Gary Taylor Photography
* Dingoes are not dogs or derived from wolves. They have been classified as their own unique species. They are now acknowledged at species level as Canis Dingo following the description of the dingo by Crowther et al, in the journal of zoology (2014).
The Australian Government also accepts that the dingo is a native species and is aware of the research on the ecological benefits of Apex Predators such as the dingo.
* While dingoes are threatened in some areas, they are also managed as pests in other areas.
* Dingoes have a very strict hierarchy and regularly mate with one partner for life.
* Unlike dogs, female dingoes have only one oestrus period each year and some do not breed in droughts. (march to june).
*Dingoes have four biological seasons per year. They are breeding, whelping, rearing and training.
* The Alpha (dominant) pair are usually the only successful breeders of the pack.
* Gestation takes around 63 days (range is 61-69 days)
* Litters are anything from 1 to 10 pups, and are whelped during the winter months, usually in an underground den.
* Pups can stay with their parents for up to two years.
* Males participate in weaning and teaching the pups.
* Dingoes do not bark like a dog, but can mimick. They howl, yelp, chortle, whine, snort, growl chatter, cough and purr.
* A dingoes skull is the broadest part of its anatomy. This assures the dingo that its body will follow its head through any obstacle, no matter how tight the squeeze is.
* Dingoes can run 60km/hour and can travel 40km plus a day. They climb trees and a very high jumpers.
* As a natural predator - dingoes lack body odour.
* The dingo is a flexible canid in limbs and hips. They can rotate their wrists and dislocate their hips. These aid in hunting and moving through burrows etc.
* Dingoes have much sharper and larger canine teeth than dogs.
* The dingo was and still is a highly valued companion to the Aboriginal people who used them for warmth at night, hunting companions and guard dogs.
Facts at a glance:
VARIATIONS IN COLOUR AND FORM.
The dingo comes in many colour variations, the most common being ginger and can be found throughout the mainland.
Dingoes with a sandy yellow or sable coat are typically found along the coast, while black, black and tan variations are mostly found in heavily forested areas and account for around 8% of the natural populations. White and cream are typically found in the Alpine regions and account for 2% of the natural populations.
Variations in physical form exist within the natural dingo populations.
Desert and tropical dingoes are lean with narrower heads.
Fraser Island and coastal dingoes tend to be lean and long in the legs with larger foot pads.
Alpine dingoes are stockier with a broader, triangular head with a thick double coat.
The combinations of colour and form assist each variety in adapting to the challenges of their environments.
Yellow
Sandy-yellow coat with a white under body that often extends to the cheek. With common white socks and white tail tip. Nose and lips are usually black.
Sable
Sandy coat shadowed by a solid brown-black mask.
With common white under body with white socks and tail tip. Nose and lips usually black.
Cream
Cream-primrose coat which may be solid or feature lighter coloured under body extending to cheek or muzzle. Pink nose and black lips are usual.
Ginger
Red-ginger coat with a white under-body that often extends to the cheek. With common white socks and white tail tip. Nose and lips are usually black.
Black
Black chocolate coat with tan and white under body extending to the cheek and ears. White socks are common. Nose and lips are usually black.
White
White-ivory coat that appears solid with the exception of cream-primrose ears. Usually pink nose and black lips.
Dingoes have much sharper and larger teeth than dogs.
With teeth being spread further apart and not as crowded
The dingo has super flexibity.
If you study the dingo carefully you would have noticed how...that dingoes are engineered by nature to have a wide head coupled with a narrow chest.
This is to allow the entire body to follow where the head can squeeze. It is a survival trait which, generally, domestic dogs do not share..
Canis Dingo are truly unique...
Their agility is truly amazing and that more of a felines....
They are contortionists!!!
They have 180 degree peripheral vision without even turning their heads....
Their hearing is so acute that nothing goes unheard, even the heartbeat of a snake can be heard...
The dingoes front paws (hands) are used just as we use our own hands and wrists....Their tools!!
They also have inbuilt springs and are so self efficient and such a capable species...
Dingoes suppress foxes and cats!
Dingoes do not bark like dogs, but they can mimmick. Dingoes have several vocalisations. Howling is used to locate individuals and warn off strangers. They mostly howl, chortle, whine, snort, growl chatter, cough and purr.... Dingoes have quiet a broad vocal repertoire which are used in several situations such as during social interactions, when changes in the environment are noticed, in food-associated groupings and for large range communication. Which are generalised at locating mating partners, to locate other dingoes for regrouping, to express alarm, to warn pups and others of danger, and to signal when they find water. These are just a few.
Dingoes have three basic forms of howling (moans, bark-howl, and snuffs) with at least 10 variations. Usually, three kinds of howls are distinguished: long and persistent, rising and ebbing, and short and abrupt.
Every kind of howl 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 they become more widely distributed within their home range. Additionally, howling seems to have a group-function and is sometimes an expression of joy (for example, greeting-howls). It can happen that one dingo starts to howl, and several or all other dingoes 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 dingoes, 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. Moreover, it has been proposed that their highly variable chorus howls may generate a confounding effect to the receivers by making a pack size appear large - amazing species our Canis Dingo
Although it's rare to hear a dingo bark, they do.
A dingo bark is a lot sharper and more abrupt than that of domestic dogs.
The bark howl is an agitated cry, started by one or several barks usually followed by a plateau howl.
The bark howl is usually directed towards a threat.
Then we have the snuff bark, which generally occurs when dingoes are startled, or unsure whether something is a threat. The sound is like a repeated sneeze. They take in air to smell the scent of an intruder so they can identify whether to fight or flee.
They have nasal sounds, growl and snarl, woof and bark, howls, bark howl, whimper and whine and a yelp.
Vocals:
I' 7 April 2014
Neither domestic dog nor wolf: dingo a distinct species
The dingo has been classified as a distinct Australian animal following research that sheds new light on its defining physical characteristics.
While coat colour is not a defining characteristic of dingoes, a relatively broad head with a long snout, as well as erect ears and a bushy tail are.
The study also resurrects the species name Canis dingo, first published by German naturalist Friedrich Meyer in 1793.
The University of NSW’s (UNSW’s) Dr Mike Letnic is senior author on the study, which was led by Dr Mathew Crowther of the University of Sydney. The research is published in the Journal of Zoology.
Confusion over whether or not the dingo is a distinct species partly originates from the scientific classification of the Australian dingo, which was based on a simple drawing and description in the journal of Australia’s first governor, Arthur Phillip, without reference to a physical specimen.
To find a specimen of a dingo unlikely to have cross-bred with domestic dogs, the researchers searched museum collections in Europe, Australia and America that contained specimens known or likely to pre-date 1900, including those from archaeological sites.
The team then examined 69 skull specimens and six skin specimens to create a benchmark description of the dingo. The physical features that define the animal were found to be a relatively broad head with a long snout, as well as erect ears and a bushy tail.
‘Now any wild canid – dingo, dog, or hybrid of the two – can be judged against that classification,’ says Dr Crowther, from the University of Sydney’s School of Biological Sciences.
‘We can also conclusively say that the dingo is a distinctive Australian wild canid or member of the dog family in its own right, separate from dogs and wolves. The appropriate scientific classification is Canis dingo, as they appear not to be descended from wolves, are distinct from dogs and are not a subspecies.’
Dr Letnic, from the UNSW School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, says: ‘Many Australians like to think that dingoes are always yellow and that animals with any other colouration are not dingoes. This is untrue.’
‘One of our insights is that coat colour does not define an animal as a dingo, dog or a hybrid. We found that dingoes can be tan, dark, black and tan, white, or can have the sable coloration typical of German Shepherd dogs.’
Australia’s largest land predator, dingoes have an important role in conservation through their regulation of species such as kangaroos, wallabies and invasive red foxes. A sounder understanding of dingo numbers, based on this clearer identification, will improve our understanding of their role in biodiversity.
‘Distinguishing dingoes from their hybrids (cross-breeds) with feral dogs is a practical concern. Current policies in parts of Australia support the conservation of dingoes but the extermination of “dingo-dogs”, which are considered a major pest because they kill livestock,’ says Dr Crowther.
Dingoes were introduced to Australia many thousands of years ago, with genetic evidence suggesting they originated from East Asian domestic dogs. They bred in isolation until the arrival of domestic dogs after European settlement.
‘That made distinguishing dingoes from dogs problematic, as the DNA tests and analyses of their physical structure were based on dingoes whose ancestry was not known. They were either captive animals or wild animals of uncertain ancestry,’ says Dr Crowther.
Source: UNSW
The government is spending millions of tax payers dollars each year, to slaughter our largest and most important land predators!
Most of you should already know that Dingoes keep populations of rabbits,roos, wallabies, common possums, wombats etc in check.
But do you know that Dingoes prevent diseases from becoming epidemics by culling the old and weak amidst their prey...
Scientists know that ecosystems unravel when Apex Predators are deliberately slaughtered.
The dingoes head has a very large brain and extremely large jaw bones. If their head fits into a space, the rest of the body can squeeze through too.
“If the young dingoes lose their parents, the extended family is fractured.
The social integrity of the group is destroyed; the young dingoes are uneducated about hunting kangaroos and wallabies and it leads to stock predation.
The greatest problems are where war is initiated.
“If baiting is stopped the dingoes will settle down. If farmers can weather the storm temporarily, ultimately they will benefit.”
Dingo study prooves dingoes are not related to dogs...
Dingo study prooves dingoes are not related to dogs:
An article appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald (page 12, March 29, 2014) titled, Dog Gone: Scientists Confirm the Dingo is a Unique Species, should have begun a lively intellectual debate over all manner of related historical and genetic issues. Afterall, “for the first time scientists have confirmed the dingo is a species in its own right”. However in today’s ignorant academic climate, we have no doubt this paper will have its 15 minutes of tabloid fame and then disappear as yesterday’s quirky news byte.
Led by Dr. Mathew Crowther of Sydney University, PhD in ecology and evolution, the research team “tracked down 19th century dingo specimens that lived before interbreeding with European dogs became widespread”, and conducted extensive research on “a mix of skeletons, skins and preserved specimens”. This enabled them to guarantee the pure lineage of the dingoes they studied – something other previous researchers cannot claim. In a less-than-glowing assessment of the methodologies of previous studies, Crowther noted that until now, “everyone has based their descriptions [of pure blood dingoes] on the drawing of a dingo in the journal of the first Australian governor, Arthur Phillip”, sketched by the former Navy-man between 1788 and 1795.
According to Dr. Mike Letnic (BSc and PhD) from Sydney University’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, the researchers found that “the dingo is distinct from what we describe as a domestic dog; it’s a distinct form of canid”. Dr. Crowther went on to conclude that dingoes “appeared not to be descended from wolves, were distinct from dogs and were not a subspecies”.
With that being the case, then what are they? And from what animal did they descend?
Popular science previously alleged (and taught as fact) that all dogs evolved from wolves, and that as a logical consequence, all canines – including dingoes – are related despite the passing of time and degrees of separation. But if genetically “distinct from dogs” and “not descended from wolves”, what are these dog-like creatures? A meat-eating species of wild rabbit?? Or a unique genetic classification of their own?
As the findings of this research don’t accord with any accepted theory of how the dingo got to Australia, we can therefore discard previously held notions of this non-dog being related to dogs in India or anywhere else on the planet for that matter. Logic and science both demand there was no dingo interaction with any wolf or dog outside Australia. Furthermore, as the dingo bears no genetic link to any other canid, then common-sense indicates it didn’t come from elsewhere, but from the time of its genesis in Australia it was a separate species and remained so until the British Invasion.
Genetic Analysis...
Dingoes are genetically distinct from dogs as they display different microsatellite markers (mitochondrial DNA), mtDNA halotypes (nuclear DNA) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). These differences can be substantial enough to determine whether a dingo is pure or hybrid.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Alan Wilton from the University of New South Wales developed a dingo purity test. He compared microsatellite variation (short sequences of DNA in captive dingoes that were believed dingo phenotype) with previously described microsatellites from domestic dogs, and found distinct differences.
The out come was a pay-for- service dingo purity test that provides a probability as to whether the genetic sample was more likely to be from a domestic dog, a hybrid dingo-dog or a pure dingo.
There are observable characteristics of dingoes that can be used to disguish them from dogs. For example, dingoes have extremely flexible joints, a scent gland located on their tail, no body odour, the head/skull is the widest part of their body, and no hind dew claws. They differ from dogs regarding the placement of their fore and hind feet when walking.
Dingoes choose a mate for life and when it's partner dies, it is not uncommon for the living mate to "mourn itself to death".
The dingoes joints in their paws are all double jointed, allowing them to rotate their wrist joints, giving them enormous range in extracting eggs, opening gates or doors, etc with their paws.
Dingoes have peripheral vision of 180 degrees without turning their head.
From the moment a dingo is born they immediately bond with their mother.
A good solid pack structure is vital in order to function as a proper dingo. Our top land predator.
Teaching the pups what to eat is more than just food-it's the different flavours of meat and the smell associated with that meat- that they know what to eat and what to hunt.
Without these lessons the pups won't know what to hunt which can result in them catching easier prey like farm animals. That's when they become a problem for graziers!
That is why it is so important to keep the adults alive and so they can teach the pups how to live in the wild. This is essential pack behaviour.
Through pack schooling the young pups grow up to be effective predators so as ensuring that grazing animals do not get out of control, so maintaining the natural balance.
The dingo is so unique...
The dingo clearly occupies a stable and significant role in Australian ecosystems, but it's not regarded as a native species even though it is recognised by the commonwealth! Instead it is treated as an introduced pest, with the goal of dingo management typically being to hold numbers at very low density or achieve local eradication.
The dingo is a keystone species protecting mammal biodiversity.
They need to cease management of dingoes as they deserve to be seen as an essential element of biodiversity conservation in Australia. There is evidence that dingo predation regulates population sizes of its prey and other introduced species.
There is direct evidence that in the absence of dingoes, cats and foxes are a serious threat to medium to smaller sized mammals.
The general point is that the rarity of top predators such as the dingo, however it is caused, leaves prey species vulnerable to over predation by mesopredators.
DINGOES HAVE A WIDE VOCABULARY...
Just a little bit about vocal communications...
Dingoes have quiet a broad vocal repertoire which are used in several situations such as during social interactions, when changes in the environment are noticed, in food-associated groupings and for large range communication. Which are generalised at locating mating partners, to locate other dingoes for regrouping, to express alarm, to warn pups and others of danger, and to signal when they find water. These are just a few.
Although it's rare to hear a dingo bark, they do.
A dingo bark is a lot sharper and more abrupt than that of domestic dogs.
The bark howl is an agitated cry, started by one or several barks usually followed by a plateau howl.
The bark howl is usually directed towards a threat.
Then we have the snuff bark, which generally occurs when dingoes are startled, or unsure whether something is a threat. The sound is like a repeated sneeze. They take in air to smell the scent of an intruder so they can identify whether to fight or flee.
They have nasal sounds, growl and snarl, woof and bark, howls, bark howl, whimper and whine and a yelp.
Inside the dingoes mouth are larger canine and carnassial teeth, with canine teeth slightly longer and more slender.
The incissors are even, well-developed and arranged in a scissor bite.
THE BODY OF THE DINGO...
The back section of the dingo is straight and strong. The loin ( the part of the body that runs either side of the spine from the ribs to the hipbone) is long and arched, the croup (the region around the pelvis) is long. The loin shows a rise and, along with the structure of the muscle, indicates speed and agility. The ribcage is long and extends to the rear.
The croup is broad and straight. There is great length from hip to hock (the dingo's heel), the stifle (knee) angle is moderate, the hock angle is moderate. There is enough length of rear pastern to act both as a spring for jumping and as an efficient lever for speed and endurance. The entire hindquarter is powerfully muscled.
The feet are of medium size and oval shaped.
The chest is narrow in width.
The tail is set well behind the hipbones, and is of medium length. It's flattish, broadening from about one third behind the base to mid length then tapering to the end. A scent gland is positioned on the tail, identified by a dark spot.
Dingoes are efficient, top-order-predators, with strong jaws, large canines and flexible joints that enable them to bring down prey larger than themselves. They are also able to suppress meso-predators such as introduced cats and foxes...
The health of the ecosystem - its biodiversity, the condition of the soil, the rivers, the endangered species - are all tightly linked up with the dingo...
The persecution of the dingo has negatively affected the Australian ecological balance. Further research supports that this issue can only be reversed by the repopulation and reintroduction of the dingo into Australia's ecosystems.
Dingoes are Australia's top order predator and their reintroduction is what is needed to restore ecological balance. Ecological structure is stabilised and maintained by apex predators.
Dingoes suppress mesopredators (foxes and cats) and herbivores (rabbits, kangaroos, emus, goats, pigs etc), which enables small mammals (such as hopping mice, dunarts and kowaris) to increase in abundance.
Where predator control is relaxed vegetation cover and diversity also increase. The ecological influence of dingoes is so important in fact, that many native species can only persist where dingoes are present.
It is the pack that is the apex predator, not the individual dingo.
Many ecologists recognise that the persecution of the dingo since European settlement is the real reason behind Australian species extinction and land degredation.
Did you know? ... That dingoes are engineered by nature to have a wide head coupled with a narrow chest?
That is to allow the entire body to follow where the head can squeeze. It is a survival trait, which generally, domestic dogs do not share. Almost all domestic dogs exhibit a wider chest than skull.
Dingo feet are amazing. Their claws are quite large and they use them as survival tools, to dig, climb, stop, balance, catch prey and a lot of other situations in which they encounter. They are much more flexible than the domestic dogs and are more like hands.
The Dingo plays an extremely important role in our Eco-System....
They keep other herbivores in a natural balance....
In a natural environment, Dingoes prefer to eat rabbits, roos, and other feral introduced species, etc....
They "DO NOT" kill just for the hunt, like so many ignorant people assume!!
Dingoes control kangaroos and suppress foxes and feral cats, as well as protecting pastures from overgrazing by "nuisance species".
Dingoes are far from vermin and ecosystems with dingoes have better vegetation and abundant small native animals.
Baiting and killing dingoes does lead to more stock deaths!
Baiting dingoes fractures the pack dynamics and in turn causes hyperpredation and hybridization, because dingoes are socially complex, they'reparticularly sensitive to lethal control.
