Dingo || Description, Characteristics and Facts!

The dingo (Canis familiaris, Canis familiaris dingo, Canis dingo, or Canis lupus dingo) is an ancient (basal) lineage of dog found in Australia. Its taxonomic classification is debated; as per the variety of scientific names presently applied in different publications, it is variously considered a form of domestic dog not warranting recognition as subspecies; a subspecies of dog and/or wolf; or a full species in its own right. It is a medium-sized canine that possesses a lean, hardy body adapted for speed, agility, and stamina. The dingo's three main coat colourations are light ginger or tan, black and tan, or creamy white. The skull is wedge-shaped and appears large in proportion to the body.

The earliest known dingo fossil, found in Western Australia, dates to 3,450 years ago, which led to the presumption that dingoes came to Australia with seafarers before that time, possibly from south-west Sulawesi in modern-day Indonesia. Dingo morphology has not changed over the past 3,500 years: this suggests that no artificial selection has been applied over this period.

The dingo is closely related to the New Guinea singing dog: their lineage split early from the lineage that led to today's domestic dogs, and can be traced back through the Malay Archipelago to Asia. A recent genetic study shows that the lineage of those dingoes found today in the northwestern part of the Australian continent split from the lineage of the New Guinea singing dog and southeastern dingo 6,300 BC, followed by a split between the New Guinea singing dog lineage from the southeastern dingo lineage 5,800 BC. The study proposes that two dingo migrations occurred when sea levels were lower and Australia and New Guinea formed one landmass named Sahul that existed until 6,500–8,000 years ago.

The dingo's habitat covers most of Australia, but they are absent in the southeast and Tasmania, and an area in the southwest (see map). As Australia's largest extant terrestrial predator, dingoes prey on mammals up to the size of the large red kangaroo, in addition to birds, reptiles, fish, crabs, frogs, insects, and seeds. The dingo's competitors include the native quoll, the introduced European red fox and the feral cat. A dingo pack usually consists of a mated pair, their offspring from the current year, and sometimes offspring from the previous year.

The first British colonists who settled at Port Jackson in 1788 recorded dingoes living with indigenous Australians, and later at Melville Island in 1818, and the lower Darling and Murray rivers in 1862, indicating that dingoes were under some form of domestication by aboriginal Australians. When livestock farming began expanding across Australia in the early 19th century, dingoes began preying on sheep and cattle. Numerous population-control measures have been implemented since then, with only limited success. The dingo is recognised as a native animal under the laws of all Australian jurisdictions.

The dingo plays a prominent role in the Dreamtime stories of indigenous Australians; however, it rarely appears depicted in their cave paintings when compared with the extinct thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian wolf or Tasmanian tiger.