DINGO: Wild Dog From Australia

aek081969 (52)in #dogs • 9 years ago

Dingos have galloped through the plains of Australia for thousands of years. But this subspecies of the wolf, emblematic animal of the island-continent, could disappear because of the crossings with the wild or domestic dogs.

"Although he looks like a dog, with four legs and a tail that he moves, he's a wild animal," says Amanda McDowell, president of the Australian Dingo Protection Association.

Hybrid dog

The animal descended from the wolf and arrived in Australia at least 3,500 years ago, according to fossils found.

It is now threatened with extinction: some 90% of the beasts known as dingos and living in the Australian hinterland or in rural areas are actually derived from crossbreeding with dogs, domestic or wild.

"They're about to go away, and most people think there's a lot of dingoes out there, but they're actually hybrid dogs, not pure dings," says McDowell.

But a dingo, if he can breed with a dog, is clearly different from his cousin. "They do not make good pets, they are not fond of children, they are not gentle with other animals, they are hunters," she says.

Their predatory nature is also at the heart of one of the most famous news stories in recent Australian history.

Azaria Chamberlain, a nine-week-old baby, disappeared from the tent in which she was taking a nap near Uluru (center). The mother always claimed that she had seen a dingo move away as she rushed to her child but the infant's body was never found and the mother was sentenced for murder.

Key link of the ecosystem

Several years later, shreds of baby's clothing were found near a dingo's burrow, triggering a new investigation and the release of the mother.

In June 2012, 32 years later, the court officially declared that the girl had been abducted by a dingo and gave the parents an amended death certificate.

Hybridization of the dingoes began when the domestic dogs arrived with the settlers in the late 18th century, says Mike Letnic, a biologist at the University of New South Wales.

But it has accelerated in recent decades with the expansion of urban housing and crops, especially in southeastern Australia. In the central desert, there are still colonies of non-hybrid dingoes.

The "real" dingos, who are close to the wolf, do not bark and breed only once a year.

Preserving the integrity of the dingo's genetic heritage helps to maintain the ecological balance of Australian landscapes, say conservationists.

It is a key link in the ecosystem: the largest land predator in the country, it hunts cats, foxes, or even goats, animals brought by European settlers and whose populations must be controlled.

To preserve the purity of the breed, farms were born, whose small dingoes are then shipped to natural parks.

The "real" dingoes only happen once a year

Hybridization of the dingoes began when the domestic dogs arrived with the settlers in the late 18th century, says Mike Letnic, a biologist at the University of New South Wales.

But it has accelerated in recent decades with the expansion of urban housing and crops, especially in southeastern Australia. In the central desert, there are still colonies of non-hybrid dingoes.

The "real" dingos, who are close to the wolf, do not bark and breed only once a year.

Preserving the integrity of the dingo's genetic heritage helps to maintain the ecological balance of Australian landscapes, say conservationists. It is a key link in the ecosystem: the largest land predator in the country, it hunts cats, foxes and even goats, animals brought by European settlers and whose populations must be controlled.

To preserve the purity of the breed, farms were born, whose small dingoes are then shipped to natural parks.