The Dingo, Canis familiaris breed Dingo , is a placental mammal which means it gives birth to live young, feeds its young via mammary glands that produce milk and has fur or hair of some form. The colour of a Dingo's coat is largely determined by where it lives. The 'standard' coat colour is ginger with white feet.
However, in the desert areas, the fur is more golden yellow while in forested areas the fur can be a darker tan to black. The body fur is short while the tail is quite bushy. Its dog-like appearance with a relatively broad head and erect ears, makes the Dingo Australia's largest mammal carnivore. With canine teeth longer than those of a domestic dog, the dingo's muzzle is also longer and tapered.
Get our monthly emails for amazing animals, research insights and museum events. Generally speaking, Dingoes can live in a wide range of habitats found on the Australian mainland. Their preference is woodland and grassland areas that extend to the edge of forests. They are only limited by access to viable water sources. The introduction of agriculture by early European settlers and the fear of predation of livestock, saw their range reduced.
Having been in Australia for around 4, years, Dingoes inhabited many parts of mainland Australia but never reached Tasmania. After European colonisation and the growth of pastoralisation, there was a concerted effort to remove Dingoes from farming areas. As a result, Dingoes are mostly absent from many parts of New South Wales, Victoria, the south-eastern third of South Australia and from the southern-most tip of Western Australia.
Dingoes are regarded as common throughout the remainder of Australia except in the arid eastern half of Western Australia, nearby parts of South Australia and the Northern Territory. Dingoes are opportunistic carnivores. Mammals form the main part of their diet especially rabbits, kangaroos, wallabies and wombats. When native species are scarce they are known to hunt domestic animals and farm livestock. This makes them very unpopular with pastoralists.
Failing this, the Dingo will eat reptiles and any food source it can find including insects and birds. Scavenging at night, the Dingo is a solitary hunter but will form larger packs when hunting bigger game. It is thought that the Dingo contributed to the extinction of mainland Thylacines Tasmanian Tiger by becoming competition for the available food sources. Dingoes display a clearly defined territory which is rarely left and often defended against other Dingoes.
However, territory is known to be shared when Dingoes form packs for hunting. Habits and Lifestyle Generally, dingoes are sociable animals, gathering in packs to mate and socialize. Group name. Diet and Nutrition They are carnivorous animals, consuming a wide variety of food from water buffalo to insects.
Diet Carnivore, Scavenger. Not evaluated NE. Population Population threats One of the major threats to the dingo population is human persecution: in agricultural lands and pastures, these animals are frequently poisoned, trapped, and shot. Ecological niche This dog is the primary mammalian carnivore of Australia.
Fun Facts for Kids Wrists of dingoes are very flexible and able to rotate. Due to this ability, the paws act like hands, allowing the animal to even turn a door handle. Along with the wrists, the head of the dingo is extremely agile, turning degrees in each direction.
According to research, conducted at Sydney's University of New South Wales, the dingo is likely to be the oldest breed of dog in the world. They usually hunt at night, able to travel up to 37 miles per night in search of food. The habit of hiding remains of their food under the ground makes dingoes quite similar to dogs. Tamed dingoes served the early Aboriginals as living bottles with hot water, keeping them warm at night.
There's a recorded case of a female dingo, moving 6 pups one by one over 9 km distance in a single night, thus making a journey of km in just one night. References 1. Included in Lists Mammals of Australia. Related Animals African Golden Wolf. Eastern Wolf. Arctic Wolf. Mexican Gray Wolf. Indian Wolf. Vancouver Island Wolf. Northwestern Wolf. Grey Wolf. Virginia Opossum. Nile Crocodile. White Rhinoceros. Giant Panda. Pups reach adulthood by the time they are seven months old by which time they may strike out on their own or remain with their parents for some of the time.
Male dingoes become sexually active at about one year of age, and females become sexually mature by two years of age. Dingoes breed once a year between March and June. Usually, it is only the alpha male and alpha female of the pack that breed. All other members of the pack help to raise the pups.
During the mating period members of the pack become more territorial using growling, barking and other dominance behaviour to defend their territory. The dingo was the first large placental carnivore to arrive on the Australian continent about 5, years ago. Since this time, there is clear evidence that two of the biggest native marsupial predators slowly became extinct.
These are the Tasmanian tiger Thylacine and Tasmanian devil. As a result, it quickly out-competed its native counterparts and drove them to extinction. Many other species of Australian animals also became extinct after the arrival of the dingo. Dingoes is not a serious threat to the Australian habitat. Some scientists have suggested that it fills an important ecological niche. Being the only large carnivore left on mainland Australia, it helps in keeping the native kangaroo and wallaby populations in balance.
This function was once fulfilled by the thylacine Tasmanian tiger and Tasmanian devil, both of which became extinct on the mainland. Ironically their extinction may have been due to competition from the dingo. More importantly, it also kills other introduced feral animals such as the destructive rabbit , goat, and wild pig. An adult dingo has few nature predators.
To a lesser extent dingoes, especially young dingoes, are killed by crocodiles and birds of prey. Humans are the biggest threat to their safety. Considered pests by farmers and pastoralists because they kill domestic livestock, they are frequently poisoned and shot when they venture near these properties. Truly "pure" dingoes are extremely rare.
It is estimated that there are between 10,, left. Because of interbreeding with domestic dogs and the subsequent dilution of its gene pool, there is a high probability that the "pure" dingo subspecies may become extinct. For this reason, the conservation status of the dingo is listed as vulnerable. Humans frequently forget that dingoes are wild animals.
Wild means just that — they are unpredictable and behave like the opportunistic, aggressive carnivorous they are. Luckily dingo attacks on humans are very rare. Dingoes usually hunt other wild animals. However, when food is scarce, or the opportunity arises, they will also hunt and kill livestock such as calves, sheep, lambs, goats, and chickens. This makes them unpopular with farmers and pastoralist.
In areas populated by humans, dingoes have been known to kill domestic pets such as cats and dogs. Dingoes are wild animals that usually keep away from humans. Attacks on humans are very rare but gain much publicity in the media.
Where attacks do occur, they are usually a result of human stupidity or carelessness. Dingoes have attacked people who have come too close to them, fed them, or have foolishly tried to pet them. On rare occasions, they have been reported to have attacked young children; seeing them as a food source. Most of the reported dingo attacks in Australia take place on Fraser Island in Queensland. This island is a popular tourist attraction — its main attractions are the dingoes there.
Unfortunately, despite all the warning signs, people still do silly, careless things that result in serious injuries to themselves. A German tourist, in wandered away from his camp-site, got disorientated and fell asleep on a track.
He was attacked by dingoes and suffered serious injuries to his head, legs, and arms. In the same year, another man was walking alone on the beach at 10 PM when he too was attacked by four dingoes. A three-year-old toddler was attacked when she wandered away from her parents and into the bushes close by.
The most famous case of a dingo attack was that of two-month-old Azaria Chamberlain who, her mother claimed was snatched by a dingo from their camp-site at Uluru in central Australia on 17 August
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