Transcript of Module 11 – Dingoes

So, dingoes, guys. What are dingoes? Have you heard of dingoes before? Let me give you a hint. Awwwwooooo! So, dingoes are a subspecies (1) descended from the grey wolf as are domestic dogs, though, dogs and dingoes are still considered to be the same species, Canis familiaris.

Their distribution (2) covers most of the mainland of Australia, although, you are much less likely to come across them in the southern parts of Australia, and they are actually absent from some of these areas including the island of Tasmania in the southeast.

What’s the difference between dogs and dingoes?

Now, I just said they are the same species, but they’re different subspecies, which means that they have different features whether that’s morphological (3), behavioural (4), or even genetic (5), that distinguish (6) them from your average dog (7). So, they were effectively a population of dogs that once diverged (8), came to Australia maybe a few thousand years ago, a significant amount of time ago, and they’d been on their own since, at least, until recently.

And as a result of being the same species as dogs, domestic dogs, they can actually hybridise (9) with wild dogs in Australia, which has led to the majority of dingoes, unfortunately, being hybrids and not pure dingoes, at least, on the mainland. Pure dingoes, though, are found in some very isolated areas of central Australia, the Pilbara region in W.A. (10), and on Fraser Island in Queensland.

So, how and when did dingoes arrive (11) in Australia? And this is the stuff that gets me really passionate and, I don’t know, it just it tickles my fancy (12). It makes me interested. This is what I love learning about. So, until recently, it was believed that dingoes arrived in Australia between 8,000 and 4,000 years ago.

So, that is much, much, much, much, much later, much more recently, than when aboriginals first got to Australia. So, they would have been here in Australia from about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, for the majority of that time they were alone, and then, more recently, they had pet dogs arrive and adapt (13) to this environment.

So, despite that number 8,000 to 4,000 years being given, recent work using carbon dating (14) on the oldest dingo bones that have ever been found has estimated their age to be only 3,500 to 3,000 years old, so, even more recently potentially that they arrived in Australia. And subsequently, they estimated the arrival of dingoes to be as recently as 3,500 years ago or 1400 B.C. And then, they rapidly spread across (15) the Australian mainland.

Interestingly, the other recent research that was done in the last year or two found evidence of a migration (16) of people from South India dating to about the same time 2217 B.C., to be precise, which is a slightly earlier date than the older dingo bones ever to be found were dated to. Given their striking resemblance (17) to wild dogs found in India, it seems plausible (18) that these Indian migrants (19) may have brought the dogs with them and introduced them to the people in the environment Down Under. And interestingly aboriginals share DNA with these Indian migrants.

So, they actually got to Australia and merged with the indigenous Australian population that was there. However, there are similar dogs found in New Guinea and Indonesia, so the true origin of the Australian Dingo remains unclear. What we do know is once they arrived they spread quickly via Aboriginal groups that used them for things like hunting, protection, a source (20) of warmth at night, and also obviously, as man’s best friend.

So, why are dingoes important for the Australian environment? This is a contentious (21) issue Down Under. The Australian ecosystem adapted to the dingo following its introduction to the Continent (22), although, a number of native species went extinct (23) in the process on the mainland, the most notable of which were the Tasmanian Tiger or the Tasmanian Wolf or Thylacine, and the Tasmanian Devil, and they were restricted on the Tasmanian island where there were no dingoes. And unfortunately, at the start of the 20th century, the Thylacine went extinct, as you may or may not know. But fortunately, we still have the Tasmanian Devil.

So, nowadays, there is some controversy as to whether dingoes should be considered native animals or non-native animals in large part because of their hybridising with wild dogs and their predation (24) on farm livestock (25), which leave many farmers fed up (26) and frustrated with what they should do. In some places where dingoes are considered non-native animals, anyone actually has the right to be able to hunt and shoot them with no repercussions (27).

However, scientists have been doing a lot of research in recent years, and they say that whether we like it or not dingoes are here to stay and they are a very important part of the Australian ecosystem, and they represent a top predator (28) on the food chain (29) in the ecosystem.

So, they have an important role in controlling other introduced feral predators (30) like feral cats and the European red fox (31), which if left to their own devices with no dingo there, could grow in numbers, out of control (32), and kill many more native animals as a result, and drive (33) them to extinction. So, leaving the dingo in place may actually allow the recovery of many threatened and endangered native animals in Australia by controlling these pests.