Dingo's

[persephone]

They are in perfect condition

Dingoes , AFAIK will not pull down a full grown cow/donkey ..but will take newborns, or the sick or old .they eat lots of small mammals/ground nesting birds, reptiles etc... as well as roos/young emus ...rabbits.

[Are You Serious Jo]

I've got a bit of experience with pure dingos and sorry, but they don't look pure.

Morphological methods of distinguishing dingoes from hybrids are extremely unreliable. I wouldn't be confident of stating either way without a DNA test quite frankly. That is the main problem with the culling - there is no reliable way of choosing how to shoot hybrids only and alot of information concerning the dingo is biased and colloquial - not based on scientific research.

Obviously my word cannot be taken as gospel because the only way to determine 100% is to get your hands on them and test them. But they just have something about their appearance that isn't dingo. I have done scientific work with dingos BTW, I'm quite fond of them and am not advocating shooting these guys based on my word. I may actually be putting out the word to rehome some shortly, 100% pure. If you are interested in seeing some of the work I was involved in watch catalyst tonight, my buddy has a story on his PhD dingo cognitive work.

[gemibabe]

ah they are all good. they pulled down an injured roo the other day and had a mighty feast.

[GeckoTree]

Hi all, Been a while...

I work on a North WA minesite and we have Dingo's that visit us in the evenings while working. They only come around the lighting plants as the amount of grasshoppers they feed on are plentiful.

They look skinny though. If the minesite report to the owner of the land (a farmer) he will shoot them..

Is there perhaps a dingo rescue mob that could capture and relocate or rehome them in a wildlife sanction somewhere?

So far I've noticed a small pack of 3 - all about the same age - roughly 12 months going on height.

I suggest you leave them alone and let them be.

[gemibabe]

thanks for that insight GT, pretty much thought this was done and dusted... and the fact that they are feeding and hunting makes me a happy camper.

[aussiezrule]

I look on ARAZPA later, but the number in captivity is too small to maintain them as a species for very long. Then there is the issue of the different phenotypes from different regions, which makes each subset captive population even smaller. I'm pretty sure Wilton has devised a very accurate method to determine purity based on phenotype of living dingos now, whereas before you had to have the actual cleaned skull. I'd talk to the WA dingo people though, but as others have said, not much they can do and you can only hope they hurry up and move away.

There is a DNA test available that can test for purity. There are other differences such as larger canines in proportion to a dog skull of the same size.

Dingos are a wolf in the subspecies Canis lupis dingo, but unfortunatley due to domestic dogs social structure and breeding experts believe dingos could be extinct in the next 20 years.

True there would not be enough animals in captivity to preserve the species and it can be difficult to keep them in captivity in any more than pairs due to the nature of their social structure. This is probably why most zoos only keep a couple of dingos at a time.

Karen

[MalteseLuna]

I look on ARAZPA later, but the number in captivity is too small to maintain them as a species for very long. Then there is the issue of the different phenotypes from different regions, which makes each subset captive population even smaller. I'm pretty sure Wilton has devised a very accurate method to determine purity based on phenotype of living dingos now, whereas before you had to have the actual cleaned skull. I'd talk to the WA dingo people though, but as others have said, not much they can do and you can only hope they hurry up and move away.

There is a DNA test available that can test for purity. There are other differences such as larger canines in proportion to a dog skull of the same size.

Dingos are a wolf in the subspecies Canis lupis dingo, but unfortunatley due to domestic dogs social structure and breeding experts believe dingos could be extinct in the next 20 years.

True there would not be enough animals in captivity to preserve the species and it can be difficult to keep them in captivity in any more than pairs due to the nature of their social structure. This is probably why most zoos only keep a couple of dingos at a time.

Karen

Actually the most recent scientific evidence suggests that they are a a dog i.e. Canis lupus familiaris dingo not a subspecies of the wolf i.e. Canis lupus dingo.

The problem with dingo-dog hybridisation has been largely brought about because dingo control measures (baiting, culling etc) break apart the natural dingo pack structure making them more easily infiltrated by wandering domesticated dogs. Additionally culling and baiting allows non-dominant females to begin breeding as well (no social structure to inhibit) so there are more females breeding + less social barriers to dogs-dingoes breeding... more hybrids... Of course its more complicated than this but that's the simple story. Once hybrids are present in the wild they are much better at integrating into wild dingo packs so the cycle continues.

There are similar issues found in wild populations of buffalo, wild cats etc where domesticated forms are hybridizing with the wild species and posing serious threats to the wild species integrity.

They are essentially an ancient undifferentiated dog with an east-asian origin. They are closely related to other ancient dogs (Pariah dogs) like the Basenji, NGSD etc. Their not being a wolf doesn't mean they aren't important - they play a huge role in the ecology of Australia as they are the top-level terrestrial carnivore and help to exclude invasive introduced species like feral cats and foxes. Additionally they show humans what the original dog might have looked and behaved like.

There is a DNA test available - UNSW scientists run this test (and developed it).

There are a number of sanctuaries which have largeish populations of dingoes (upwards of 15 dingoes each) - these sanctuaries sole purpose is to preserve and conserve the dingo unlike Zoos which are largely interested in profits. Alot of the zoos are phasing out dingoes as they don't draw big crowds like the elephants, hippos, tigers etc. It is very sad that Australian wildlife isn't given pride of place in Australian zoos - we have some of the most unique animals in the world which are found nowhere else i.e. Marsupials and Monotremes.

If anyone has questions or wants to learn more I am happy to direct you to papers/books and answer questions (if I can) - just PM me. I am currently involved in scientific research on the dingo