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Dingo

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Mammals

                      iDingo

                             Conservation status

   Vulnerable (VU)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom:    Animalia
   Phylum:     Chordata
   Class:      Mammalia
   Order:      Carnivora
   Family:     Canidae
   Genus:      Canis
   Species:    C. lupus
   Subspecies: C. l. dingo

                               Trinomial name

   Canis lupus dingo
   ( Meyer, 1793)
           Breed classification


   ANKC:     Group 4 (Hounds)
   ARBA: Spitz and Primitive Group

   Breed standards (external link)
   ANKC

   The dingo (plural dingoes or dingos), Canis lupus dingo, is a type of
   wild dog, probably descended from the Indian Wolf (Canis lupus
   pallipes). It is commonly described as an Australian wild dog, but is
   not restricted to Australia, nor did it originate there. Modern dingoes
   are found throughout Southeast Asia, mostly in small pockets of
   remaining natural forest, and in mainland Australia, particularly in
   the north. They have features in common with both wolves and modern
   dogs, and are regarded as more or less unchanged descendants of an
   early ancestor of modern dogs. The name dingo comes from the language
   of the Eora Aboriginal people, who were the original inhabitants of the
   Sydney area. Another name for the dingo is warrigal.

Characteristics

   Dingo resting at the Australia Zoo
   Enlarge
   Dingo resting at the Australia Zoo

   At between 10 and 24 kilograms, dingoes are a little smaller than
   wolves of the northern hemisphere (in keeping with Bergmann's Rule) and
   have a lean, athletic build. They stand between 44 and 63 cm high at
   the shoulder, and the head-body length varies between 86 and 122 cm.
   Colour varies but is usually ginger: some have a reddish tinge, others
   are more sandy yellow, and some are even black; the underside is
   lighter. Alpine dingoes are found in high elevation areas of the
   Australian Alps, and grow a second thicker coat during late autumn for
   warmth which usually sheds by mid to late spring. Most dingoes have
   white markings on the chest, feet, and the tip of the tail; some have a
   blackish muzzle. They can live for up to 14 years in captivity, but
   have a more usual lifespan of 3-7 years.

   Unlike the domestic dog, dingoes breed only once a year, generally do
   not bark, and have erect ears. They have a more independent temperament
   than domestic dogs, and the skull is distinctive, with a narrower
   muzzle, larger auditory bullae, larger canine teeth, and a domed head.
   They are extremely agile and are known to climb trees.

   Wild dingoes prey on a variety of animals, mostly small or
   medium-sized, but also larger herbivores at need. They are
   opportunistic carnivores, taking prey ranging in size from lizards and
   small rodents up to sheep and kangaroos.

   Dingoes do not generally form packs; they more often travel in pairs or
   small family groups. However, they are capable of forming larger packs
   to hunt cooperatively. While dingo groups use defined home territories,
   these territories can overlap with those of other groups.

   Domestication is possible only if the dingoes are taken into captivity
   as young pups.

Origin

Earliest evidence

   The earliest known dingo skulls have been found in Vietnam and are
   about 5,500 years old. Dingo remains from 5,000 to 2,500 years old have
   been found in other parts of South-east Asia, and the earliest fossil
   record of dingoes in Australia is 3,500 years old. Very dingo-like
   bones have also been found in Israel and the West Bank dating 14,000
   years old.

   The ultimate origin of the dingo is uncertain, but it is possibly
   related to the wolves of south-west Asia, and probably arose in that
   area at about the same time as humans began to develop agriculture.

   Modern dogs are believed to be the result of artificial selection of
   various traits from a single domestication of the grey wolf about
   15,000 years ago: the modern dingo appears to be a relatively pure-bred
   descendant of one of the earliest domestications.

   It is probable that 14,000 year-old dingo-like bones found in Israel,
   and 9,000 year-old bones in the Americas are evidence of the commensal
   relationships that developed between wolves and people—as people
   migrated eastward, semi-domesticated dogs came with them. The Carolina
   Dog, often dubbed "American Dingo", shows anatomical and comportmental
   similarities with the dingo, and potential genetic links are being
   investigated at the University of South Carolina.

Introduction to Australia

   Dingo at Perth Zoo
   Enlarge
   Dingo at Perth Zoo

   Dingoes did not arrive in Australia as companions of the Aborigines
   around 50,000 years ago, but were probably brought by Austronesian
   traders much later. A study of dingo mitochondrial DNA published in
   2004 places their arrival at around 3000 BC, and suggests that only one
   small group may be the ancestors of all modern Australian dingoes.

   The dingo spread rapidly across Australia, probably with human
   assistance, and is thought to have occupied the entire continent within
   a short time. The full extent of the ecological change brought about by
   the introduction of the dingo remains unknown, but the dingo has been
   suspected to be the cause of a series of extinctions, notably of
   marsupial carnivores, including the last remaining large predator, the
   Thylacine, though this particular extinction is in doubt. It is thought
   that the co-operative pack behaviour of dingoes gave them an important
   competitive advantage over the more solitary marsupial carnivores,
   particularly during Australia's frequent droughts (when game becomes
   scarce).

Relationship with humans

   Shows areas of pure dingoes (light brown) and hybrids (green), and
   location of the Dingo fence (purple)
   Enlarge
   Shows areas of pure dingoes (light brown) and hybrids (green), and
   location of the Dingo fence (purple)

   Aboriginal people across the continent adopted the dingo as a companion
   animal, using it to assist with hunting and for warmth on cold nights.
   (The terms "two-dog night" and "three-dog night" are believed to come
   from Aboriginal idiom, describing the overnight temperature.)

   When European settlers first arrived in Australia, dingoes were
   tolerated, even welcomed at times. That changed rapidly when sheep
   became an important part of the white economy. Dingoes were trapped,
   shot on sight, and poisoned—often regardless of whether they were truly
   wild or belonged to Aboriginal people. In the 1880s, construction of
   the great Dingo Fence began. The Dingo Fence was designed to keep
   dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent
   (where they had largely been exterminated) and protect the sheep flocks
   of southern Queensland. It would eventually stretch 8500 kilometres;
   from near Toowoomba through thousands of miles of arid country to the
   Great Australian Bight and be (at that time) the longest man-made
   structure in the world. It was only partly successful: dingoes can
   still be found in parts of the southern states to this day, and
   although the fence helped reduce losses of sheep to predators, this was
   counterbalanced by increased pasture competition from rabbits and
   kangaroos.

   Dingoes have received bad publicity in recent years as a result of the
   highly publicised Azaria Chamberlain disappearance and also because of
   dingo attacks on Fraser Island in Queensland. In 2001 around 200
   dingoes lived on the island, and 20 people were attacked in the
   preceding six years. In April 2001 a nine-year-old child was killed in
   one such attack near Waddy Point on Fraser Island. This led to a cull
   of the animals which were actually protected by law. The owners of the
   island, the Ngulungbara people, fought the cull through a legal
   injunction. In all, 65 dingoes were eventually destroyed. In 2004 more
   legal battles began after a dingo entered a bedroom in Kingfisher Bay
   resort where two young children were present. More recently in
   September 2006 a dingo was shot dead by Parks and Wildlife rangers
   after attacking a four-year-old child who had been playing in shallow
   water near Eurong on the island.

   The laws concerning keeping dingoes as pets is inconsistent from one
   state to another in Australia. It is recommended that if dingoes are to
   be pets, that they be adopted at a young age in order to help them bond
   with humans. However, dingoes are wild dogs and have strong hunting
   instincts. They may kill birds and small animals, and get into tangles
   with raccoons. When hunting larger animals, dingoes hassle or annoy
   their prey until the prey is off balance or tired, and the dingoes can
   attack.; they will do the same thing when playing or interacting with
   other domestic dogs - domestic dogs misunderstand this behaviour,
   resulting in dog fights and the appearance of the dingo as the
   agressive animal. Like other hunting dogs, dingoes need to be heavily
   worked in order to be happy and they need space to run. Dingoes cannot
   be trusted off leash and they will not enjoy sitting at home on the
   couch all day. In sum, as a result of this wild hunter instinct and a
   high intelligence, dingoes do not make good domestic pets.

Potential extinction

   As a result of interbreeding with dogs introduced by European settlers,
   the purebred dingo gene pool is being swamped. By the early 1990s,
   about a third of all wild dingoes in the south-east of the continent
   were dingo/domestic dog crosses, and although the process of
   interbreeding is less advanced in more remote areas, the extinction of
   the subspecies in the wild is considered inevitable.

   Although protection within Federal National Parks, World Heritage
   areas, Aboriginal reserves, and the Australian Capital Territory is
   available for dingoes, they are at the same time classified as a pest
   in other areas. Since a lack of country-wide protection means they may
   be trapped or poisoned in many areas, in conjunction with the
   hybridisation with domestic dogs the taxon was assessed as 'Vulnerable'
   in 2004.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingo"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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