Order:		Carnivora
Family:		Canidae

SIZE:		HEAD AND BODY LENGTH	860 - 980 mm (males)
			880 - 890 mm (females)
		TAIL LENGTH:	290 - 380 mm (males)
			260 - 380 mm (females)
		WEIGHT:	11.8 - 19.4 kg (males)
			9.6 - 16.0 kg (females)
IDENTIFICATION:	Typically ginger colour with white points, some black with tan points, rarely completely white. Ears pricked, bushy tail. Compared with Canis familiaris familiaris, the skull of Canis familiaris dingo has a narrower snout, larger auditory bullae, larger and more slender canine teeth, and longer carnassial teeth.
RECENT SYNONYMS:	Canis dingo
OTHER COMMON NAMES:	Dog, Wild Dog, Warrigal.
STATUS:	Common.
REFERENCES:	Corbett, L. and A.E. Newsome (1975). Dingo society and its maintenance: a preliminary analysis. (in) M. Fox (ed.) The Wild Canids, Their Systematics, Behavioural Ecology and Evolution. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York. 369-79. Green, G. and P. Catling (1977). The biology of the dingo. (in) H. Messel and S. Butler (eds). Australian Animals and their Environment. Shakespeare Head, Sydney, 25-48.

Canids are rather unspecialised carnivores with long muzzles, erect ears and strong claws (which cannot be retracted). They are opportunistic predators on a wide range of vertebrates and invertebrates but most species will also eat soft fruits. An adult male and female usually associate as a permanent pair and cooperate in rearing the young. Many canid species are social and may hunt in packs.

The Dingo is a member of an equatorial group of primitive dogs (New Guinea, south-eastern Asia, northern Africa) that differ from the domestic Dog, among other features, in breeding only once a year (twice in the domestic Dog). It is a relatively new member of the Australian fauna and its origins are as yet unknown but it is thought to have been introduced by Aborigines. The oldest fossil to have been reliably date is an almost complete skeleton estimated to have an age of about 3,000 years but another specimen has been allotted a less strongly substantiated age of 8,000 years. The absence of the Dingo from Tasmania suggests that it did not reach southern Australia before Bass Strait was formed (about 14,000 years ago) and its absence from the island may have contributed to the survival there, until recent times, of the Thylacine. Its extinction on the mainland is reasonably attributed to an inability to compete with the Dingo.

In south-eastern Australia, the Dingo favours the edges of forests where these meet heathlands or grasslands. Such areas are also the habitat of the Common Wombat, Swamp Wallaby, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and the feral Rabbit - all of which are eaten by the Dingo. In arid and semi-arid country, distribution is restricted by its need for access to drinking water but if mammalian food is available in winter it may not need to drink daily.

Individuals usually occupy a well-defined home range, the size of which varies with terrain and the abundance of prey. It is an opportunistic predator but mammalss usually comprise about 60% of the diet, reptiles and birds making up the remainder. There is a flexible social system whereby prey of different sizes can be exploited: when small game predominate, it is mainly a solitary hunter; when large prey are available, groups may hunt cooperatively. Mating occurs from autumn to early winter and, after a gestation of about 9 weeks, litters of 3 to 4 pups (as few as 1 and possibly as many as 8) are born from late winter to spring.

In central Australia, rodents and rabbits are the most common prey but macropods predominate in the diet in south-eastern Australia. Domestic livestock may be taken but, in eastern Australia, this comprises no more than about 2% of the food intake. Occasionally, the Dingo is responsible for large losses of sheep but such predation is sporadic and usually quite localised. The value of stock lost by such attacks is unknown but probably varies with prevailing conditions and is difficult to assess. Whatever this may be, it must be considered in the context of the other mammals that are preyed upon. Such species as the feral Rabbit and Pig might compete with sheep and cattle for plant food and, in the absence of predation, might be more serious pests.

Because sheep are sometimes included in its diet, the Dingo has long been regarded as a pest: the longest fence in the world was erected in an attempt to exclude it from eastern and southern grazing lands. Particularly in Western Australia it is regarded as a hazard to sheep and over much of the continent the decision whether to graze sheep or cattle is largely determined by the extent of control of local Dingo populations. Control is exercised mainly by trapping, shooting, exclusion fences and poisoning (usually with 1080). There is widespread concern that indiscriminate poisoning programmes may endanger native mammals.

The Dingo and the domestic Dog are member of the same species and can interbreed freely. Wild populations in south-eastern Australia include a high proportion of hybrids but hybridisation is less in central and northern Australia. The last stronghold of the subspecies in eastern Australia is in the forests between the Dividing Range and the coast: national parks in this region are particularly important for its conservation.

Author: A. E. Newsome, The Australian Museum Complete Book of Australian Mammals, Angus & Robertons Publishers, 1983