Thedingo is a wilddog fromAustralia. They are not found inTasmania, where the sea levels cut the island off from mainland Australia about 10,000 years ago.[1]
The earliest known dingo remains were found inWestern Australia. It dates to 3,450 years ago. However, thegenes show that the dingo reached Australia 8,300 years ago. The humans which brought them are unknown. Dingo morphology has not changed over the past 3,500 years: this suggests thatartificial selection has not been done over this period.[2]
Their scientific name,Canis lupus (wolf)dingo, was changed recently fromCanis familiaris (dog)dingo.[3] This was to show it is related to the white footed wolf which lives in Asia.
Dingos (or Dingoes) are usually between 117 cm to 124 cm in length. Their tail is about 30 cm in length. They usually weigh between 10 kg and 20 kg. The colour of their fur is usually yellow-ginger, but can sometimes include tan, black, white or sandy colours. They live for about 14 years.
Dingos live in packs of between 3 and 12, but they can be seen alone as well. The leaders are the alpha male and the alpha female and are usually the only pair to breed. Young dingos are called "cubs". The breeding season is in March and April. After agestation of 63 days, the adult females usually give birth to 4-5 cubs in a litter.[4] Mothers willregurgitate food for the cubs to eat.[5] They become independent of their mother after four to eight months of age.
Dingos do not bark like other dogs, but they do howl.[5]
While some people keep dingos as pets, they are regarded as a pest by farmers. They are controlled by trapping, shooting, poisoning (withsodium monofluoroacetate), and fences.[3] The dingo fence which runs throughSouth Australia, and then along theNew South Wales border through to centralQueensland is the world's longest fence.[3] Dingos are protected in national parks and reserves.
It is illegal to have a dingo as a pet in South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania. In Victoria and the Northern Territory, you have to have a special permit to keep a dingo.[6] The dingo can be a dangerous animal: they have attacked people at times. On April 30, 2001, a nine-year-old boy was attacked and killed onFraser Island by a dingo.[7] A dingo is believed to have killed a baby,Azaria Chamberlain, atUluru in August, 1980.[8] This became a world famous case when her mother was sent to jail for murdering the baby. She was later found innocent and released.Evil Angels, a book about Azaria by John Bryson, was made into amovie starringMeryl Streep.
↑Jackson, Stephen; Groves, Colin 2015.Taxonomy of Australian mammals. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. pp. 287–290.ISBN 978-1-4863-0013-6
↑Smith, Bradley P.; Cairns, Kylie M.; Adams, Justin W.; Newsome, Thomas M.; Fillios, Melanie; Déaux, Eloïse C.; Parr, William C.H.; Letnic, Mike; Van Eeden, Lily M.; Appleby, Robert G.; Bradshaw, Corey J. A.; Savolainen, Peter; Ritchie, Euan G.; Nimmo, Dale G.; Archer-Lean, Clare; Greenville, Aaron C; Dickman, Christopher R.; Watson, Lyn; Moseby, Katherine E.; Doherty, Tim H.; Wallach, Adrian D.; Morrant, Damian S.; Crowther, Mathew S. 2019. Taxonomic status of the Australian dingo: the case forCanis dingo Meyer, 1793.Zootaxa 4564 (1): 173–197.
↑3.03.13.2"The Dingo".Native Animal Fact Sheets. Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water. Archived fromthe original on 2009-07-06. Retrieved2009-11-14.
