia. It is suspected that this might cause the loss of hunting strategies or a change in the social structures.

During studies at the Fortescue River in the mid 1970s, it was observed how most of the studied dingoes learned to hunt and kill sheep very quickly, even when they never had prior contact with sheep. Although the dingoes killed many sheep at that time, they still killed and ate kangaroos. During the early 1990s, it wild dogs were observed have an extraordinarily high success rate when killing sheep and did not have to hunt in a coordinated manner to achieve this. Often a dog only chases and outruns a single sheep, just to turn away suddenly and chase another. Therefore, only a small proportion of the hurt or killed sheep and goats are also eaten (which seems to be the rule and not the exception. The dog probably falls into some kind of "killing spree", due to the rather panicked and uncontrolled flight behavior of the sheep, who run in front of the dingoes time and again and therefore cause one attack after another. Dingoes often attack sheep from behind during the sheep's flight, which causes injuries on the sheep's hind legs. Rams are normally attacked from the side – probably to avoid the horns – or sometimes on the testicles. Inexperienced dingoes or those who kill "for fun", sometimes cause significant damage on the sheep's hind legs, which often causes death.

Nearly all wild dog attacks on cattle and buffalos are directed against calves. The hunting success depends on the health and condition of the adult cattle and on their ability to defend their calves. The defense behavior of the mother can be sufficient to fend off an attack. Therefore the basic tactics of attacks are: distracting the mother, rousing the herd/group and waiting (sometimes for hours) and testing of the herd to find the weakest members. During the locating of a cattle herd, it could be observed how the dingoes made several feint attacks, at which they concentrated on the calves at first and, later on, attacked the mothers to distract them. Thereupon, the dingoes retreated and waited at a distance from the herd, until the rest of the cows had gathered their calves and moved on. During another occasion of an attack, “sub-groups” of a dingo-pack were observed to take turns in attacking and resting, until the mother was too tired to effectively defend her calf any longer. It was also observed how dingoes hunting a supposedly 200 kg water buffalo took turns in biting the buffalo's legs during the chase.

Social behaviour

Although dingoes are usually seen alone (especially in areas where they are persecuted), most belong to a social group whose members meet from time to time and are permanently together during the mating season in order to breed and raise pups. Dingoes are generally highly social beings and form, where possible, stable packs with clearly defined territories, which only rarely overlap with the territories of neighbouring packs. Intruders are mostly killed. These packs as a rule consist of 3–12 individuals (mostly the alpha-pair, as well as the current litter and the previous year's litter), who occupy a territory throughout the whole year. However, there are regional variants which show the flexible social structure of the dingo. Apparently, specialization on bigger prey boosts social behaviour and the formation of bigger groups. During times of drought, packs in Australia fragment and the mortality rate of all the members, regardless of social status, is very high.

Packs have different (but not completely separate) hierarchies for males and females, and the ranking order is mostly established through ritualized aggression, especially among males. Overawing and agonistic behaviour occurs only in a reduced state among Australian dingoes. Serious fights could only be observed rarely and under extreme circumstances. Dogs of higher rank show this behaviour from time to time, to confirm their status, while those of lower rank are more prone to show conflict-preventive behaviour.

Bigger packs are often splintered into sub-groups of flexible size. Additionally, lone individuals can occur in already occupied areas and can have loose contact with the groups, including participation in foraging for food. Desert areas have smaller groups of dingoes with a more loose territorial behaviour and sharing of the water sites. On Fraser Island, dingoes had pack sizes of two to nine dogs with overlapping territories. However, they had a very high rate of infanticide, probably due to the high density of the island’s dingo-population when compared to the size of the island and prey population.

Territory size and individual areas change over time depending on the availability of prey, but are not connected to pack size. Wild dogs only rarely move outside of their territories. The areas of individuals can overlap. When territories of neighbouring packs overlap, the packs tend to avoid contact. How big the territory and home range of dogs are depends for the most part on the availability of prey. Home ranges are generally stable, but can change over time due to outside circumstances or changes in social organization. Individuals who start to detach themselves from the pack have bigger home ranges at first before they finally disperse.

Territories around human dominated areas tend to be smaller and contain a relatively higher number of dingoes due to the better availability of food. According to studies in Queensland, the local wild dogs in urban areas have smaller territories of occasionally only two to three square-kilometers in diameter. There, the existence of a territory of a single dingo could be proven, which only consisted of a small patch of bush near the fringe of a primary school in the heart of a small town.

Most dingoes stay near their area of birth and do not travel more than 20 km per day, but some, especially young males, disperse. The size of the individual home range increases with age. The biggest recorded home ranges (90–300 km2) came from the deserts of Southwest-Australia. In the centre of the Northern Territory home ranges of up to 270 km2 were observed. Home ranges in other parts of the continent can be 45–113 km2 in the Northwest, 25–67 km2 in Central Australia, on average 39 km2 in the tropic North and 10–27 km2 in the forests of the Eastern mountains.

Reproduction

Dingoes breed once annually, depending on the estrus-cycle of the females who, according to most sources, only come in heat once per year. Dingo bitches can come in heat twice per year, but can only be pregnant once a year, with the second time only seeming to be pregnant (at most).

Males are virile throughout the year in most regions, but have a lower sperm production during the summer in most cases. During studies on dingoes from the Eastern Highlands and Central Australia in captivity, no breeding cycle could be observed. All were potent throughout the year. The breeding was only regulated by the heat of the females. There was a rise in testosterone in the males during the breeding season, however this was attributed to the heat of the females and copulation. In contrary to the captive dingoes, captured dingo males from Central Australia did show evidence of a male breeding cycle. Those dingoes showed no interest in females in heat (this time other domestic dogs) outside of the mating season (January to July) and did not breed with them.

The mating season usually occurs in Australia between March and May (according to other sources between April and June). In Southeast Asia, mating occurs between August and September. During this time dingoes, may actively defend their territory using vocalizations, dominance behaviour, growling and barking.

Most females in the wild start breeding at the age of two years, and within packs the alpha-bitch tends to go into heat before the subordinates and will actively suppress the mating attempts of the other females. Males become sexually mature between the age of 1–3years. The precise start of breeding varies depending on age, social status, geographic range and seasonal conditions. Among dingoes in captivity, the pre-estrus was observed to last 10–12 days. However, it is suspected, that the pre-estrus may last as long as 60 days in the wild.

In general, the only dingoes in a pack that successfully breed are the alpha-pair and the other pack-members help with raising the pups. Subordinates are actively prevented from breeding by the alpha-pair and some subordinate females have a false pregnancy. Low ranking or solitary dingoes can successfully breed if the pack structure breaks up.

The gestation period lasts for 61–69 days and the size of the litter can range from one to ten pups (usually five pups), with the number of the males tending to be higher than that of the females. Pups of subordinate females usually get killed by the alpha-bitch, which causes the population increase to be low even in good times. It is possible that this behaviour developed as an adaptation to the fluctuating environmental conditions in Australia. Pups are usually born between May and August (the winter period) but in tropical regions, breeding can occur at any time of the year.

At the age of three weeks, the pups leave the den for the first time and will leave it completely upon reaching the age of eight weeks. In Australia, dens are mostly underground. There are reports of dens in abandoned rabbit burrows, rock-formations, under boulders in dry creeks, under large spinifex, in hollow logs, in augmented burrows of monitor lizards and wombat burrows. The pups usually stray around the den within a radius of 3 km and are accompanied by older dogs during longer travels. The transition to consuming solid food is normally accompanied by all members of the pack during the age of nine to twelve weeks. Apart from their own experiences, pups also learn through observation. Young dingoes usually become independent at the age of three to six months or they voluntarily disperse at the age of twelve months when the next mating season starts.

Migration

Dingoes usually remain in one area and do not undergo seasonal migrations. However, during times of famine, even in normally "safe" areas, dingoes travel into pastoral areas, where intensive human-induced control measures are undertaken. It was already noted in Western Australia in the 1970s that young dogs can travel for long distances when necessary. About 10% of the dogs who were captured back then - all younger than twelve months - were later recaptured far away from their first position. Among these, 10% of the travelled distance for males was 21.7 km and for females 11 km. Therefore, travelling dingoes had lower chances of survival in foreign territories and it was assumed to be unlikely that they would survive long migrations through occupied territories. The rarity of long migration routes seemed to confirm this assumption. During investigations in the Nullarbor Plain, even longer migration routes were recorded. The longest recorded migration route of a radio collared dingo was about 250 km.

Mortality and Health

Dingoes are susceptible to the same diseases like all domestic dogs. Up to now, 38 species of parasites and pathogens have been detected in Australian dingoes. The bulk of these diseases have a low influence on the survival of adult wild dogs. The exceptions include canine distemper, hookworms and heart worms in North-Australia and southeastern Queensland. Pups can also be killed by lungworms, whipworms, hepatitis, coccidiosis, lice and ticks. Sarcoptic mange is a widespread parasitic disease among the dingoes of Australia, but seldom debilitating. Wild dogs are the primary host of Echinococcosis-tapeworms and have an infection rate of 70 to 90%, but do not die from it.

Statistics on the average age of dingoes living in the wild range between five to ten years. In captivity, dingoes have a lifespan of 13 to 15 years. In exceptional cases even up to 24 years have been recorded. The main mortality factors for dingoes are killings by humans, crocodiles and other domestic dogs (including other dingoes). Other causes for dingo-mortality are starvation and/or dehydration during times of drought or after strong bush fires, infanticide, snake bites, killing of pups by Wedge-tailed Eagles, as well as injuries caused by cattle and buffalos.

Distribution

It is only possible to give a crude description of the dingo's distribution area and the accordant population density. It is difficult to give an exact assessment of the distribution of dingoes and other domestic dogs, since the exact extent of interbreeding between the two is not known. Therefore the following information on the distribution of the dingo applies to dogs which were classified as dingoes based on fur-color, body-form and breeding-cycle, therefore the maps on their distribution might be conflicting.

Distribution in the past

Based on fossil, molecular and anthropogenic evidence, it is assumed that dingoes once might have had a widespread distribution. These ancient dingoes would have associated to nomadic hunter-gatherer-societies and later with the rising agricultural centres. It is further assumed that they would have been tamed there and were then transported to various places in the world. Dingo-findings from Thailand and Vietnam are regarded as the oldest findings, which have been estimated to be respectively as old as 5,000–5,500 years. The age of findings from the highlands of Indonesia vary between a maximum of 5,000 to (in most cases) 2,500 to 3,000 years. Originally, it was suspected that the dingo was introduced to Australia in the Pleistocene by Aborigines, which led to confusion concerning the dingo's nomenclature. Today, the most common theory is that the dingo arrived in Australia about 4,000 years ago, due to the fact that the oldest known fossils of dingoes were estimated to be about 3,500 years old and were found in various places in Australia, which indicates a rapid colonization. Findings are absent from Tasmania, which was separated from the main Australian landmass around 12,000 years ago due to a rise in sea level. Therefore, archeological data indicates an arrival between 3,500 to a maximum of 12,000 years ago. To reach Australia from Asia, there would have been at least 50 km of open sea to be crossed, even at the lowest sea level. Since there is no known case of a big land animal who made such a journey by itself, it is most likely that the ancestors of modern dingoes were brought to Australia on boats by Asian seafarers. A dance of the Aborigines on the coastal regions of Kimberley, during which they depict dogs running excitedly up and down a boat and finally jumping into the water, is seen as further evidence for the introduction of dingoes by seafarers. It is possible that these dogs were used as food or eventually guard dogs. Potentially, the dingo came to Australia and the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific in the course of expansion of the Austronesian culture.

There are two main theories concerning the geographical origin and travel routes of the modern dingo's ancestors and their arrival in Australia:

• an East-Asian origin and a travel route over the Southeast-Asian islands due to their close proximity to Australia, and the relatively easy accessibility over the islands of the Southeast-Asian archipelago. This theory is supported by examination of the mtDNA of Australian dingoes.
• an introduction of sheepdogs from the Indus valley in Asia, over Timor Island by Indian seafarers, based on similarities in skeletal anatomy of Indian pariah dogs and Indian wolves. Moreover, this theory implies that the oldest known fossils are 4,000 years old and were found on Timor, where the dogs coexisted for a while with pigs and sheep. This theory would be supported by the assumption that the simultaneous appearance of certain stone tools was caused by Indian influence. However this is disputed by other authorities.

Whether there were several introductions of dingoes to Australia or just one is not known yet.

The first official report of a "wild dog" in Australia comes from the year 1699 from Captain William Dampier. At the time, dingoes were probably widespread over the main part of the continent and lived in the wild as well as alongside the Aboriginals. They were mostly tolerated by the European settlers and sometimes kept as pets. The number of dingoes was probably low in those times and increased since then in some parts of Australia. Their number probably increased strongly around the 1880s due to the establishment of the pastoral economy and artesian water places and probably had its peak in the 1930s and 1950s. Afterwards the numbers have remained high, but the percentage of dingo-hybrids has significantly increased since then.

Present-day distribution

Today dingoes live in all kinds of habitats, including the snow-covered mountain forests of Eastern Australia, dry hot deserts of Central Australia, as well as Northern Australia's tropical forest wetlands. The absence of dingoes in many parts of the Australian grasslands is probably caused by human persecution. Based on skull characteristics, size, fur color and breeding cycles there could distinct regional populations between Australia and Asia, but not in Australia.

Today the whole population of wild dogs on the Australian continent consists, besides dingoes, of a wide panoply of feral domestic dogs (mostly mixed-breeds and dingo-hybrids) with an enormous variety of colors. Due to the increased availability of water, native and introduced prey, as well as livestock and human provided food, the number of wild dogs is regarded as increasing. There are reports from some parts of Australia stating that wild dogs now hunt in packs there, although they had hunted on a solitary basis before. The density of the wild dog population varies between 0.003 and 0.3% per square kilometre, depending on habitat and availability of prey.

“Pure” dingoes are regarded as widespread in Northern, Northwest and Central Australia, rare in Southern and Northeast Australia and possibly extinct in the South-Eastern and South-Western areas. The establishment of agriculture caused a significant decrease in dingo numbers and they were practically expelled from the territories occupied by the sheep industry. This primarily affects big parts of Southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. This situation was maintained by the construction of the Dingo fence. Although dingoes were eradicated from most areas south of the Dingo fence, they still exist in an area of about 58,000 km2 in the dry Northern areas north of the Dingo fence and therefore on about 60% of the whole area. In Victoria, wild dog populations are currently concentrated on the densely forested areas of the Eastern Highlands, from the border to New South Wales southern to Healesville and Gembrook. They also exist in the large desert in the Northwest of the State. Wild dog populations in New South Wales primarily exist along the Great Dividing Range and the Hinterlands on the coast, as well as in the Sturt National Park in the Northwest of the state. In the rest of the continent dingoes are regarded as widespread, with the exception of the arid eastern half of Western Australia. In the bordering areas of South Australia and the Northern Territory they are regarded as naturally scarce. Wild dogs are widespread in the Northern Territory, with the exception of the Tanami and Simpson Desert, where they are rare due to the lack of watering holes. However, local concentrations exist there near artificial water sources. According to DNA-examinations from the year 2004, the dingoes of Fraser Island are “pure”. However, skull measurements from the mid 1990s had a different result.

Outside of Australia, dingoes were proven to exist in Thailand, based on comparisons between the skulls of Thai dogs and those of fossil and present-day dingoes. The population there probably has the biggest proportion of “pure” dingoes. They are widespread in Northern and Central Thailand and rare in the southern regions. They may also exist in Burma, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, on the Philippines and in Vietnam, but if they exist there, their distribution is unknown. Dingoes are regarded as widespread in Sulawesi, but their distribution in the rest of Indonesia is unknown. They are regarded as rare on the Philippines and are probably extinct on many islands. In Korea, Japan and Oceania there exist a few local dog breeds with dingo-like features, but dingoes are considered extinct there.

Ecological impact of the dingo after its arrival in Mainland Australia

''See also: Extinction of the thylacine in mainland Australia

It is suspected that the dingo caused the extinction of the thylacine, the Tasmanian devil, and the Tasmanian native hen from the mainland Australia, since there is a correlation in space and time between the arrival of the dingo and the extinctions of these species. Also, dingoes do not seem to have had the same ecological impact the red fox had in later times. This might be connected to the dingo’s way of hunting and the size of their favored prey, as well as the low number of dingoes in the time before European colonization.

The assumption that dingoes and thylacines may have been competitors for the same prey stems from the external similarities of the two species: the thylacine had a stronger and more efficient bite, but was probably dependent on relatively small prey, while the dingo’s stronger skull and neck would have allowed it to bring down bigger prey. The dingo was probably a superior hunter, as it hunted cooperatively in packs and could better defend resources, while the thylacine was probably more solitary. Also, wild dingo populations might have had demographic support from conspecifics living with humans and may have introduced new diseases which affected the thylacine more severely. The extinction of the thylacine on the continent around 2000 years ago has also been linked with change in climate and land use of the Aborigines. It is plausible to name the dingo as the cause of the extinction, but there are significantly morphological differences between the two, which suggested that the ecological overlapping of both species might be exaggerated: the dingo has the dentition of a generalist, while the thylacine had the dentition of a specialist carnivore, without any signs for the consumption of carrion or bones. It is also argued that the thylacine was a flexible predator that should have withstood the competition by the dingo and was instead wiped out due to human persecution.

This theory also has problems with explaining how the Tasmanian devil and the dingo coexisted on the same continent until about 430 years ago, when the dingo supposedly caused the Tasmanian devil's demise. The group dynamics of dingoes should have successfully kept devils away from carrion, and since dingoes are able to break bones, there would have been little left for the devils to scavenge upon. Additionally, devils are successful hunters of small to medium sized prey, so there should have been an overlapping of the species in this area too. Furthermore, the arguments that the dingo caused the extinction of the thylacine, the devil and the hen are in direct conflict with each other. If the dingo was so similar to the thylacine and the devil in its ecological role, and that it suppressed both, it is strange that the hen coexisted with both for such a long time. Although this is possible, critics regard the evidence for this as weak.

Impact

Reliable information about the exact ecological, cultural and economical impact of wild dogs doesn’t exist yet. Furthermore, their impact of wild dogs depends on several factors and a distinction between dingoes and other domestic dogs is not necessarily made.

The appearance of a wild dog is probably insignificant for its ecological impact. Here it is important what a dog does, therefore what its place in the ecosystem is. In contrary to this the appearance of a wild dog is sometimes very important when it comes to their cultural and economical impact. Here it is often desired that the wild dog’s appearance complies to what is demanded, that it is a “pure” dingo or at least looks like one. In case of their economic impact their appearance only seem to be important when "pure" dingoes are used as a tourist attraction. Where wild dogs are regarded as pests their appearance is only of minor importance, if it is of any importance at all.

The impact wild dogs have in urban areas and whether there are a danger for humans (direct attacks, diseases and more) is unknown yet.

Ecological impact

Today the dingo is regarded as part of the native Australian fauna by environmentalist as well as biologists, especially since these dogs existed on the continent before the arrival of the Europeans and a mutual adaption of the dingoes and their surrounding ecosystems had occurred. However there is also the contrary view that dingoes are just another introduced predator respectively that they are only native to Thailand.

A lot of the present day place of wild dogs in the Australian ecosystem and especially in the urban areas remains unknown. Although the ecological role of dingoes in Northern and Central Australia is well understood, the same does not apply to the role of wild dogs in the East of the continent. In contrast to some claims it was undoubtedly disproven that dingoes are damaging to the Australian ecosystem in general. In most cases it is assumed that they have a positive impact.

Dingoes are regarded as apex predators and possibly perform an ecological key function. Therefore it is likely (with increasing evidence from scientifically research) that they control the diversity of the ecosystem by limiting the number of prey and keeping the competition in check. Wild dogs hunt feral livestock like goats and pigs; as well as native prey and introduced animals. It is possible that the low number of feral goats in Northern Australia is caused by the presence of the dingoes, however whether they control the goats’ numbers or not is still disputable. Studies from the year 1995 in the northern wet forests of Australia came to the conclusion that the dingoes there did not reduce the number of feral pigs but that their predation only has an impact on the pig population together with the presence of water buffalos (which hinder the pigs’ access to food).

There were observations concerning the mutual impact of dingoes and fox and cat populations and evidence that dingoes limit the access of foxes and cats to certain resources. Therefore it is assumed, that a disappearance of the dingoes may cause an increase of red fox and feral cat numbers and therefore a higher pressure on native animals. During studies it was found out that the presence of dingoes is one of the factors that keep the fox numbers in an area low and therefore reduces the pressure on native animals which then don’t have to disappear from the area. It could be proven that the countrywide numbers of red foxes are especially high where dingo numbers are low, however it was considered that there might be other factors be responsible for this, depending on the area. There was evidence found for a competition between wild dogs and red foxes in the Great Blue Mountains of New South Wales, since there were many overlaps in spectrum of preferred prey. However, there was only evidence for a local competition not on a grand scale. It is also possible that dingoes can live side to side with red foxes and feral cats without reducing their numbers in areas with sufficient food resources (e.g. high rabbit numbers) and hiding places. Nearly nothing is known about the relationship of wild dogs and feral cats, except that both mostly live in the same areas. Although wild dogs also eat cats, it is not known whether this has an impact on the cat populations. In many areas wild dogs live together with the most species of quolls, except for the Eastern Quoll who is probably extinct on the continent, and therefore wild dogs are not regarded as a threat for them.

Additionally, the disappearance of the dingoes might cause prevalence of kangaroo and rabbit numbers. In the areas outside of the Dingo fence the number of dingoes and emus is lower than in the areas inside, however the number changed depending on the habitat. Since the environment is the same on both sides of the fence, it was assumed that the dingo is a strong factor for the regulation of these species. Therefore some people demand that dingo numbers should be allowed to increase or dingoes should reintroduced in areas with low dingo populations to lower the pressure on endangered populations of native species and to reintroduce them in certain areas.

Cultural impact

Opinions about the dingo are often based on its perceived "cunning" and that it is an intermediate to civilization and wilderness.

Some of the early European settlers compared dingoes to domestic dogs and perceived them as such, while others compared them to wolves. Over the years, dingoes started to attack sheep and so their relationship to the Europeans changed very quickly: they were regarded as devious and cowardly since they did not fight bravely in the eyes of the Europeans and just vanished in the bush. Dingoes were seen as predators which killed wantonly, rather than out of hunger (similar claims are made today concerning dingo-hybrids). Additionally they were seen as promiscuous or as devils with a venomous bite or saliva, and thus, no reservations were required to kill one. Over the years, dingo trappers gained a kind of prestige for their work, primarily when they managed to kill dingoes which were especially hard to catch. Therefore, dingoes were associated with thieves, vagabonds, bushrangers and parliamentary opponents. The oldest evidence of politicians calling their opponents "dingo" (therefore cowardly and treacherous) is from the 1960s and became very popular afterwards. Today the word "dingo" still stands for coward and cheat and the verb and adjective forms have the appropriate meanings.

Today, the image of the dingo ranges from romantic transfiguration of being completely harmless to the point of demonising them as a general danger for humans and nature. For some the dingo is a beautiful, unique animal and others do not regard it as a domestic dog but as a wolf. Dingoes are called an icon of Australia, which should be preserved (at least in its "pure" form), and its possible "extinction" is also compared to that of the thylacine. Where dingoes are regarded as pests regardless of their "rehabilitation", this attitude can degenerate into full hatred. In the process, it is sometimes said that dingoes are detrimental for the society and the environment (e.g. that they are in general the cause for the extinction of native animals). Dingoes (no matter whether "pure" or not) are than treated as a scourge, that has to be eradicated. In such cases it is also deemed acceptable to kill all wild dogs if it would save one human life. Besides this, there is also among bureaucrats the opinion that wild dogs are cruel towards sheep and cattle and therefore every cruelty against them is justified.

Traditionally dogs have a privileged position in the aboriginal cultures of Australia (which the dingo may have adopted from the thylacine) and the dingo is a well known part of rock carvings and cave paintings. There are ceremonies (like a keen at the Cape York Peninsula in the form of howling) and dreamtime stories connected to the dingo, which were passed down through the generations. There are strong feelings that dingoes shall not be killed and in some areas women are breast feeding young pups. In most cases they are treated with extraordinary indulgence, although the reasons for this might not be any kindness, since dogs are sometimes treated quite brutally. Nonetheless there seems to be a big feeling of community although the reasons for this don’t seem to be always clear. Similar to how Europeans acquired dingoes, the Aboriginal people of Australia acquired dogs from the immigrants very quickly. This process was so fast that Francis Barralier (the first European to explore the Outback) discovered in the year 1802 that five dogs of European origin were there before him. There is the theory that other domestic dogs will adopt the role of the "pure" dingo. In fact the majority of the myths about dingoes just call them dogs (whether that role was adopted or there was no difference for the storyteller is unknown) and other introduced beings like the water buffalo and the domestic cat have been adopted into the indigenous aboriginal culture in the forms of rituals, traditional paintings and dreamtime stories.

The dingo is connected to holy places, totems, rituals and dreamtime characters. There are stories telling that dogs can see the supernatural, are guard dogs and warn against evil powers. There is evidence that dogs have been buried together with their owners to protect them against evil even after death. Most of the published myths hail from the Western Desert and show a remarkable complexity. In some stories dingoes are the central characters, in others only minor ones. One-time it is an ancestor from the dreamtime, who created humans and dingoes or gave them their current shape. Then there are stories about creation, socially acceptable behaviour and explanations why some things are the way they are. There are myths about shapeshifters (human to dingo or vice versa), "dingo-people" and the creation of certain landscapes or elements of those landscapes, like waterholes or mountains. The dingo is also responsible for death. In other myths there are advice and warnings to those who don’t want to follow the social rules. Stories can show the borders of a one’s territory or the dingo in it might stand for certain members of the community, e.g. rebellious dingoes stand for "wild" members of the tribe. The dingo also has a wild and uncontrollable face in other stories and there are many stories about dingoes that kill and eat humans (e.g. the Mamu, who catches and devours the spirit of every child who roams to far from the campfire). Other stories tell of a giant devil dingo, from which the real dingoes originate. The dog is thereby depicted as a homicidal, malicious creature that – apart from the lack of a subtle mind – is similar to a trickster, since it plays the role of a mischievous adversary for other mythological beings. Many of them fall victim to blood-thirsty dogs or escape them. Here individual beings have a significant meaning too or sometimes become part of the landscape. Even the actions of these dogs result for instance in the creations of stones and trees from flying around bones and meat or ochre from the spilled blood.

Economic impact

Wild dogs are responsible for a wide range of negative and undesired impacts on the livestock industry of Australia and are regarded as pests since the start of the European livestock industry. Thereby sheep are the most are the most frequent prey, followed by cattle and goats. However research on the real extent of the damage and reason for this problem only started a very short time ago. There are many reasons for the death of livestock and when the body is found it is often too late to tell for sure what the cause of death was. Since the outcome of an attack on livestock depends to a high degree from the behaviour and experience of the predator and the prey there is no certain way (except for direct observation) to determine whether an attack was done by dingoes or some other sort of domestic dogs. Even the leftovers from the prey in the scat of wild dogs do not prove that they are pests, since wild dogs also eat carrion. Exact numbers or reliable estimates of the damage caused by wild dogs are therefore hard to get and seldom reliable. Even if livestock is not a big part of the dingo’s diet, this says nothing about the extent of damage dingoes could cause to the livestock industry.

The significance of dingoes as a pest is mainly based on the predation of sheep and to a lower degree on cattle and is not only connected to the direct loss of livestock. Sheep of every age are susceptible to dingo attacks, in the case of cattle only the calves are susceptible. Harassment of sheep can cause a less optimal use of grassland and miscarriages.

The cattle industry can tolerate low to moderate and sometimes high grades of wild dogs (therefore dingoes are not so fast regarded as pests in these areas), in the case of sheep and goats a zero-tolerance attitude is common. The biggest threats are dogs that live inside or near the paddock areas. The extent of sheep loss is hard to determine due to the wide pasture lands in some parts of Australia. The numbers of cattle losses is much more variable and less well documented. Although the loss of cattle can rise up to 30%, the normal loss rate is about 0–10%. Thereby factors like availability of native prey, as well as the defending behavior and health of the cattle play an important role for the number of losses. A study in Central Australia in the year 2003 confirmed, that dingoes only have a low impact on cattle numbers, when enough other prey like kangaroos and rabbits are available. In some parts of Australia it is assumed that the loss of calves can be minimized if horned cattle are used instead of hornless. The exact economical impact is not known in this case and it is regarded as unlikely that the rescue of some calves will compensate for the necessary costs of control measures. Calves usually suffer less lethal wounds than sheep due to their size and the protection by the adult cattle and have a higher chance of surviving an attack. Therefore it can happen that the evidence for a dog attack is only found after the cattle have been herded back in the enclosure and signs like bitten ears, tails and other wounds are discovered. The opinions of cattle-owners about dingoes are more variable than the ones of sheep-owners and some cattle-owners believe that it is better that the weakened mother loses her calf in times of drought so she doesn’t have to care for her calf too and therefore these owners hesitate more on killing dingoes. Laurie Corbett also stated this theory. Also the cattle industry may benefit from the predation of dingoes on rabbits, kangaroos and rats. Furthermore the mortality rate of calves has many possible causes and it is hard to discriminate between them. The only reliable method to document the damage would be to document all pregnant cows and observe their development and that of their calves. The loss of calves in observed areas were dingoes were controlled was higher than in other ones. Loss of livestock is therefore not necessarily caused by the occurrence of dingoes and is independent from wild dogs.

Domestic dogs are the only terrestrial predators in Australia that are big enough to kill fully grown sheep and only a few sheep manage to recover from the severe injuries. In the case of lambs, death can have many causes apart from attacks by predators. Often the predators are blamed for the deaths, because they eat from the carcasses. Although attacks by red foxes appear, it happens more rarely than previously thought. The fact that the sheep and goat industry is much more susceptible for damage caused by wild dogs than the cattle industry is mostly due to two factors:

• the flight behaviour of the sheep and their quirk to flock together in the face of danger
• the hunting methods of wild dogs and the efficiency of their way of handling goat and sheep

Therefore the damage for the livestock industry is not in relation to the numbers of wild dogs in an area (except that there is no damage where no wild dogs occur). Even if there are only a few wild dogs in an area, the damage for the sheep industry can be very high, since surplus killing can occur. Sometimes extreme losses of livestock are reported (once supposedly 2000 sheep in one night) and are supposed to be increasing.

According to a report from the Government of Queensland, wild dogs cost the state yearly about 30 Million Dollars due to livestock-losses, spreading of diseases and control measures. Losses for the livestock-industry alone were estimated to be as high as 18 Million Dollars. According to a survey among cattle owners in 1995, performed by the Park and Wildlife Service, owner estimated their annual losses due to wild dogs (depending on the district) from 1.6% to 7.1%. Despite the variety of estimations, there is little doubt that predation by dingoes can cause enormous economical damage, especially in times of drought when natural prey is sparse and the dingo numbers are still relatively high. Furthermore wild dogs are involved in the spreading of Echinococcosis among cattle and sheep, as well as heartworms and parvoviruses among dogs under human care. An infection with Echinococcosis can leads to confiscation of 90% of the intestines, which further leads to a value decrease of the meat and high economical damage. Furthermore, bitten livestock can only be sold for a lower price.

Dogs are regarded as a delicacy in East-Asia and Oceania and are regularly killed for eating. In the northeast of Thailand about 200 dingoes are killed per week to be sold on the meat market. Before the start of the 20th century dingoes were also eaten by Indigenous Australians, but there are now reports about this practice in recent times. Among them dingoes were also used as hunting aids, living hot-water bottle, camp-dogs and their scalps were used as a kind of currency. This included the traditional use of their teeth as decorative and their fur for traditional costumes. In some parts of Australia premiums are paid for dingo fur and scalps. Fur of dingoes mostly has only a low value and an export of this fur is forbidden in states where they are protected. There is also no widespread commercial catching and killing of dingoes for obtaining their fur. Sometimes “pure” dingoes have an importance for tourism, when they are used to attract more visitors. However this seems only to have been done on Fraser Island, where the dingoes are extensively used as a symbol to make the island more attractive. The experience of personally interacting with dingoes seems to be especially important for the tourists. Pictures of dingoes appear on the majority of brochures, many web sites and post cards which advertise for the island. The usage of dingo-urine as a repellent against dingoes and wallabies was taken into consideration, but has not been economically implemented yet.

Legal status

The dingo was classified as vulnerable on the Red List of Threatened Species in the year 2004. This classification was done because the number of "pure" dingoes had decreased for about 30% due to interbreeding with other domestic dogs. The dingo is regarded as a regulated, native species (but not threatened) under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) in the Commonwealth of Nations and is therefore protected in the national parks of the Commonwealth, as well as in World Heritage Sites and other conservation areas. However, this law also allows that dingoes can be controlled in areas where they have a proven impact on the environment. The law forbids the export of dingoes or their body parts from Australia, except for cases where it is regulated by the law. The legal status of the dingo and other wild dogs varies across the Australian federal states and territories:

• Northern Territory: the dingo is regarded as protected, not threatened and native (due to its ecological impact) under the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (2000). Dingoes in the Northern Territory are regarded as having an important conservational value since interbreeding of dingoes and other domestic dogs is low in the area. However dingoes can be legally killed when they are a danger for the livestock industry.
• Western Australia: Dingoes and their hybrids are regarded as declared animals und the Agriculture and Related Resources Protection Act (1976). Populations have to be controlled and can be kept as pets under certain conditions. Control measures are strictly confined to livestock areas and other domestic dogs are controlled in general. Dingoes are also regarded as unprotected native fauna under the Western Australian Wildlife Conservation Act (1950). Although not protected, dingoes are normally not hunted without permission in conservation areas.
• South Australia: Dingoes and their hybrids are appointed pests in the sheep areas south of the Dingo fence under the Animal and Plant Control Board (Agricultural Protection and Other Purposes) Act (1986). There they have to be controlled and can only be kept in captivity of authorized zoos and wildlife parks. North of the Dingo fence dingoes are regarded as legitimate wildlife and although they are not protected, they are given a certain protection in a puffer zone of 35 km northern of the Dingo fence.
• Queensland: Dingoes and their hybrids are regarded as pests under the Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act 2002. All landowners are legally committed to reduce the number of all wild dogs on their lands. The dingo is regarded as wildlife and native wildlife under the Nature Conservation Act (1992) and is a natural resource (therefore protected) in conservation areas. Outside of these areas dingoes are not regarded as native Australian and are not protected. Dingoes and their hybrids can only be kept in wildlife parks and zoos with ministerial agreement.
• New South Wales: The Rural Lands Protection Act (1998) allocates wild dogs the status of pests and demands from landowners, that they shall be decimated or eradicated. Although dingoes are not regarded as protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act (1974), they are granted full protection in national parks. The dingo is regarded as an native species under the Threatened Species Conservation Act (1995), since these dogs had established populations before the European colonization. The Wild Dog Destruction Act (1921) includes dingoes in its definition of wild dogs. This law only affects the western part of the state, where landowners are committed to control wild dogs. The law forbids the ownership of dingoes in that region, except when you have a legal permission. In other parts of the federal state dingoes can be kept as pets due to the Companion Animals Act (1998).
• Australian Capital Territory: Dingoes are regarded as protected under the Nature Conservation Act (1980). On private land killing of wild dogs is allowed when you have permission from the state.
• Victoria: Wild dogs are regarded as established pests under the Catchment and Land Protection Act (1994) and landowners (except from the Commonwealth) have the legal duty to hinder the spreading of wild dogs on their lands and to eradicate the
  
  
  
  
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