#dingo traits

I have a link to the source of this photo, but I’m hesitant to put it up, because of the people who have her.. I’d rather not have any contact with them.    This girl is one of the most beautiful dingoes I’ve ever seen, she’s wild born, and a rescue. She’s the type the majority of people would call a dingo cross, or a wild dog. Thankfully she is in a safe-ish place, with a rescue who prioritize DNA testing because they breed and sell dingo pups to people as ‘pets’. I do not support this. On so many levels. The point is, this dingoes result was 100% genetic ‘purity’. I’m uncomfortable with genetic purity when it comes to what is and isn’t a dingo, for a number of reasons. There are genetically ‘pure’ dingo with known (and human caused) hybrid ancestry who have been bred in captivity for generations. These dingoes are bred to live with people and other dingoes (and dogs), and wouldn’t last a week in the wild. They are bred with the appeal to save the species, used to conduct behavioural research and are theoretically going to be re-wilded in the future when wild dingoes are obsolete. You can have a litter of hybrid pups, with a wide range of dingo DNA percentages, that may be crossed with dingoes to result in “pure” dingoes within a few generations, which is a bit of an indicator of the redundancy of testing. I’m personally more inclined to use the low/ mid/ high content terms for known hybrids, as used with US wolfdogs, though there aren’t often cases when this is even necessary. If an animal fits the phenotype and morphology, if it eats, breeds, behaves, and has the combination of dingo traits (despite characteristic variation), it’s a dingo. This is what causes so much confusion and problems in a number of areas of dingo management, conservation and research. What does a dingo look like? You can get so many answers from so many people, and often the context will reflect what they are familiar with geographically, and the era that they were educated. The science of “What is a Dingo?” has changed dramatically over the past 5 years, let alone a decade ago. Regardless of this, it doesn’t mean everyone has been motivated to move on with the times, and data and definition is often out of date. You need to actively be looking through current research to be aware of those changes. I have spoken with a number of farmers and shooters who have shown me animals they have killed, when I ask what they believe is a Wild Dog vs a Dingo. Some will say they are one and the same, but many say it wasn’t a dingo - it was a wild dog, a domestic dog living feral. A kelpie cross, a shepherd cross, greyhound cross - all based on a very superficial characteristic of coat colour. The animal in the photo has almost always been a dingo, and they are surprised when I tell them so, and show them evidence of the diversity of what dingoes can look like, based on preserved specimens from the 19th Century - before dogs had a chance to interbreed with them. Many of them believe dingoes to be extinct on the mainland, saying all dingoes are bred out by dogs. This is where the misinformation in this country leads to, unlike wolf and wolfdog problems in America. This misinformation is initiated by the ambiguity and categorisation of dingoes/ hybrids/ dogs to serve the agendas of interest groups, not individual ego. Dingoes are one of the most controversial animals here, whether it is from the standpoint of agricultural interest, conservation, captive management, ecological integrity and purely cultural interests.

Dingoes (Canis Dingo) are a unique canid species with a wide variety of phenotypical traits, this means physical characteristics like build, colour, ear, leg, tail length, coat colour and length. These ‘types’ of dingoes are distinguishable by people familiar with the species, and can be recognised on sight due to these traits in combination and context. Dingoes are a separate species of canid to dogs, however as canines they share some characteristics that are outside the oldschool ‘rules’ of what a dingo looks like. This leads to confusion and the ambiguity is frustrating and creates a mess of problems. Misinformation is a problem here, but this misinformation is perpetuated by government council bodies, dingo breeders/ sellers, and members of the public who have little to no dingo experience, or with misinformed, rigid ideas of what a dingo should look like. In 2014, dingoes finally had an official taxonomy, which details the biological research undertaken to determine the evolutionary history of dingoes, as well as their physiology pre-invasion day when domestic dogs were brought into the country.  So, everyone, this is just a post to check out the diversity among dingoes and the interesting ways they have evolved, and their physical/ developmental differences to domestic dogs.

Dingoes have evolved so that their progeny are suited to their environment. In these examples,dingoes born in temperate zones in southern states are on the left, through the coldest seasons (where it reaches up to -10 C in winter) for the first two, then to autumn, spring and summer. The dingoes on the right are found in tropical or arid regions. The sable juveniles in the topmost photo are from K’gari (commonly known as Fraser Island) in tropical Queensland. The dingo below is from far north tropical Queensland. The black dingo below this one is from western Queensland, the one below it found in Southern Australia (which is located in the centre of the country for followers overseas). The last dingo on the right is from the northern territory, near central Australia.  Now the reason I have included all wild born dingoes in this post is to also bring in the topic of captive bred dingoes. Like these little fluffclouds. These pups are bred in Victoria, in the Dingo Discovery Centre and are a Type categorised as Alpine dingoes which are officially categorised as extinct in the wild. When they grow up, they’ll look like the dingoes you see in zoos.. because this is where 99% of captive kept dingoes have come from. Very few parks, zoos or people looking for a family dingo (”pet”) take on rescues that are wild born, when these animals are specially bred to be suited to domestic life and environments wild dingoes would be unlikely to cope with. You will not find wild dingoes that look or act like them, and visa versa. This is an important issue that needs to be emphasised, because many people see these ones and can’t recognise a dingo in the wild. Or, they will opt to take on a wild born rescue after knowing captive bred dingoes and get a hell of a shock. 

Too much focus is given to coat colour, we’ve established that it is a tiny characteristic which is too ambiguous to rely on alone. What I want to focus on are traits these dingoes share across the species, and have variations of between ‘Types’. Lets start with ears. Dingoes have pricked, rounded ears that do not have the flexibility of a domestic dogs, and will come up from approx 5 weeks of age. However, the length of these ears varies between types, and that in itself influences their rate of growth. Dingoes in cooler climates have slightly smaller ears compared to those in tropical areas. Captive bred Alpine dingoes are much smaller ears than wild dingoes, which naturally mean their ears pop up younger. Coat length and density is entirely related to their home range, or in the captive bred dingoes case, they are fluffy as hell because Alpines were native to Victorian Alps… and people think they’re cute and will buy them. Wild Dingoes in New England (in New South Wales) deal with some serious cold (it’s like hell froze over, i shit you not), so the dingoes in the first two photos will be a good example of how thick a coat can get to cope with the harshest australian winters. Dingoes in tropical areas can have an undercoat (which drives me insane.. the SHEDDING) and will blow their coat in spring. Dingoes in very hot areas like the the far north, western Qld or central Australia can have a thinner undercoat or a single coat. In arid regions where resources are harder to find, dingoes have longer legs for travelling longer distances than those in forested areas, where it pays to have shorter legs for climbing trees and balancing. Alpines have very short legs which were suited to climbing mountain ranges and having a better grip on the snow. Common traits found across types of dingoes include hard, angular eyes unlike dogs softer, rounded ones. Their jaw hinges behind the earline, creating a wider gape than dogs, their canines are pronounced and grow longer than the gumline. The teeth are larger in general, and are spaced further apart than a domestic dogs. Looking at a dingo pups teeth, they will look like a dog pups, if they were two to thee times their actual age (this causes confusion when professionals estimate the age of pups, thinking they are domestic puppies).  Their head is the widest part of their body, and is the same width as their chest, which is always narrow. They do not get dewclaws on their hind legs, only their front, and have rotating wrist joints for added dexterity (seriously, they can open jars and turn doorknobs). Dingoes have a distinct gait and track when they walk, carrying their weight lighter on their paws which stand more upright than dogs. Their shoulder muscles do not bulk outward like dogs, but will dip inwards (making it damn near impossible to find a fitting harness). Dingo tails sit high, and they have a scent glad which is marked with a dark spot ¾ of the way up their tail, near the base. They have furred bellies, and their tail will develop the bottlebrush shape after they reach 1 - 1.5 years of age. Dingoes are very lean, and cannot digest starches, carbs, fatty meat or fruits/ veggies in their diet. That isn’t to say they won’t eat them if there isn’t any option, but it doesn’t go down well and makes them sick. They grow at double the rate of domestic puppies, and they are born at the same time, once a year, in winter. They can survive separation and weaning much earlier than dogs, and can survive from 3 weeks old without milk. Most die from culls, either poisoned themselves or from starvation, exposure or predators. Surviving dingoes are independent and mature at 4 months, and will stop growing at 15 months. Their coat will continue to change, and will typically lighten with age. Pups are born darker, with most almost black, and very pale pups typically turn white. In stable populations, there is one breeding pair which will inhibit the breeding of their decedents who live in territories extending from their own. Dingoes are highly territorial and do not form flexible social packs like dogs or wolves, but are predominantly solitary. They form strong bonds with mates, and will often remain monogamous. Non breeding females will sometimes nurse and cooperatively raise pups within a family group, and kin groups will occasionally organise a group hunt on large prey.  Dingoes are hyperflexible, and can flip their head all the way back to their spine, and hold their legs out at over 90 degrees without pain or injury. Females typically have a ‘mane’ and ridge of longer hair in a dorsal line. Mostly nocturnal, they usually peak their energy at dusk and sleep throughout the day. Dingoes interact with people and dogs very differently to domestic dogs, and these behavioural, vocal and developmental differences are significant, that will have to come in another post. If you’ve read all of this - thank you - I hope you found it interesting. Please let me know if there’s anything you would like me to elaborate on. I have other posts I am working on with more details, but I’m very happy to take requests.