tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/wild-dogs-3405/articlesWild dogs – The Conversation2023-10-20T21:17:54Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059942023-10-20T21:17:54Z2023-10-20T21:17:54ZDid Australia’s First Peoples domesticate dingoes? They certainly buried them with great care<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544721/original/file-20230825-29-dja0ah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=335%2C323%2C1347%2C940&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dingoes are an iconic Australian wild animal, <a href="https://theconversation.com/living-blanket-water-diviner-wild-pet-a-cultural-history-of-the-dingo-80189">with close links</a> to Australia’s First Peoples throughout the mainland. Yet the origins and history of these animals are shrouded in obscurity.</p>
<p>The question of whether dingoes are a <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jzo.12134">truly wild</a> or formerly domestic animal that <a href="https://theconversation.com/dingoes-dogs-and-the-feral-identity-11635">has become feral</a> has eluded a clear answer or consensus amongst scientists for well over a century. </p>
<p>Published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0286576">PLOS One today</a>, our new study of dingoes buried alongside First Nations people in ancient times has provided crucial clues to this mystery. Our findings may help change the way we think about the connections between dingoes and people.</p>
<h2>Living alongside people</h2>
<p>When outsiders observed traditional First Peoples’ societies in the 19th and 20th centuries throughout mainland Australia, they noticed many took dingo pups from wild dens and raised them to keep as companions and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/17/2285">for a variety of other purposes</a> including as guards, hunting aids and living “blankets”.</p>
<p>However, these dingoes always returned to the bush to find a mate after reaching about a year of age, seemingly never to return. This is quite unlike our domestic dogs – they may wander, but ultimately tend to stay with their human families in the long term.</p>
<p>The fact most dingoes live without any reliance on people is one of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31716519/">the main reasons</a> scientific opinion differs over whether dingoes should be thought of as domestic animals or not.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of very red coarse sand with several paw prints." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544720/original/file-20230825-29-am7gat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Dingo tracks in the red desert sand of central Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dingo-canis-tracks-native-wolf-dog-1389629552">Shutterstock</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-dna-testing-shatters-wild-dog-myth-most-dingoes-are-pure-206397">New DNA testing shatters 'wild dog' myth: most dingoes are pure</a>
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<p>But is it possible different arrangements between dingoes and Australia’s First Peoples existed before traditional ways of life were disrupted by colonial violence, displacement and disease? Answers might be found in the bones of dingoes that lived with people and were buried after death. </p>
<p>There are historical accounts of funerary and burial rituals of deceased tamed dingoes. Skeletons of dingoes or dogs have been found alongside First Peoples’ burials in many areas of Australia from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03122417.2010.11689380">Arnhem Land</a> to the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/175303713X13636846944088">Murray-Darling</a> basin, but to date there’s been no comprehensive study of this important cultural practice.</p>
<p>In a search of historical records and findings of dingo burials, we found they were concentrated in the Murray-Darling Basin and on the southern coastlines of New South Wales and Victoria. A secondary, more recent cluster was located in north-western Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of Australia showing a few locations of dingo burials with yellow dots" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528499/original/file-20230526-23-5faty3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of Australia illustrating the distribution of dingo burials reported in archaeological, historical and news literature.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Loukas Koungoulos</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>Buried alongside people</h2>
<p>Historical records and archaeological evidence both show that when dingoes were buried, it was invariably in the manner in which people were buried in the same region. Often, dingoes were buried alongside people.</p>
<p>The act of burial implies a degree of care and belonging to a community. Some archaeologists argue animal burial is a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440305001597?via%3Dihub">fundamental sign of domestication</a>. But by examining the skeletons of buried dingoes we can further investigate the life histories of these important animals. </p>
<p>The archaeological site of Curracurrang, a rock shelter in the Royal National Park just south of Sydney, was excavated <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/200906?journalCode=ca">in the 1960s</a>. The excavations found First People were buried there over many centuries.</p>
<p>But our new primary investigations of previously unstudied animal bones reveal the site also contained the skeletons of several dingoes. Radiocarbon dates taken from their bones found the earliest of these were buried around 2,300–2,000 years ago. Dingo burials continued here until the colonial era. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Several bone fragments and teeth on a white background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528500/original/file-20230526-25-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mandibular and dental fragments of one of the dingo burials from Curracurrang; this was an elderly individual with highly worn teeth, suggesting a lifetime of crunching bones discarded by people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Loukas Koungoulos</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Some of the dingoes were adults, at least six to eight years old – well past the age at which they’d be expected to return to the wild to breed. They had severely worn teeth, indicating a diet heavy in large bones, likely from the scraps of human meals.</p>
<p>In addition, one dingo showed signs of suffering from an aggressive, mobility-restricting form of cancer in the last weeks of its life. It was likely looked after by people during its decline.</p>
<p>Several other burials were pups, less than a month or two in age. Since dingoes of breeding age were also found at Curracurrang, it is entirely probable some of these pups were born there but did not survive long, and were buried soon after. These individuals are the first known evidence of dingo pup burial in Australia. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/barkindji-custodians-near-broken-hill-continue-to-care-for-ancestral-dingo-remains-with-help-from-archaeologists-215457">Barkindji custodians near Broken Hill continue to care for ancestral dingo remains with help from archaeologists</a>
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<h2>A previously obscured relationship</h2>
<p>Dingo burials reveal aspects of the relationship between Australia’s First Peoples and their dingo companions which had been, until now, obscured.</p>
<p>At Curracurrang, tame dingoes lived to advanced ages alongside people. They ate the same foods and possibly even bore litters of pups within human camps. While traditional views of domestication involve <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-animals-living-with-humans-evolve-such-similar-features-a-new-theory-could-explain-domestication-syndrome-201765">dramatic transformations in appearance</a> and human control over animal reproduction, newer perspectives focus on long-lasting relationships between people and animals. </p>
<p>The evidence from Curracurrang suggests some dingoes, at least in certain settings, were domesticated in ancient times. This doesn’t mean all dingoes were domesticated, nor does it conclusively indicate they originate from domestic dogs. </p>
<p>Most dingoes were, and still are, wild animals with various adaptations to life independent of people in Australian environments. </p>
<p>However, the new findings do mark an important development in our understanding of the deep antiquity and closeness of the connection between Australia’s First Peoples and their native dogs. It attests to long-lasting relationships beyond the transient, temporary associations recorded during the colonial era. </p>
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<p><em>Acknowledgments: we are grateful to the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council and community for their permission to undertake research on the Curracurrang dingo remains. We also give thanks to the Australian Museum for facilitating access to these materials.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205994/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Loukas Koungoulos receives funding from The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Balme receives funding from The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shane Ingrey is a member of the La Perouse Aboriginal community and the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue O'Connor receives funding from The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>There’s been a long-standing debate over whether dingoes started out wild or domesticated. One thing is clear – they had a close relationship with First Peoples.Loukas Koungoulos, Postdoctoral research fellow, Australian National UniversityJane Balme, Professor Emerita of Archaeology, The University of Western AustraliaShane Ingrey, Postdoctoral research fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH), UNSW SydneySue O'Connor, Distinguished Professor, School of Culture, History & Language, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2154572023-10-18T19:06:19Z2023-10-18T19:06:19ZBarkindji custodians near Broken Hill continue to care for ancestral dingo remains with help from archaeologists<p>Just as people bury their pets today, First Nations groups across south-eastern Australia often buried their companion dingos. These companion animals were given ancestral burials – similar to family members. </p>
<p>Last week, at the request of the Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council, a group of researchers from the Australian Museum, University of Sydney and the Australian National University excavated a dingo burial. </p>
<p>It was found eroding out of a cutting on the junction of the Darling Barka and Ancestral Talyawalka rivers in the Menindee Lakes area, east of Broken Hill in New South Wales.</p>
<p>This dingo (kali in Barkindji language) had been buried in a midden, just as many ancestors were. It may be that burying family and dingos in middens is a way to connect them with the ancestors, as middens form a tangible link to the Old People.</p>
<h2>A smoking ceremony for the burial</h2>
<p>Barb Quayle, vice-chair of the Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council, conducted a smoking ceremony for the burial before the bones were lifted out of the midden. </p>
<p>A smoking ceremony is a long-standing custom of First Nations people. It involves passing smoke over a place, person or animal to cleanse it or ward off bad spirits for healing, spiritual renewal and strength.</p>
<p>Smoking ceremonies are very significant and are only performed where First Nations people determine they are necessary. </p>
<p>This burial was found right at the western edge of the areas where burying dingos in middens was practised. Dingo burials have been found in many archaeological sites in south-eastern Australia, particularly along the Murray-Darling river system and along the coast. Dingos are usually found buried in middens and often in the same place as ancestors.</p>
<p>Middens, contrary to popular belief, are not rubbish heaps. Rather they are sites built by the Old People. The act of burying family or companion dingos in middens imbues them with a spiritual character and connects them with the ancestors.</p>
<p>The dingo was first identified a few years ago as it eroded out of a road cutting. The Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council took Amy Way (co-author of this article), who has been working with the council since 2021, to see whether more could be found out about the dingo before it deteriorated further.</p>
<h2>This dingo was old, short and male</h2>
<p>Dingo expert Loukas Koungoulos, zooarchaeologist Rebecca Jones and archaeological geologist Sam Player were brought in especially to assist with the dingo excavation.</p>
<p>We can tell this was an old dingo from the wear on the teeth. Koungoulos, who examined the remains, believes the animal was several years into adulthood.</p>
<p>During the excavation, Koungoulos and Jones found a pathology (bone decay from a long-term ailment) at the ends of the long bones. This tells us the dingo may have had a long-term illness, such as arthritis, but we’ll need more detail to determine the exact nature of the ailment. One rib also had a possible healed fracture, which means the dingo may have been cared for to live through injury and illness. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553961/original/file-20231016-27-elz53l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A russet dog with pointy ears standing on red soil and looking at the camera" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553961/original/file-20231016-27-elz53l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553961/original/file-20231016-27-elz53l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553961/original/file-20231016-27-elz53l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553961/original/file-20231016-27-elz53l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553961/original/file-20231016-27-elz53l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553961/original/file-20231016-27-elz53l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553961/original/file-20231016-27-elz53l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dingos have lived with First Nations people in Australia for thousands of years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wild-dingo-outback-desert-country-queensland-1444663625">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The length of the femur or thigh bone also tells us the dingo had a short stature. It’s possible ancestral companion dingos were smaller than both ancestral and modern wild dingos, as wild animals tend to be bigger than companion animals. </p>
<p>We see this today with feral cats being larger than domestic cats. Domestic animals are usually smaller than their wild ancestors. This may be from changes in their diet and becomes genetically encoded over time.</p>
<p>A good portion of the skeleton was still connected, and it was lying on its left side. We also know it was a male dog because the baculum or penis bone was present.</p>
<p>Loukas Koungoulos will now look at the skeleton in detail to determine its size and when it was buried. Through DNA analysis we may learn how it is related to other dingos. It will then be reburied on Country.</p>
<h2>Dingos have been in Australia for thousands of years</h2>
<p>Direct radiocarbon dating of other dingo burials suggests they first arrived <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-28324-x">around 3,500 years ago</a>. However, these burials are from the South Australian coastline – as they came in from the north, they probably arrived earlier than this. DNA dating also suggests they may have arrived earlier.</p>
<p>The dingo is most closely related the <a href="https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/creatura-blog/2014/08/png-singing-dog-worlds-most-elusive-canine/">New Guinea singing dog</a> (<em>Canis dingo hallstromi</em>). Since Papua New Guinea and Australia were separated by rising sea levels 6,000–8,000 years ago, these animals must have been brought by people in boats. This tells us they were probably companion animals when they were brought to Australia. </p>
<p>This excavation was part of a multi-year collaboration between Barkindji cultural knowledge holders and research scientists, which is looking at Barkindji occupation in the Menindee Lakes region from first arrival more than 40,000 years ago until today. </p>
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<p><em>Acknowledgement: The authors would like to thank the Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council and NSW National Parks and Wildlife (West Branch) for their support, Australian Museum donors and the Australian Museum Foundation for generous funding, and project team members (in addition to the authors) Cheryl Blore, Joseph Lehner, Paul Hesse, Tim Cohen, Alison Crowther and Anna Florin.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215457/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Mosig Way receives funding from Australian Museum donors and the Australian Museum Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barbara Quayle and Dave Doyle do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The bones of the animal were found eroding from the ground. After careful analysis, it will be reburied on Country.Amy Mosig Way, Lecturer in Archaeology, University of Sydney, and Archaeologist, Australian MuseumBarbara Quayle, Vice-president of the Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council, Indigenous KnowledgeDave Doyle, Barkindji/Malyangapa Indigenous Knowledge holder, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2142122023-10-02T01:26:56Z2023-10-02T01:26:56Z‘The boss of Country’, not wild dogs to kill: living with dingoes can unite communities<p>Aside from humans, dingoes are Australia’s largest land-based predator. They are arguably our most maligned, <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/amoty/dingo-charismatic-controversial-canid/">misunderstood</a>, and mismanaged <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dingo-is-a-true-blue-native-australian-species-111538">native species</a>. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7138/">evidence</a> suggests this iconic canine helps maintain healthy ecosystems. They’re also a <a href="https://theconversation.com/dingoes-and-humans-were-once-friends-separating-them-could-be-why-they-attack-115917">tourist draw-card</a>. And they hold <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/scientists-first-nations-groups-demand-better-protection-for-dingoes-20230914-p5e4oj.html">deep values for First Nations peoples</a>.</p>
<p>Since colonisation, Australian governments and land managers have <a href="https://theconversation.com/killing-dingoes-is-the-only-way-to-protect-livestock-right-nope-200905">trapped, shot, poisoned and excluded dingoes</a> from large parts of their Country. Policy and practices have frequently overlooked First Nations’ perspectives. </p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be this way. We can hear the diverse voices and values of First Nations peoples, livestock producers, ecologists, and others as we shape future policy and practices. By collaborating and drawing from both Indigenous and Western knowledge, we can find ways to live in harmony with our apex predator. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550889/original/file-20230928-17-yaehz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photograph showing a kangaroo looking at two resting dingoes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550889/original/file-20230928-17-yaehz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550889/original/file-20230928-17-yaehz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550889/original/file-20230928-17-yaehz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550889/original/file-20230928-17-yaehz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550889/original/file-20230928-17-yaehz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550889/original/file-20230928-17-yaehz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550889/original/file-20230928-17-yaehz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dingoes keep kangaroo numbers in check, benefiting vegetation, other wildlife, and livestock graziers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Angus Emmott</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dingo-is-a-true-blue-native-australian-species-111538">The dingo is a true-blue, native Australian species</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How are dingoes currently treated?</h2>
<p>Under <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A00485">federal environmental law</a>, any species present in Australia before AD 1400, such as the dingo, is <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-wa-government-is-wrong-to-play-identity-politics-with-dingoes-102344">classified as native</a>. However, dingoes are not listed nationally as a threatened species. So individual state governments make their own decisions about how to treat them. </p>
<p>In the Northern Territory, Queensland and Victoria, dingoes are managed as protected wildlife in National Parks and conservation areas but they’re unprotected on private land. </p>
<p>In Western Australia, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales, dingoes are unprotected wildlife. That means they are afforded no protection, even in conservation areas. </p>
<p>But state governments also list “wild dogs” as a priority pest species. That allows – even requires – them to be killed on public and private land. </p>
<p>Some states, such as Victoria, have “<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-victorias-dingo-and-wild-dog-bounty-is-doomed-to-miss-its-target-66980">wild dog” bounties</a> where landholders can turn in wild dog (<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.16998">but more likely dingo)</a> body parts <a href="https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/pest-animals/victorian-fox-and-wild-dog-bounty">for money</a>. </p>
<p>The state definitions of “wild dogs” includes dingoes and dingo-dog hybrids. This is based on the mistaken belief that interbreeding between dingoes and dogs was widespread across Australia. </p>
<p>But recent DNA research shows dingo-dog hybrids are rare. <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-dna-testing-shatters-wild-dog-myth-most-dingoes-are-pure-206397">Most wild dingoes have little to no dog ancestry</a>. This has led <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/01/scientists-demand-end-to-dingo-baiting-after-research-reveals-most-are-genetically-pure#:%7E:text=Scientists%20are%20calling%20on%20governments,Indigenous%20Australians%20regarding%20dingo%20management.">scientists</a>, conservationists, and <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/scientists-first-nations-groups-demand-better-protection-for-dingoes-20230914-p5e4oj.html">First Nations peoples</a> to call on state governments to change dingo policies.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550887/original/file-20230928-27-ymvw8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photograph showing two dead dingos hanging from the branches of a tree in an agricultural landscape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550887/original/file-20230928-27-ymvw8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550887/original/file-20230928-27-ymvw8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550887/original/file-20230928-27-ymvw8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550887/original/file-20230928-27-ymvw8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550887/original/file-20230928-27-ymvw8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550887/original/file-20230928-27-ymvw8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550887/original/file-20230928-27-ymvw8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Macabre scenes such as this are not uncommon across rural Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Angus Emmott</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-dna-testing-shatters-wild-dog-myth-most-dingoes-are-pure-206397">New DNA testing shatters 'wild dog' myth: most dingoes are pure</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Stark contrasts in dingo management</h2>
<p>Stretching more than 5,600km across Australia, the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42977-021-00106-z">dingo barrier fence</a> is the longest continuous artificial environmental barrier in the world. It was designed to keep dingoes out of the more productive sheep grazing areas in southeastern Australia. </p>
<p>In South Australia, dingoes south of the “dingo fence” are declared “wild dogs” and subject to an <a href="https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/09/19/strategy-outlines-once-in-a-generation-chance-to-eliminate-sa-wild-dog-threat/">eradication policy</a>. North of the “dingo fence” they are unprotected wildlife.</p>
<p>In contrast, dingoes are <a href="https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/pest-animals/priority-pest-animals/wild-dog-dingodog-hybrids-feral-or-wild">listed as threatened throughout Victoria</a>. They are protected on public land (if more than 3 km from a private land boundary). </p>
<p>The existence of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-dna-testing-shatters-wild-dog-myth-most-dingoes-are-pure-206397">isolated and threatened “Big Desert” wilkerr</a> (dingo) population on the border between these two states highlights their differing approaches. </p>
<p>While the Victorian population is partially protected in the Big Desert-Wyperfeld conservation reserve complex, the South Australian wilkerr population is <a href="https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/09/19/strategy-outlines-once-in-a-generation-chance-to-eliminate-sa-wild-dog-threat/">poisoned four times a year</a> inside Ngarkat Conservation Area.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550919/original/file-20230928-29-luj1p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photograph of a handmade sign below the road sign to Clifton that reads 'These sheep-killing mongrels are destroying the wool industry'. Someone crossed out the words 'sheep' and 'wool industry', replaced with 'dingo' and 'ecosystems'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550919/original/file-20230928-29-luj1p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550919/original/file-20230928-29-luj1p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550919/original/file-20230928-29-luj1p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550919/original/file-20230928-29-luj1p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=827&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550919/original/file-20230928-29-luj1p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1040&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550919/original/file-20230928-29-luj1p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1040&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550919/original/file-20230928-29-luj1p0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1040&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dingoes are regarded as pests by some and ecologically essential by others.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Angus Emmott</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/killing-dingoes-is-the-only-way-to-protect-livestock-right-nope-200905">Killing dingoes is the only way to protect livestock, right? Nope</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What do dingoes mean to First Nations peoples?</h2>
<p>Dingoes hold strong cultural significance for First Nations peoples across Australia. They are considered loved and respected family members that have always been by their sides. A healthy dingo population is seen as essential for healthy Country and healthy people.</p>
<p>Despite the harms of colonisation on dingoes and First Nations, Indigenous people continue to feel and nurture this connection to dingoes. Maintaining their culture means fulfilling the general cultural obligation and rights of First Nations peoples to protect this sacred animal. </p>
<p>This was reinforced at the <a href="https://www.girringun.com/dingoforum2023">National Inaugural First Nations Dingo Forum</a> in Cairns last month (September 15–16). The forum produced a powerful statement signed by more than 20 Nations. </p>
<p>The national dingo declaration is clear: First Nations peoples want an immediate <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/18/first-nations-groups-demand-immediate-stop-to-killing-dingos-as-control-method">end to the “genocide”</a> (deliberate killing) of dingoes on Country. Lethal control of dingoes is not acceptable, nor justified. </p>
<p>We join the call for an end to the use of the term “wild dog”, because it’s misleading and disrespectful. Pure dingoes, not feral or hybrid wild dogs, are predominately being killed. </p>
<p>First Nations people want to see the dingo reinstated as “the boss of Country”. They call on governments at all levels to involve First Nations peoples in decisions relating to dingo management, to implement and support educational programs across a variety of platforms and organisations, and to see dingoes protected under legislation. </p>
<p>The recent Victorian decision to <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/trapping-shooting-and-poisoning-push-to-protect-victorian-dingoes-falls-short-20230928-p5e8eq.html">maintain lethal control of dingo populations</a> against the wishes of <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/scientists-first-nations-groups-demand-better-protection-for-dingoes-20230914-p5e4oj.html">First Nations peoples</a> is extremely disappointing. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1707491762238009724"}"></div></p>
<h2>Non-lethal ways to protect livestock</h2>
<p>While <a href="https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdmsheepgoat/2?utm_source=digitalcommons.unl.edu%2Ficwdmsheepgoat%2F2&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages">lethal methods</a> have historically been used to protect livestock from dingoes, there is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12959">growing awareness of their limitations</a>. </p>
<p>Firstly, these methods have not been consistently effective in eliminating livestock losses. In some cases they have <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/emr.12138">exacerbated</a> the problem, possibly due to killing and loss of older individuals, which can change the social cohesion of dingo populations, breeding, their movements and how territorial they are. It may also alter how successful they are at hunting kangaroos, causing more attacks on livestock. </p>
<p>Secondly, they have been associated with adverse consequences for <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mam.12115">biodiversity</a>. In some cases, having dingoes around can be beneficial for graziers by reducing the total grazing pressure of kangaroos, feral goats, and other herbivores, and in some cases the impacts of feral pigs too. Increasing numbers of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ22002">landholders</a> are recognising this. </p>
<p>Lastly, there is growing consensus these lethal approaches are not aligned with the values of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2020.019">general public</a>, particularly <a href="https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2021.028">First Nations peoples</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550923/original/file-20230928-19-564p58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photograph of a lone dingo standing side-on in a dry grassland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550923/original/file-20230928-19-564p58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550923/original/file-20230928-19-564p58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550923/original/file-20230928-19-564p58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550923/original/file-20230928-19-564p58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550923/original/file-20230928-19-564p58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550923/original/file-20230928-19-564p58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550923/original/file-20230928-19-564p58.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Healthy Country and people requires dingoes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Angus Emmott</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Non-lethal approaches to managing dingoes are gaining prominence as they are more environmentally <a href="https://theconversation.com/guardian-dogs-fencing-and-fladry-protect-livestock-from-carnivores-103290">sustainable and compassionate</a>. These <a href="https://hsi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/HSI-Predator-Smart-Farming-Digital.pdf">approaches</a> prioritise coexistence by reducing conflict between dingoes and human interests while allowing dingoes to persist in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/WR16161">landscapes</a>.</p>
<p>One of the most promising <a href="https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2020.024">non-lethal methods</a> involves guardian animals, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/WR23008">livestock-guarding dogs</a>, llamas, and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-19/donkeys-to-protect-stock-in-nsw/102741256">donkeys</a>. These guardian animals establish protective bonds with livestock and effectively deter dingoes from approaching, reducing livestock losses for graziers. </p>
<p>Additionally, there is growing interest in developing innovative <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/PC20022">dingo deterrents</a>, such as electric fencing and devices that emit loud noises, smells or visual stimuli, to discourage interaction between livestock and dingoes.</p>
<p>Initiatives promoting best practices for animal husbandry, including secure fencing, corralling, shepherding, and reducing access to resources (such as water and carcasses), play a crucial role in diminishing the attractiveness of livestock as prey to dingoes.</p>
<h2>Working and walking together</h2>
<p>By <a href="https://theconversation.com/academia-can-help-humans-and-large-carnivores-coexist-115467">promoting coexistence</a> and exploring and investing in innovative non-lethal solutions, we can strike a balance between safeguarding human interests, preserving the vital ecological role that dingoes perform, and respecting First Nations’ culture. In doing so, it is our hope that <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/csp2.304">communities will be more united</a> than divided. </p>
<p><em>We would like to acknowledge retired graziers Angus and Karen Emmott and family from far North Queensland. Their personal story about dingoes at Noonbah Station in Queensland’s Channel Country helped inform our article, and we consider Angus a co-author.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action. Euan is a Councillor within the Biodiversity Council, and a member of the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australian Mammal Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bradley Smith is an unpaid director of the Australian Dingo Foundation, a non-profit environmental charity that advocates for dingo conservation. He also serves as a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) dingo working group, which is part of their Species Survival Commission (Canids Specialist Group).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kylie M Cairns receives funding from the Australian Dingo Foundation, New Guinea Singing Dog Conservation Society, NSW Koala Strategy and Australia and Pacific Science Foundation. She is a scientific advisor to the Australian Dingo Foundation, the New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation and serves as co-chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) dingo working group which is part of their Species Survival Commission (SSC) Canid Specialist Group. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sonya Takau is the founder of Dingo Culture, a digital media platform for her own personal advocacy work for the Dingo that also provides the Aboriginal perspective about the Dingo.
Sonya also holds the following positions:
Director - Defend the Wild (Not for Profit organisation that advocates for wildlife)
Director - Mamu Health Service Limited (Not for Proft organisation based in Innisfail, North Queensland)
Committee Member - IRAC (Indigenous Reef Advisory Committee) which acts in an advisory capacity to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Board.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Whitney Rassip does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s time to reconsider our relationship with the dingo. By collaborating and drawing from both Indigenous and Western knowledge, we can find ways to live in harmony with our apex land predator.Euan Ritchie, Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityBradley Smith, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, CQUniversity AustraliaKylie M Cairns, Research fellow, UNSW SydneySonya Takau, Girringun Aboriginal Corporation Communications Officer and Founder of Dingo Culture, Indigenous KnowledgeWhitney Rassip, Girringun Aboriginal Corporation Indigenous Protected Areas Coordinator and Acting Executive Officer, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2063972023-05-29T20:08:40Z2023-05-29T20:08:40ZNew DNA testing shatters ‘wild dog’ myth: most dingoes are pure<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528762/original/file-20230529-27-ipn9fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C10%2C3299%2C2226&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dingo-wild-194508560">Jun Zhang, Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, crossbreeding between dingoes and dogs has been considered the greatest threat to dingo conservation. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.13416">Previous DNA studies</a> suggested pure dingoes were virtually extinct in Victoria and New South Wales. </p>
<p>Reinforcing this belief, the term “wild dog” has replaced the word dingo in most legislation and policy across Australia. “Wild dog” is a <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/pest-animals-and-weeds/pest-animals/wild-dogs">coverall term</a> defined as “any dog living in the wild, including feral dogs, dingoes and their hybrids”. It’s the term used on signs in National Parks and other lands advertising the target and presence of meat baits impregnated with the poison 1080. These baits are laid to reduce the risk of wild dogs preying on livestock.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A white sign with red text stating that 1080 wild dog and fox poison baits are laid in the area." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528604/original/file-20230526-15-8wyzp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528604/original/file-20230526-15-8wyzp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528604/original/file-20230526-15-8wyzp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528604/original/file-20230526-15-8wyzp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528604/original/file-20230526-15-8wyzp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528604/original/file-20230526-15-8wyzp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528604/original/file-20230526-15-8wyzp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1080 wild dog and fox baiting sign from inside Blue Mountains National Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kylie Cairns</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16998">Our new research</a> used the latest genetic testing methods to establish the ancestry of wild dogs across Australia. Most of the 307 wild animals we tested were pure dingoes. Only a small proportion of wild dingoes had dog ancestry, probably from a great- or great-great-grandparent. There were no “first-cross” (50/50) hybrids or feral dogs in our wild-caught sample. </p>
<p>Essentially, all the “wild dogs” were dingoes. The results challenge public perceptions and call into question well established management practices. We argue the term “wild dog” should be removed from public language and legislation. Dingo and feral dog should be used instead. And the role of the dingo as Australia’s apex predator should be restored, for we are the greatest threat to their existence. </p>
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<img alt="A dingo with a black muzzle walking on a sandy beach with green scrub in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528615/original/file-20230526-15-ysfl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2044%2C1361&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528615/original/file-20230526-15-ysfl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528615/original/file-20230526-15-ysfl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528615/original/file-20230526-15-ysfl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528615/original/file-20230526-15-ysfl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528615/original/file-20230526-15-ysfl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528615/original/file-20230526-15-ysfl49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A pure dingo from Myall Lakes walking on a sand dune.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chontelle Burns/Nouveau Rise Photography</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-dingoes-should-be-considered-native-to-mainland-australia-even-though-humans-introduced-them-172756">Why dingoes should be considered native to mainland Australia – even though humans introduced them</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Better results from better tests</h2>
<p>The dingo (<em>Canis dingo</em>) has been in Australia for 5,000 to 11,000 years. But while dingoes are genetically distinct from domestic dogs, they can breed with them.</p>
<p>Scientific support for the idea that few pure dingoes remain in eastern Australia came from skull measurement tests developed in the 1980s and a DNA test developed in the 1990s. </p>
<p>Applying these approaches, Victoria listed dingoes as a threatened species after finding just 1% of animals killed in pest control programs were pure dingoes. Similarly in NSW “predation and hybridisation by feral dogs (<em>Canis familiaris</em>)” was listed as a key threatening process in 2009. </p>
<p>But DNA testing methods have improved since then. When we compared old and new DNA testing methods in our study, we found the original method frequently misidentified pure dingoes as hybrids. This is because the technique used a relatively small number of DNA markers, only 23. We used 195,000 DNA markers. </p>
<p>A DNA marker is a genetic change that can be used to study differences between species, populations or individuals. This is the same sort of technology used for human ancestry or family tree testing. In general, more DNA markers means more information about an individual and more accurate DNA test results.</p>
<p>The older method was also unable to account for geographic variation in dingoes. We found evidence of at least four populations or varieties of dingo in Australia, which we call: West, East, South and Big Desert.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528608/original/file-20230526-4196-7rhm6z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map showing the distribution of the four wild dingo populations across Australia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528608/original/file-20230526-4196-7rhm6z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528608/original/file-20230526-4196-7rhm6z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528608/original/file-20230526-4196-7rhm6z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528608/original/file-20230526-4196-7rhm6z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528608/original/file-20230526-4196-7rhm6z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528608/original/file-20230526-4196-7rhm6z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528608/original/file-20230526-4196-7rhm6z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map showing the distribution of the four wild dingo populations across Australia from Cairns et al. 2023.</span>
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</figure>
<p>So when we looked at Victorian dingoes, nearly 90% of the animals we tested were pure dingoes. In NSW, over 60% of the animals we tested were pure dingoes and only two animals had less than 70% dingo DNA. </p>
<p>Dog ancestry was more common in NSW and Queensland dingo populations where there were intensive lethal control programs, such as aerial 1080 poison baiting, along with higher numbers of pet domestic dogs. One explanation is that lethal control programs carried out during the dingo breeding season may increase the risk of dingo-dog hybrids, as it does for <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.61">wolves and coyotes in North America</a>. Australian aerial baiting programs can kill up to <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/WR18188">90% of the dingoes in an area</a>, reducing the availability of mates for any remaining dingoes.</p>
<p>These findings have important implications for our knowledge of dingoes and how they are managed. We need to ensure public policy is built on robust, up-to-date knowledge of dingo identity and ancestry. </p>
<p>Wildlife managers and scientists should ensure that the DNA testing methods they use are accurate and fit for purpose. It is crucial that updated genetic surveys be carried out on dingoes, using the latest DNA methods to inform local dingo management plans. </p>
<p>Dingo conservation plans should consider the presence of geographic variation and the differing threats the four dingo populations may be facing. </p>
<p>Currently, dingoes fall into a grey area: because they are both a native animal and agricultural pest; and because their identity has become ambiguous due to the widespread adoption of the term wild dog.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/vertebrate-pests/pest-animals-in-nsw/wild-dogs/wild-dog-control">Lethal control programs</a> have been extended into conservation areas, including national parks, with the primary purpose of minimising livestock losses on neighbouring lands. </p>
<p>During 2020-2021, NSW dropped more than <a href="https://www.adammarshall.com.au/southern-hemispheres-largest-aerial-wild-dog-baiting-program-takes-off/">200,000 1080 poisoned meat-baits</a> from planes and helicopters to suppress “wild dogs”. </p>
<p>This year Victoria <a href="https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/about/media-centre/media-releases/bounty-back-in-2023#:%7E:text=The%20Fox%20and%20Wild%20Dog,have%20been%20collected%20in%20Victoria.">renewed</a> its “wild dog bounty” program. It pays landholders A$120 per wild dog body part. Under the scheme, about 4,600 “wild dog” body parts have reportedly been redeemed since 2011. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A dingo family of three in the snow on the southern alps of Australia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528770/original/file-20230529-17-zoybsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528770/original/file-20230529-17-zoybsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528770/original/file-20230529-17-zoybsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528770/original/file-20230529-17-zoybsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528770/original/file-20230529-17-zoybsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528770/original/file-20230529-17-zoybsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528770/original/file-20230529-17-zoybsf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alpine dingoes can be found at high elevations along eastern Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michelle J Photography, Cooma, NSW.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/killing-dingoes-is-the-only-way-to-protect-livestock-right-nope-200905">Killing dingoes is the only way to protect livestock, right? Nope</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Restoring an apex predator</h2>
<p>Our study shows the term “wild dog” is a misnomer. The animals being targeted for eradication as an “invasive” pest are native dingoes. </p>
<p>The threat of dingo-dog hybrids has also been exaggerated. While dingoes can pose a threat to some livestock, as apex predators they play an essential role in <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/dingo-effects-ecosystem-visible-space">maintaining healthy ecosystems</a>. The dingo keeps natural systems in balance by preying on large herbivores and excluding invasive predators such as feral cats and foxes. This in turn benefits small marsupials, birds and reptiles. We need to balance managing dingo impacts on agriculture against ensuring they can perform their vital environmental functions.</p>
<p>The term “wild dog” should be removed from public language and legislation. Dingo and feral dog should be used instead. This change in terminology would accurately reflect the fact that a vast majority of the wild canines in Australia are pure dingoes – and the hybrids are predominantly dingo in their genetic make-up. </p>
<p>A name change would also align with calls from <a href="https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2021.028">Australia’s First Nations people</a> to respect and acknowledge the dingo as a native and culturally significant species.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-the-dingo-to-the-tasmanian-devil-why-we-should-be-rewilding-carnivores-199879">From the dingo to the Tasmanian devil - why we should be rewilding carnivores</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206397/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kylie M Cairns receives funding from the Australian Dingo Foundation, New Guinea Singing Dog Conservation Society, NSW Koala Strategy and Australia and Pacific Science Foundation. She is a scientific advisor to The Australian Dingo Foundation, New Guinea Singing Dog Conservation Society, the New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation and is co-chair of the IUCN Canid Specialist Dingo Working Group.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Crowther receives funding from Australian Research Council, Australia and Pacific Science Foundation and the NSW Koala Strategy</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Letnic receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Australia and Asia Pacific Science Foundation</span></em></p>Dingoes are not wild dogs, research reveals. Most of the 307 wild animals sampled in this study were pure dingo. Australia’s apex predator deserves our respect after thousands of years on this land.Kylie M Cairns, Research fellow, UNSW SydneyMathew Crowther, Associate professor, University of SydneyMike Letnic, Professor, Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1893372022-11-07T07:26:36Z2022-11-07T07:26:36ZClimate change is causing endangered African wild dogs to give birth later – threatening the survival of the pack<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481898/original/file-20220830-35846-zp39if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">African wild dog with pups.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Manoj Shah/GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wildlife are responding and adapting to climate change in various ways. Some adaptations are more obvious. Flowering plants, for example, are <a href="https://theconversation.com/plants-are-flowering-a-month-earlier-heres-what-it-could-mean-for-pollinating-insects-176324#:%7E:text=That's%20according%20to%20scientists%20at,days%20earlier%20in%20the%20year.">blooming sooner</a> each year in parts of the northern hemisphere as climate change draws the onset of spring progressively earlier in the calendar. </p>
<p>Other adaptations are more covert, as we’ve discovered in the case of the African wild dog. </p>
<p>The African wild dog is an endangered large carnivore with a global population of <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/12436/166502262#assessment-information">fewer than 700 packs</a> (fewer than 7000 individuals) dotted across the African continent in isolated subpopulations. They typically raise their pups in the cooler months each year. However, our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2121667119">new study</a> shows that they are adapting to warming temperatures by giving birth later each year as they track a shrinking cool period. </p>
<p>By following the fates of 60 packs of African wild dogs in Botswana’s Okavango delta – the largest remaining subpopulation of the species – we learned that the average birthing date now occurs more than three weeks later than it did three decades ago. This shift almost perfectly tracked an average daily temperature increase of 1.6°C over that same period. </p>
<p>On the face of it, our finding that wild dogs are keeping pace with the rate of warming suggests there is no cause for alarm. Pups born in cooler months <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12719">are more likely to survive</a>, so isn’t this just an effective strategy to cope with a changing climate? Unfortunately not. </p>
<p>As the cooler period of the year is also getting shorter, the net effect of tracking these temperature shifts is that wild dogs are now inadvertently rearing their pups in warmer temperatures. </p>
<p>This is a problem because we’ve also <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12719">shown previously</a> that higher temperatures following birth affect pup survival rates in Kenya, and our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2121667119">new study</a> shows the same in Botswana. </p>
<p>For the three months of the year, when vulnerable pups remain in the safety of the den, the pack has to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-021-03047-8">commute</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyv130">vast distances</a> between their hunting grounds and the den. It’s possible that the travel costs of these daily <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00296390">meat deliveries</a> explain why fewer pups tend to survive at hotter times of the year. It’s also possible that hotter temperatures affect the dogs’ hunting success. And higher temperatures are also related to lower <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.7601">adult survival</a>. This may be because of factors including the energetic costs of hunting at high temperatures.</p>
<p>Increasing mortality is a big threat for a species like African wild dogs, whose survival relies on its numbers. Indeed pack size is inextricably tied to their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7601">survival and success</a>. Fewer pups surviving means fewer future helpers to find food, which results in fewer pups the next year, which in turn results in even fewer helpers – you get the picture.</p>
<h2>Moving on is not an option</h2>
<p>Unfortunately moving to more suitable environments isn’t an option. African wild dogs are notoriously wide ranging, with single packs occupying <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/96/6/1214/1170623">home ranges</a> of several hundred to over a thousand square kilometres. Confined to just <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/12436/166502262#assessment-information">7% of their historic range</a>, there is not a lot of room, and people are understandably reluctant to share further space with <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/humanwildlife-conflict-in-northern-botswana-livestock-predation-by-endangered-african-wild-dog-lycaon-pictus-and-other-carnivores/129A71C94A492FE5A6B4EE77100F08F9">predators that threaten their livestock</a>. </p>
<p>Indeed people retaliate for stock losses by poisoning and shooting wild dogs, and <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0030099">exposure to disease from domestic dogs</a> contributes further to their <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/rates-and-causes-of-mortality-in-endangered-african-wild-dogs-lycaon-pictus-lessons-for-management-and-monitoring/E7C8F3C6F42C81A8EAD121477237A56A">decline</a>.</p>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>African wild dogs are stuck in a kind of trap. They are adapting to rising temperatures using a cue that, thanks to climate change, no longer accurately predicts the best conditions for reproduction. </p>
<p>While certainly not the only species to exhibit a climate-driven shift in behaviour, African wild dogs are – to the best of our knowledge – the only large mammalian carnivore where a shift has been documented. </p>
<p>Because monitoring large carnivore populations over several decades is challenging and expensive, such long-term data either don’t exist or have not been assessed for most large carnivores. </p>
<p>Every time we look for an impact of temperature on African wild dogs, however, we uncover something new and unexpected. Climate-driven impacts on large carnivore behaviour, populations and life histories may well be more widespread than previously thought. Because large carnivores play an important role in shaping ecosystems, such impacts have much broader implications.</p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/">continued temperature rises projected across their range</a>, the effects of climate change on this already endangered species – and others like it – are of great concern.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil R Jordan has a conjoint position between in the Centre for Ecosystem Science at UNSW Sydney and Taronga Conservation Society Australia. He receives funding from National Parks and Wildlife Service NSW, MidCoast Council, the Hermon Slade Foundation, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Australian Academy of Science, Royal Zoological Society of NSW, WWF-Australia, and the Morris Animal Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Briana Abrahms receives funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and the University of Washington Royalty Research Fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniella Rabaiotti receives funding from the UK National Environment Research Council and the British Ecological Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kasim Rafiq receives funding from the University of Washington.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Woodroffe receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council, Research England, Morris Animal Foundation, and the IUCN Save Our Species Programme</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Weldon McNutt receives funding from the UN FAO, Wild Entrust International, St Louis Zoo WildCare Institute, Cincinnati Zoo, Tusk Trust, and numerous private donors.</span></em></p>African wild dogs are adapting to rising temperatures using a cue that no longer accurately predicts the best conditions for reproduction.Neil R Jordan, Senior lecturer, UNSW SydneyBriana Abrahms, Assistant Professor of Biology, University of WashingtonDaniella Rabaiotti, Postdoctoral Researcher, Zoological Society of LondonKasim Rafiq, Postdoctoral Researcher in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of WashingtonRosie Woodroffe, Professor, Zoological Society of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1261842019-10-31T18:54:34Z2019-10-31T18:54:34ZDingoes found in New South Wales, but we’re killing them as ‘wild dogs’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299591/original/file-20191030-17908-1xssb8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One in four of nearly 800 animals genetically tested were pure dingo.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michelle J Photography</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a widespread belief dingoes are as good as extinct in New South Wales and nearly all dog-like animals in the wild are simply wild dogs. This belief is bolstered by legislation and policies in NSW, which have removed the word dingo and refer only to “wild dogs”.</p>
<p>But our research, recently published in the journal <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10592-019-01230-z">Conservation Genetics</a>, challenges this assumption. We performed DNA ancestry testing, much like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dna-ancestry-testing-can-change-our-ideas-of-who-we-are-114428">ancestry tests</a> available to people, on 783 wild canines killed as part of pest control measures in NSW. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dingo-is-a-true-blue-native-australian-species-111538">The dingo is a true-blue, native Australian species</a>
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<p>Roughly one in four of the animals we tested were pure dingoes, and most were genetically more than three-quarters dingo. Only 5 of the 783 animals we tested turned out to be feral domestic dogs with no dingo ancestry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299604/original/file-20191031-187907-xkn0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299604/original/file-20191031-187907-xkn0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299604/original/file-20191031-187907-xkn0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299604/original/file-20191031-187907-xkn0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299604/original/file-20191031-187907-xkn0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299604/original/file-20191031-187907-xkn0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299604/original/file-20191031-187907-xkn0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299604/original/file-20191031-187907-xkn0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If it looks like a dingo, acts like a dingo and shares dingo genes… there’s a pretty good chance it’s a dingo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michelle J Photography</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Dingo hotspots</h2>
<p>Studies carried out by the CSIRO in the 1980s and ‘90s examined the <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/zo/ZO9850363">skulls of wild canines</a> in southeastern Australia, and concluded they were largely <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/WR9960581">hybrids of dingoes and dogs</a>.</p>
<p>In NSW all wild dogs are classified as <a href="https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/602039/Wild-Dog-PCO.pdf">pest animals</a>. Under the <a href="https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/about-us/legislation/list/biosecurity-act-2015">NSW Biosecurity Act 2015</a> all landholders have a duty to control wild dogs to minimise the risk of negative impacts on neighbouring land. </p>
<p>This policy requires all public and private landholders in NSW to display signs warning when poison baits have been laid to kill wild dogs.</p>
<p>But our DNA testing found three hotspots of high dingo ancestry within northeastern NSW: Washpool National Park; the coast north of Port Macquarie; and the Myall lakes region. </p>
<p>There were more pure dingoes in these areas. Despite these positive findings, dingo-dog hybridisation is still very prevalent in NSW. Three-quarters of wild animals carry some domestic dog ancestry. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dingoes-and-humans-were-once-friends-separating-them-could-be-why-they-attack-115917">Dingoes and humans were once friends. Separating them could be why they attack</a>
</strong>
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</p>
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<p>This is not entirely surprising. Domestic pet and working dogs have lived alongside dingoes for centuries. Widespread killing of dingoes also increases the risk of hybridisation because it <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0006861">breaks family groups apart</a>, giving domestic dogs the opportunity to mate with dingoes. Small populations also have a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41437-018-0094-x">higher risk</a> of hybridisation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299611/original/file-20191031-187898-1vgg0gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299611/original/file-20191031-187898-1vgg0gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299611/original/file-20191031-187898-1vgg0gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299611/original/file-20191031-187898-1vgg0gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299611/original/file-20191031-187898-1vgg0gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299611/original/file-20191031-187898-1vgg0gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299611/original/file-20191031-187898-1vgg0gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299611/original/file-20191031-187898-1vgg0gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">1080 poison baits are affecting dingoes as well as feral dogs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Letnic</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hybridisation is generally considered detrimental to conservation because it alters the genome. In the case of dingoes, hybridisation is a problem because hybrids may be different to dingoes and “true” dingoes will eventually disappear. </p>
<p>While our results show dingoes still exist and their genes are predominate, their conservation will be greatly helped if we can prevent further interbreeding with domestic dogs. </p>
<h2>Time to resurrect the dingo</h2>
<p>Our study has important implications for both how we describe dingoes, and the future conservation of dingoes in NSW. Most of the animals labelled as wild dogs in NSW had predominantly dingo DNA, and fewer than 1% were actually feral dogs.</p>
<p>The term wild dog obfuscates the identity of wild animals whose genes are mostly dingo but sometimes carry dog genes. For all intents and purposes, these animals have dingo DNA, look like dingoes and behave like dingoes, and consequently should be labelled as dingoes rather than escaped pets gone wild.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dingoes-do-bark-why-most-dingo-facts-you-think-you-know-are-wrong-68816">Dingoes do bark: why most dingo facts you think you know are wrong</a>
</strong>
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<hr>
<p>Hotspots with high dingo ancestry have significant conservation value and urgently need new management plans to ensure these pure dingo populations are protected from hybridisation. These populations could be protected by restricting the killing of dingoes in these areas and restricting access to domestic dogs on public land such as state forests. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299605/original/file-20191031-187898-c92q15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299605/original/file-20191031-187898-c92q15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299605/original/file-20191031-187898-c92q15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299605/original/file-20191031-187898-c92q15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299605/original/file-20191031-187898-c92q15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299605/original/file-20191031-187898-c92q15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299605/original/file-20191031-187898-c92q15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299605/original/file-20191031-187898-c92q15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Animals long thought to be wild dogs are actually predominantly dingoes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michelle J Photography</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Further ancestry testing should be conducted in more areas to determine whether there are other pockets of high dingo purity in NSW.</p>
<p>Undeniably, dingoes can negatively impact livestock producers, especially sheep farmers. Non-lethal strategies such as electric or exclusion fencing, and livestock guarding animals such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/guardian-dogs-fencing-and-fladry-protect-livestock-from-carnivores-103290">dogs, llamas and donkeys</a>, may balance the need to conserve dingoes and protect vulnerable livestock. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guardian-dogs-fencing-and-fladry-protect-livestock-from-carnivores-103290">Guardian dogs, fencing, and 'fladry' protect livestock from carnivores</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In some circumstances, dingoes can <a href="https://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/3568996/dingoes-can-be-allies/">benefit</a> farmers because they reduce numbers of native and feral herbivores like kangaroos, feral goats, rabbits and pigs, boosting pasture growth for livestock. </p>
<p>If lethal control is justified, then targeted strategies such as shooting and trapping may be more suitable in high dingo conservation areas rather than landscape-wide poison aerial baiting.</p>
<p>It is time to resurrect the dingo. The term dingo needs to come back into official language, and we need practical strategies for limiting dingo-dog hybridisation and protecting dingo hotspots. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dog-owners-could-take-the-lead-on-dingo-conservation-with-a-fido-fund-118124">Dog owners could take the lead on dingo conservation with a 'Fido fund'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126184/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kylie M Cairns receives funding from The Australian Dingo Foundation and The Hermon Slade Foundation. Kylie is a scientific advisor to The Australian Dingo Foundation, The New Guinea Singing Dog Conservation Society and The New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Nesbitt is a Wildlife Consultant and has previously worked for NSW NPWS. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Crowther receives funding from the Australian Research Council and NSW Government</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Letnic receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shawn Laffan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is a myth that dingoes are extinct and wild dogs are all that remain in Australia. Our results show dingoes in New South Wales persist despite some mixing with domestic dogs.Kylie M Cairns, Research fellow, UNSW SydneyBrad Nesbitt, Adjunct Research Fellow, University of New EnglandMathew Crowther, Associate professor, University of SydneyMike Letnic, Professor, Centre for Ecosystem Science, UNSW SydneyShawn Laffan, Associate professor, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1115382019-03-07T02:35:17Z2019-03-07T02:35:17ZThe dingo is a true-blue, native Australian species<p>Of all Australia’s wildlife, one stands out as having an identity crisis: the dingo. But <a href="https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4564.1.6">our recent article</a> in the journal Zootaxa argues that dingoes should be regarded as a <em>bona fide</em> species on multiple fronts.</p>
<p>This isn’t just an issue of semantics. How someone refers to dingoes may reflect their values and interests, as much as the science. </p>
<p>How scientists refer to dingoes in print reflects their <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/PC/PC18018">background and place of employment</a>, and the Western Australian government recently made a controversial attempt to classify the dingo as “<a href="https://www.farmweekly.com.au/story/5780819/saving-dingo-vital-despite-pest-status/">non-native fauna</a>”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-wa-government-is-wrong-to-play-identity-politics-with-dingoes-102344">Why the WA government is wrong to play identity politics with dingoes</a>
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<p>How we define species – called taxonomy – affects <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-wa-government-is-wrong-to-play-identity-politics-with-dingoes-102344">our attitudes</a>, and long-term goals for <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6409/1324">their conservation</a>.</p>
<h2>What is a dog?</h2>
<p>Over many years, dingoes have been called many scientific names: <em>Canis lupus dingo</em> (a subspecies of the wolf), <em>Canis familiaris</em> (a domestic dog), and <em>Canis dingo</em> (its own species within the genus <em>Canis</em>). But these names have been applied inconsistently in both academic literature and government policy.</p>
<p>This inconsistency partially reflects the global arguments regarding the naming of canids. For those who adhere to the traditional “biological” species concept (in which a “species” is a group of organisms that can interbreed), one might <a href="https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4317.2.1/0">consider</a> the dingo (and all other canids that can interbreed, like wolves, coyotes, and black-backed jackals) to be part of a single, highly variable and widely distributed species.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258680/original/file-20190213-90473-9iumwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258680/original/file-20190213-90473-9iumwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258680/original/file-20190213-90473-9iumwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258680/original/file-20190213-90473-9iumwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258680/original/file-20190213-90473-9iumwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258680/original/file-20190213-90473-9iumwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258680/original/file-20190213-90473-9iumwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the <em>Canis</em> genus: wolf (<em>Canis lupus</em>), coyote (<em>Canis latrans</em>), Ethiopian wolf (<em>Canis simensis</em>), black-backed jackal (<em>Canis mesomelas</em>), dingo (<em>Canis dingo</em>), and a representative of the domestic dog (<em>Canis familiaris</em>).</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the “biological” species concept used to name species came about long before modern genetic tools, or even before many hybrid species were identified by their DNA (such as the “red wolf,” an ancient <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/7/e1501714">hybrid</a> of grey wolves and coyotes found in the southeastern United States).</p>
<p>Few people would really argue that a chihuahua, a wolf, and a coyote are the same species. In reality there are many more <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/article/56/6/879/1653163">comprehensive and logical ways to classify a species</a>. In our latest paper we argue that a holistic approach to defining species is essential in the case of the dingo and other canids.</p>
<p>Our work shows conclusively that dingoes are distinct from wild canids and domestic dogs based on many different criteria.</p>
<h2>Truly wild</h2>
<p>The first criterion is that dingoes are wild animals, and live completely independent from humans. This is fundamentally different to domestic, feral, or wild dogs, which must live near human settlements and rely on humans for food and water in some way to survive.</p>
<p>Yes, the dingo might have arrived in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X16300694">Australia with humans</a>, and we know that Aboriginal Australians have had <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X15300742">a close relationship</a> with dingoes following the latter’s arrival. But neither of these observations excludes dingoes from being wild. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dingoes-do-bark-why-most-dingo-facts-you-think-you-know-are-wrong-68816">Dingoes do bark: why most dingo facts you think you know are wrong</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>For example, a relationship with humans does not constitute the rigorous <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/175303709X434149">definitions of domestication</a>. Consider the <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-it-too-late-to-bring-the-red-fox-under-control-11299">red fox</a> (<em>Vulpes vulpes</em>), which was also introduced to Australia by people and are now free-ranging: they are also not considered to be domesticated. Neither are wild animals such as birds that we feed in our backyards domesticated simply because they are sometimes fed by us.</p>
<h2>Ecological role</h2>
<p>In fact, dingoes have been living wild and independently of humans for a very long time — they have a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10709-016-9924-z">distinct and unique evolutionary past</a> that diverged some 5 to 10 thousand years ago from other canids. This is more than enough time for the dingo to have evolved into a naturalised predator now integral to maintaining the health of many Australian ecosystems.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dingo-dinners-whats-on-the-menu-for-australias-top-predator-103846">Dingo dinners: what's on the menu for Australia's top predator?</a>
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<p>Dogs do not have the brain power or body adaptations to survive in the wild, and they cannot play the same <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00203.x">ecological role</a> as dingoes. From this ecological perspective alone, the two species are not interchangeable. Dingoes are Australia’s only large (between 15-20 kg), land-based predator, and as such play a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00203.x">vital role in Australia’s environment</a>.</p>
<h2>Shape and size</h2>
<p>Viewed alone, the overall shape of the body and skull does not easily distinguish wild canids from dogs, mainly because of the sheer diversity among different breeds of domestic dogs.</p>
<p>But there are some important body differences between free-ranging dogs and dingoes, mainly in the skull region (as shown <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jzo.12134">here</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11692-016-9371-x">here</a>).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258221/original/file-20190211-174890-rxla0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258221/original/file-20190211-174890-rxla0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=161&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258221/original/file-20190211-174890-rxla0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=161&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258221/original/file-20190211-174890-rxla0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=161&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258221/original/file-20190211-174890-rxla0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=202&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258221/original/file-20190211-174890-rxla0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=202&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258221/original/file-20190211-174890-rxla0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=202&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cranial 3-D reconstructions of a dingo (bottom) and a free-ranging dog (top), highlighting the differences in cranial morphology mentioned in the text.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Behaviour</h2>
<p>Dingoes (and other truly wild canids) have some fundamentally unique behaviours that set them apart from dogs (although like shape, there are often exceptions among the artificial dog breeds). For example, dingoes have significantly different <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635712002264">reproductive biology and care-giving strategies</a>. </p>
<p>There are also differences in brain function, such as in the way the two species <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347210001478">solve problems</a>, and dingoes and dogs <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347217302890">communicate differently with humans</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-dingoes-attack-people-and-how-can-we-prevent-it-100515">Why do dingoes attack people, and how can we prevent it?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Genetics</h2>
<p>While dingoes and dogs obviously share an ancestral relationship, there is a lot of <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/472084v1">genetic data</a> to support the distinction between dingoes and dogs.</p>
<p>While dingoes share ancestry with ancient Asian dogs from 10,000 years ago, the dingo has been geographically isolated from all other canids for many thousands of years, and genetic mixing has only been occurring recently, most probably driven by human intervention. </p>
<p>Since the 1990s, genetic markers have been in widespread use by land managers, conservation groups, and researchers to <a href="http://publications.rzsnsw.org.au/doi/10.7882/FS.2001.008">differentiate dingoes from domestic dogs</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258223/original/file-20190211-174851-19bqet2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258223/original/file-20190211-174851-19bqet2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258223/original/file-20190211-174851-19bqet2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258223/original/file-20190211-174851-19bqet2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258223/original/file-20190211-174851-19bqet2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258223/original/file-20190211-174851-19bqet2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/258223/original/file-20190211-174851-19bqet2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A summary of the evolutionary relationships among wolves, dingoes and modern domestic dogs. Dingoes and other ancient lineages of dog such as New Guinea singing dogs form a distinct lineage separate from modern domestic dogs that have undergone successive generations of artificial selection.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s at stake?</h2>
<p>Even acknowledging the dingo’s uncertain and distant past, <a href="https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4564.1.7">lumping dingoes and dogs together</a> is unjustified.</p>
<p>Labelling dingoes as “feral domestic dogs” or some other misnomer ignores their unique, long, and quintessentially wild history in Australia. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-some-graziers-want-to-retain-not-kill-dingoes-77457">Why do some graziers want to retain, not kill, dingoes?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Inappropriate naming also has serious implications for their treatment. Any label less than “dingo” can be used to justify their legal persecution. </p>
<p>Further loss of dingoes could have serious, <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-australia-afford-the-dingo-fence-7101">negative ecological consequences</a>, including potentially placing other Australian native animals at <a href="https://www.ecolsoc.org.au/hot-topics/demise-dingo-0">increased risk of extinction</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111538/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bradley Smith is a Director of the Australian Dingo Foundation. He is a member of the International Society for Anthrozoology, and on the editorial advisory board of Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of the Interactions of People and Animals.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Corey Bradshaw receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council, The Australia and Pacific Science Foundation, The Hermon Slade Foundation, Australian Geographic, and Parks Victoria. Euan Ritchie is a Director (Media Working Group) of the Ecological Society of Australia, and a member of the Australian Mammal Society. Euan is also a member of the Victorian Government's Wild Dog Management Advisory Committee. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin W. Adams receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kylie M Cairns receives funding from The Australian Dingo Foundation and The Hermon Slade Foundation. Kylie is a scientific advisor to The Australian Dingo Foundation, The New Guinea Singing Dog Conservation Society and The New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Crowther receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australia Pacific Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Of all Australia’s wildlife, one stands out as having an identity crisis: the dingo. New research has found the dingo is its own species, distinct from ‘wild dogs’.Bradley Smith, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, CQUniversity AustraliaCorey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology, Flinders UniversityEuan Ritchie, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityJustin W. Adams, Senior Lecturer, Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash UniversityKylie M Cairns, Adjunct associate lecturer, UNSW SydneyMathew Crowther, Associate professor, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/930072018-03-08T05:08:24Z2018-03-08T05:08:24ZLeopards in a city park in India may help lower human injuries and deaths from stray dog bites<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209281/original/file-20180307-146700-1d14qrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wild leopards in the Indian city of Mumbai may be helping to save people's lives.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve Winter/National Geographic</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A fleeting glimpse of the black spots and gold fur of a leopard is not an uncommon sight at <a href="https://sgnp.maharashtra.gov.in/1210/Living-with-Leopards">Sanjay Gandhi National Park</a> in the Indian city of Mumbai.</p>
<p>Leopards are often thought of as a threat to humans, but rather than being a problem in Mumbai, they may actually be helping their human neighbours – even saving their lives – as we argue in our paper <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/fee.1776">published today in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment</a>.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m14!1m8!1m3!1d230617.70621775818!2d72.88055560328759!3d19.114161201991212!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x0%3A0xe0d36d489e1a14fa!2sSanjay+Gandhi+National+Park!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sau!4v1520404286469" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0" style="border:0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>Recent studies suggest there may be <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/sgnp-census-confirms-41-leopards-27-of-them-new/articleshow/62812269.cms">as many as 41 leopards</a> roaming the 104km<sup>2</sup> park. That’s about two to three times the leopard density you’d find in some of the most productive savannas in Africa or Sri Lanka.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-shocking-facts-revealed-how-sharks-and-other-animals-evolved-electroreception-to-find-their-prey-91066">The shocking facts revealed: how sharks and other animals evolved electroreception to find their prey</a>
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<p><a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/leopards-moving-to-cities-text">Mumbai’s leopards live alongside people</a>, mostly in informal settlements, and they hunt and kill dogs in and around their villages. On average, dogs make up about 40% of a Mumbai leopard’s diet.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a75HUY8Q8TY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A walk in the park.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So what, you might ask. Leopards <a href="https://www.livescience.com/27403-leopards.html">are one of the world’s most adaptable</a> big cats, feeding on <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00139.x/abstract">more than 100 prey items</a> worldwide, so aren’t they just doing what an opportunist would do?</p>
<h2>A city of dogs</h2>
<p>If you’ve ever visited Mumbai, you’ll probably remember a few incredible sights: the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_of_India">Gateway of India</a>, Mumbai’s bustling city and teeming traffic – and its dogs.</p>
<p>Hundreds and thousands of dogs. On every street corner, in every alley. Recent surveys have shown that about <a href="http://www.mcgm.gov.in/irj/go/km/docs/documents/MCGM%20Department%20List/Public%20Relation%20Officer/Press%20Release/07051425_Mumbai%20Dog%20Census%20report%20final%20jan%202014.pdf">95,000 dogs roam Mumbai</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209422/original/file-20180307-146694-16bqhob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209422/original/file-20180307-146694-16bqhob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209422/original/file-20180307-146694-16bqhob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209422/original/file-20180307-146694-16bqhob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209422/original/file-20180307-146694-16bqhob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209422/original/file-20180307-146694-16bqhob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209422/original/file-20180307-146694-16bqhob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209422/original/file-20180307-146694-16bqhob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The dogs of Mumbai.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve Winter/National Geographic</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>We wanted to delve deeper into the uncanny relationship Mumbai’s leopards have with the dogs. And what about bites, we asked. Do dogs bite people, and what about rabies risk?</p>
<p>After sifting through about 40 newspaper articles and online reports, we found that nearly 75,000 bites are recorded annually in the city (<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1424765/">although many more are likely unreported</a>). <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Dog-bites-killed-more-than-2-terror-attacks/articleshow/51336536.cms">More than 420 people in Mumbai have died from rabies</a> as a result of stray dog bites over a 20-year period. </p>
<p>It was at that point we wondered whether leopards help to protect people from dog bites by keeping the dog population down – especially around the park where their diet is dominated by dogs.</p>
<p>Surveys performed by <a href="http://www.mcgm.gov.in/irj/go/km/docs/documents/MCGM%20Department%20List/Public%20Relation%20Officer/Press%20Release/07051425_Mumbai%20Dog%20Census%20report%20final%20jan%202014.pdf">population biologist Lex Hiby</a> and <a href="https://sgnp.maharashtra.gov.in/Site/Upload/Pdf/Ecology_of_leopard_in_SGNP_2015-Nikit_Surve.pdf">Nikit Surve of the Wildlife Institute of India</a> around the park suggest that the answer is yes. Dog densities there are lower and, according to our analyses, citizens might experience only 11% of the bites compared with people who live further from the park.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209439/original/file-20180308-146661-e786l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209439/original/file-20180308-146661-e786l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209439/original/file-20180308-146661-e786l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209439/original/file-20180308-146661-e786l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209439/original/file-20180308-146661-e786l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209439/original/file-20180308-146661-e786l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209439/original/file-20180308-146661-e786l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209439/original/file-20180308-146661-e786l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The dogs bite people and can carry the deadly rabies virus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve Winter/National Geographic</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moreover, by consuming between 800 and 2,000 dogs per year, we calculate that the leopard population saves the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai about US$18,000 (A$23,000) in sterilisation costs (or 8% of the <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai/58-317-dog-bite-cases-in-mumbai-this-year/story-wR4lI5YiK5OWGyI8qhPBFO.html">municipality’s annual sterilisation budget</a>).</p>
<h2>If you remove the leopards</h2>
<p>The final piece of the puzzle was to model what a park with no leopards would look like – a sad prediction if increased urbanisation, deforestation and conflict occur over future decades.</p>
<p>Under one set of assumptions, we found dog bites could increase by between 140 to more than 5,000 per year as dog populations would grow in and around the park area. The medical costs for these bites could total as much as US$200,000 (A$256,000) per year.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209442/original/file-20180308-146666-1pdsrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209442/original/file-20180308-146666-1pdsrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209442/original/file-20180308-146666-1pdsrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209442/original/file-20180308-146666-1pdsrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209442/original/file-20180308-146666-1pdsrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209442/original/file-20180308-146666-1pdsrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209442/original/file-20180308-146666-1pdsrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209442/original/file-20180308-146666-1pdsrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Leopards in the city help reduce the stray dog numbers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve Winter/National Geographic</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our research puts a new twist on a large predator that has been persecuted for millennia, and which has generally been viewed as a nuisance to stock farmers globally and those living on the edge of Sanjay Gandhi National Park.</p>
<p>Leopards are believed to have <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/1974/">disappeared from about 63-75% of their global range</a>. We have to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0421-2">think of large predators in a broader sense</a> – they can at times be helpful to farmers, ecosystems and even insurance companies.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209444/original/file-20180308-146645-1hcvokr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209444/original/file-20180308-146645-1hcvokr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209444/original/file-20180308-146645-1hcvokr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209444/original/file-20180308-146645-1hcvokr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209444/original/file-20180308-146645-1hcvokr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209444/original/file-20180308-146645-1hcvokr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209444/original/file-20180308-146645-1hcvokr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209444/original/file-20180308-146645-1hcvokr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Leopards prey on Mumbai’s dogs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve Winter/National Geographic</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The big challenge in Sanjay Gandhi National Park is not only leopard attacks on the odd pig or cattle calf – leopards here sometimes kill people. Leopard attacks on people peaked at 25 cases in 2002. Most of these were attributed to leopards <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/27976435">moved from other forest patches</a> into Sanjay Gandhi, a kind of catch-and-dump scheme by local governments for problem animals.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-foe-to-friend-how-carnivores-could-help-farmers-92190">From foe to friend: how carnivores could help farmers</a>
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<p>It’s thought this had a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01599.x/abstract">chaotic effect on leopard home ranges and social structure</a> as leopards are territorial. But leopard attacks came to an almost complete halt for four years until 2017 when residents were <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/mumbai-leopard-attack-victims-yet-to-get-compensation-from-forest-dept/articleshow/63032029.cms">angered</a> by a <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/how-some-mumbai-hamlets-live-dangerously-close-to-leopards/story-Q2C4REMAF4fk4MXq93YrAI.html">spate of new attacks</a>.</p>
<p>The big challenge is to evaluate the benefits of these leopards and similar large carnivores; it’s equally important to assess the costs of these species to local communities. The real issue is navigating the costs with the benefits, and identifying those cases of net-benefit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93007/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher O'Bryan receives funding from the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre in Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Richard Braczkowski receives funding from National Geographic, the Scientific Exploration Society and a Rufford small grant for conservation. </span></em></p>Wild leopards that live in an Indian city park like to dine on stray dogs, which new research says may help reduce the number of potentially deadly dog bites on people.Christopher J. O'Bryan, PhD Candidate, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of QueenslandAlexander Richard Braczkowski, PhD Candidate - Wildlife Cameraman, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/767822017-05-01T20:04:12Z2017-05-01T20:04:12ZThe bark side: domestic dogs threaten endangered species worldwide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167289/original/file-20170430-12979-apfd4b.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A feral dog chasing a wild boar, Banni grasslands, India</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/A-Dogged-problem-for-Wildlife-1488977724740826/">Chetan Misher/Facebook</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans and their canine companions share many close bonds. Wolves (<em>Canis lupus</em>) were the first animal domesticated by people, some time between 15,000 and 50,000 years ago. </p>
<p>There are now an estimated <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282685782_The_dog-human-wildlife_interface_Assessing_the_scope_of_the_problem">1 billion</a> domestic dogs across their near-global distribution. </p>
<p>Domestic dogs include feral and free-ranging animals (such as village and camp dogs), as well as those that are owned by and completely dependent on humans (pet dogs).</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320717305967">latest research</a> reveals that the ecological “pawprint” of domestic dogs is much greater than previously realised. </p>
<p>Using the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/">IUCN Red List of Threatened Species</a>, we counted how many species are negatively affected by dogs, assessed the prevalence of different types of impacts, and identified regions with the greatest number of affected species. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167290/original/file-20170430-12970-e0s6x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167290/original/file-20170430-12970-e0s6x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167290/original/file-20170430-12970-e0s6x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167290/original/file-20170430-12970-e0s6x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167290/original/file-20170430-12970-e0s6x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167290/original/file-20170430-12970-e0s6x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167290/original/file-20170430-12970-e0s6x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167290/original/file-20170430-12970-e0s6x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A dog with a black-naped hare, Maharashtra, India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/A-Dogged-problem-for-Wildlife-1488977724740826/">Hari Somashekhar/Facebook</a></span>
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<h2>Dogs are third-most-damaging mammal</h2>
<p>We found that dogs are implicated in the extinction of at least 11 species, including the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22692693/0">Hawaiian Rail</a> and the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/21286/0">Tonga Ground Skink</a>. Dogs are also a known or potential threat to 188 threatened species worldwide: 96 mammal, 78 bird, 22 reptile and three amphibian species. This includes 30 critically endangered species, two of which are classed as “possibly extinct”. </p>
<p>These numbers place dogs in the number three spot after cats and rodents as the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/113/40/11261.abstract">world’s most damaging invasive mammalian predators</a>. </p>
<p>Even though dogs have an almost global distribution, the threatened species they are known to affect are concentrated in certain parts of the globe. South-East Asia, South America, Central America and the Caribbean each contain 28 to 30 threatened species impacted by dogs. Other hotspots include Australia, Micro/Mela/Polynesia and the remainder of Asia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167093/original/file-20170427-15112-e0la10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167093/original/file-20170427-15112-e0la10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167093/original/file-20170427-15112-e0la10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167093/original/file-20170427-15112-e0la10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167093/original/file-20170427-15112-e0la10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167093/original/file-20170427-15112-e0la10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167093/original/file-20170427-15112-e0la10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167093/original/file-20170427-15112-e0la10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Regional concentrations of threatened species negatively impacted by domestic dogs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lethal and non-lethal impacts</h2>
<p>Predation was the most commonly reported impact of dogs on wildlife. The typically omnivorous diet of dogs means they have strong potential to affect a diversity of species. For instance, dogs killed at least 19 endangered <a href="http://www.edgeofexistence.org/birds/species_info.php?id=1947">Kagu</a> (a ground-dwelling bird) in New Caledonia in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rod_Hay/publication/240465712_Multiple_Kagu_Rhynochetos_jubatus_deaths_caused_by_dog_attacks_at_a_high-altitude_study_site_on_Pic_Ningua_New_Caledonia/links/0deec53cd8767a4176000000.pdf">14 weeks</a>. Threatened species with small population sizes are particularly vulnerable to such intense bouts of predation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167236/original/file-20170428-3525-ftv8jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167236/original/file-20170428-3525-ftv8jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167236/original/file-20170428-3525-ftv8jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167236/original/file-20170428-3525-ftv8jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167236/original/file-20170428-3525-ftv8jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167236/original/file-20170428-3525-ftv8jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167236/original/file-20170428-3525-ftv8jb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The frequency of different types of dog impact on threatened species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Uxs~1R~e71Xl</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Aside from simply killing animals, dogs can <a href="https://theconversation.com/contested-spaces-saving-nature-when-our-beaches-have-gone-to-the-dogs-72078">harm wildlife in other ways</a>, such as by spreading disease, interbreeding with other canids, competing for resources such as food or shelter, and causing disturbances by chasing or harassment. For example, contact with domestic dogs increases <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0030099">disease risk</a> for endangered <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/a/african-wild-dog/">African Wild Dogs</a> in Kenya.</p>
<p>Part of the problem is that when wild animals perceive dogs as a threat, they may change their behaviour to avoid them. One <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/6/611.short">study</a> near Sydney found that dog walking in parklands and national parks reduced the abundance and species richness of birds, even when dogs were restrained on leads. </p>
<p>None of the Red List assessments mentioned such indirect risk effects, which suggests that their frequency is likely to be much higher than reported.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167291/original/file-20170430-12987-1uuitvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167291/original/file-20170430-12987-1uuitvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167291/original/file-20170430-12987-1uuitvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167291/original/file-20170430-12987-1uuitvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167291/original/file-20170430-12987-1uuitvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=233&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167291/original/file-20170430-12987-1uuitvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167291/original/file-20170430-12987-1uuitvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167291/original/file-20170430-12987-1uuitvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Feral dogs chasing Indian wild ass at Little Rann of Kutch, India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/A-Dogged-problem-for-Wildlife-1488977724740826">Kalyan Varma/Facebook</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Friend and foe</h2>
<p>Despite their widespread and sometimes severe impacts on biodiversity, dogs can also <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_kZoAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA55&dq=info:vZu_SkOQdMAJ:scholar.google.com&ots=_YqKHaxbAw&sig=u96i8Br0vKyEBm7Fy2clC_43agU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">benefit some species and ecosystems</a>. </p>
<p>For example, in Australia, the closely related dingo (<em>Canis dingo</em>) can suppress populations of introduced predators such as red foxes (<em>Vulpes vulpes</em>), and in doing so <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00203.x/abstract">can benefit smaller native prey</a>. It is possible that domestic dogs could perform similar ecological roles in some situations.</p>
<p>In some regions, dogs and their keen noses have been trained to help scientists find threatened species such as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-14/specially-trained-dog-finds-tiger-quoll-scat-in-otway-ranges/6940360">Tiger Quolls</a>. Elsewhere they are helping to <a href="http://www.australianwildlife.org/field-updates/2013/canine-rangers-sniff-out-feral-cats.aspx">flush out and control feral cats</a>. </p>
<p>An emerging and exciting conservation role for dogs is their growing use as “<a href="https://www.zoo.org.au/about-us/vision-and-mission/our-projects/wildlife-guardian-dogs">guardian animals</a>” for wildlife, with the remarkable story of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7AV2ZYlxvI">Oddball</a> being the most well known.</p>
<h2>Managing the problem</h2>
<p>Dogs not only interact with wildlife, but can also attack and spread disease to humans, livestock and other domestic animals. As such, managing the problem requires looking at ecological, cultural and social perspectives.</p>
<p>Some of the regions with high numbers of species threatened by dogs are also hotspots for urbanisation and road building, which make it easier for dogs to access the habitats of threatened species. Urban development increases <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.12236/abstract">food waste</a>, which feeds higher numbers of dogs. As dogs expand into new areas, the number of species they impact is likely to grow.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167273/original/file-20170430-12979-1nwsng2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167273/original/file-20170430-12979-1nwsng2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167273/original/file-20170430-12979-1nwsng2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167273/original/file-20170430-12979-1nwsng2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167273/original/file-20170430-12979-1nwsng2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167273/original/file-20170430-12979-1nwsng2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167273/original/file-20170430-12979-1nwsng2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167273/original/file-20170430-12979-1nwsng2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Street dogs scavenging food waste in India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Achat1234/wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We can protect wildlife by integrating human health and animal welfare objectives into dog management. Vaccination and desexing campaigns can reduce disease risk and overpopulation problems. We should also focus on responsible dog ownership, removing dogs without owners, and reducing access to food waste.</p>
<p>Given the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_kZoAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA286&dq=info:7VdDMTtVI8MJ:scholar.google.com&ots=_YqKHazdyy&sig=tNYLFyaH8BBPJt-ghAGht1g9k7U&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">close relationship between humans and dogs</a>, community engagement should form the basis of any management program. More research is needed to get a better picture of the scale of the problem, and of how dogs interact with other threats such as habitat loss. Such actions are critically important for ensuring the conservation of wildlife threatened by dogs around the world.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was co-authored by Dr Al Glen from Landcare Research, New Zealand and Dr Abi Vanak from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, India. These institutions had no role in the design or funding of this research.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76782/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Doherty receives funding from the Australian Academy of Sciences, Ecological Society of Australia and Deakin University. Tim is on the board of the Society for Conservation Biology (Oceania) and is a member of the Ecological Society of Australia, and the Australian and American Mammal Societies.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Dickman receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Long Term Ecological Research Network, the Threatened Species Recovery Hub of the National Environmental Science Programme, and The University of Sydney. He is a member of the Ecological Society of Australia, the Australian and American Mammal Societies, the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, and a Director of WWF-Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dale Nimmo is a member of the Ecological Society of Australia and receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Hermon Slade Foundation, the Australian Academy of Science, and the Department of Land, Water and Planning, the Department of Parks and Wildlife.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council. Euan Ritchie is a Director (Media Working Group) of the Ecological Society of Australia, and a member of the Australian Mammal Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Newsome receives funding from Deakin University, The University of Sydney, the National Geographic Society for Research and Exploration, Seattle City Lights, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Newmont Tanami Operations. He is Treasurer of the Australasian Wildlife Management Society and a member of the Australian Mammal Society and the Ecological Society of Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aaron J. Wirsing does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cats have a bad reputation as wildlife killers (deservedly so). But dogs aren’t off the hook: new research shows domestic dogs have contributed to the extinction of at least 11 species.Tim Doherty, Research Fellow, Deakin UniversityAaron J. Wirsing, Assistant Professor, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of WashingtonChris Dickman, Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, University of SydneyDale Nimmo, ARC DECRA Fellow, Charles Sturt UniversityEuan Ritchie, Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityThomas Newsome, Fulbright Scholar and Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/669802016-10-14T01:44:31Z2016-10-14T01:44:31ZWhy Victoria’s dingo and ‘wild dog’ bounty is doomed to miss its target<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141717/original/image-20161014-3938-gye5v4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dingoes play an important role in our ecosystems. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Angus Emmott</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On any given night, many farmers go to sleep worrying about what they might wake up to in the morning. Few things are more stressful than seeing your livestock, such as sheep, lying dead or seriously injured in the paddock. Sometimes dingoes, free roaming and unowned (“feral”) dogs, and domestic dogs, or their hybrids, are responsible for such a scene. But what’s the best way to deal with this situation?</p>
<p>The Victorian government is set to reinstate a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/victoria-set-to-re-introduce-dingo-and-wild-dog-bounty/7928002">dingo and wild dog bounty scheme</a> as a way to reduce livestock, especially sheep, being attacked and killed, in response to calls from farming and shooting groups. </p>
<h2>Just what is a dingo?</h2>
<p>One of the problems with managing dingoes is that the boundary between them and “wild dogs” is contentious. Some have even claimed that there are <a href="https://radio.abc.net.au/programitem/pgoMGrYny7?play=true">no pure dingoes in Victoria</a>. </p>
<p>Defining <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jzo.12134/abstract">what dingoes are</a> is harder than you might think. There is considerable variation in how dingoes look, for example, in terms of their overall size and colour, as is common with many other members of the dog family (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canidae">canids</a>). </p>
<p>And if a dingo isn’t considered 100% “<a href="http://ro.uow.edu.au/asj/vol4/iss2/4/?utm_source=ro.uow.edu.au%2Fasj%2Fvol4%2Fiss2%2F4&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages">pure</a>”, containing genes from domestic dogs, should hybrids be managed differently to dingoes?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WaScn-gc7rw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Dingo colour is highly variable.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research suggests <a href="http://www.pestsmart.org.au/molecular-ecology-of-australian-wild-dogs/">“pure” dingoes do exist in Victoria</a>, albeit in smaller numbers than other regions. </p>
<p>Notably though, genetic samples in Victoria have been collected largely from areas close to towns, where there are likely more hybrid dogs, and less so from deep within Victoria’s more remote natural regions (the mallee, alpine, and Gippsland forests), where dingoes are often sighted. </p>
<p>Two other recent studies are important in the Victorian context. One suggests <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-10/ct-scans-reveal-dominance-of-the-dingo/7233296">dingo characteristics prevail even within hybrids</a> and another has found there are two distinct dingo populations. Importantly, the south east dingo population is at <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10709-016-9924-z">increased risk of extinction</a>.</p>
<p>Many ecologists would argue that splitting hairs about dingo genetic “purity” is a moot point, because <a href="http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347(12)00006-7?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0169534712000067%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">what really matters is what dingoes and dingo-dog hybrids are doing in the environment</a>. This is because dingoes are known to have <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00203.x/abstract">important ecological roles</a>, including the suppression of feral species (such as cats, pigs, and goats), red foxes, and kangaroos. </p>
<h2>How are wild dogs and dingoes managed in Victoria?</h2>
<p>The decision to reinstate a dingo and wild dog bounty in Victoria is vexed. In 2007 the <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwiZ2JT8zNfPAhUJjFQKHbPvCbkQFggdMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.environment.gov.au%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2Fpages%2Fa7465fc2-2fa1-4de4-b562-4eb56012296d%2Ffiles%2Fnomination-canis-lupus.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHFPgsvqHXIBq6S9ci56OWArWNLOw&cad=rja">Victorian government established protection of dingoes</a>, due to conservation concerns about the species, with hybridisation between dingoes and domestic dogs identified as a threatening process. </p>
<p>As a result, dingoes in Victoria are listed as a threatened species under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and protected under the Wildlife Act 1975. </p>
<p>In Victoria wild dogs are classed as pest animals and can be legally controlled. However, the <a href="http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/environment-and-wildlife/wildlife/dingoes-in-victoria">Victorian Department of Environment states</a> that “dingoes are visually indistinguishable from wild dogs, making it impossible to ensure they are not inadvertently destroyed in wild dog control programs in any given area where both exist” and “dingoes are protected wildlife and it is an offence under the Wildlife Act 1975 to take or kill protected wildlife without an authorisation to do so”. </p>
<h2>Management misfire</h2>
<p>Legal and species identification issues aside, do bounties and lethal control of predators actually work? </p>
<p>In short, scientific evidence suggests the answer is largely no (see for instance <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjsp9nZ0NfPAhWph1QKHehKC28QFggdMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.southwestnrm.org.au%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fuploads%2Fmanaged%2Ffn036_2002.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHTPcBtXpdQ-EcexjqYjhNMpcAi-w">here</a>, <a href="http://www.feral.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/00023.pdf">here</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00336.x/abstract">here</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/no-proof-shooting-predators-saves-livestock">here</a>, and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12251/abstract">here</a>). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141645/original/image-20161013-3938-12us2lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141645/original/image-20161013-3938-12us2lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141645/original/image-20161013-3938-12us2lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141645/original/image-20161013-3938-12us2lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141645/original/image-20161013-3938-12us2lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141645/original/image-20161013-3938-12us2lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141645/original/image-20161013-3938-12us2lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Data showing bounties don’t work.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are a range of reasons cited for why bounties fail. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>an inability to sufficiently reduce numbers of the the target species and hence their impact, due to rapid breeding and/or immigration from other areas</p></li>
<li><p>corruption by those claiming bounties, whereby animals claimed for bounty payments have not actually been killed in the area where the bounty is intended to benefit</p></li>
<li><p>an inability to access some animals over large and/or remote areas</p></li>
<li><p>a disincentive to completely eradicate animals as this removes the source of income </p></li>
<li><p>disruption of predator social structures causing higher livestock predation.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Investing in predator-friendly farming</h2>
<p>So what solutions do we have that might allow productive farms without the need to kill predators? A range of <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec.12396/abstract">nonlethal solutions exist for protecting livestock</a>, including improved husbandry techniques (such as corralling and herding), and in particular, a growing body of research suggests <a href="https://theconversation.com/watching-over-livestock-our-guardian-animals-6754">guardian animals provide a great step forward</a>.</p>
<p>Nonlethal methods to protect livestock are also consistent with a growing social demand that both domestic and wild animals are treated humanely and ethically on farms.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141705/original/image-20161013-3979-1tflzt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141705/original/image-20161013-3979-1tflzt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141705/original/image-20161013-3979-1tflzt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141705/original/image-20161013-3979-1tflzt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141705/original/image-20161013-3979-1tflzt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141705/original/image-20161013-3979-1tflzt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141705/original/image-20161013-3979-1tflzt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141705/original/image-20161013-3979-1tflzt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Top left: G. Schuirmann. Bottom left: E. Swegen. Top right: Ian Whalan. Bottom right: L. van Bommel.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Predator-friendly farming is growing across Australia, as you can see in the image above. Large livestock on large landholdings, such as beef cattle on thousands of square kilometre stations, are reducing conflict by enabling dingo packs to stabilize and by supporting healthier cows that are better able to defend their calves (top left).</p>
<p>Smaller farms are also employing protective strategies, including guardian dogs, even if the livestock species is large, such as dairy cows and buffalo, because lethal control on neighboring farms continues to disrupt the dingo’s social structure (bottom left). </p>
<p>Technological innovations in nonlethal methods for protecting livestock from predators have been developed in Australia and used worldwide, such as “<a href="http://www.foxlights.com">Foxlights</a>” (top right). And vulnerable stock, such as chickens, are being successfully protected with guardian dogs and enclosures (bottom right).</p>
<p>There are substantial gains to be made for agriculture, people, wild animals and the environment if decision-makers use scientific evidence and ethical analysis, rather than responding to lobby groups, as the basis for taxpayer-sponsored actions. </p>
<p>Education is also a key aspect of any change, and scientists are being proactive here too, providing <a href="http://www.dingobiodiversity.com/uploads/2/6/4/9/26494468/pf-brochure-online.pdf">guidance on new approaches to rangeland livestock management</a> that are supported by research. </p>
<p>The fact is, bounty schemes <a href="http://www.feralscan.org.au/foxscan/pagecontent.aspx?page=fox_whybountiesdontwork">don’t work</a>. If instead the substantial funds currently being invested in bounties were invested in supporting farmers to move to more long-term, cost-effective, and more environmentally-friendly solutions, we may all be able to sleep better at night.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66980/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council. Euan Ritchie is affiliated with the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australian Mammal Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arian Wallach does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Wild dog attacks on livestock are devastating, but bounties and culling aren’t the answer.Euan Ritchie, Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityArian Wallach, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Compassionate Conservation, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/630682016-08-11T19:35:35Z2016-08-11T19:35:35ZPeople-powered science in Africa: a boost for democracy and knowledge<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133791/original/image-20160811-20932-bvp9q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Citizen scientists have a great deal to contribute.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mount Rainier National Park/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>December 1900 marked the first ever “<a href="http://www.audubon.org/conservation/history-christmas-bird-count">Christmas Bird Count</a>”. Its aim was to get people counting bird species rather than killing them. It’s now an annual tradition. Every year on a specific day between December 14 and January 5, thousands of volunteers – ordinary people, not scientists – gather in more than 2,000 locations in the Western hemisphere to count birds.</p>
<p>Conservation biologists use this data to assess bird populations’ health and look at long-term trends.</p>
<p>This is probably the earliest recorded example of citizen science, a <a href="http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/15/03">phenomenon</a> that filmmaker Geoff Haines-Stiles calls</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…science with, for and by the people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Haines-Stiles, who produced the scientific TV series “<a href="http://www.space.com/24997-cosmos-reboot-carl-sagan-spacetime-odyssey.html">Cosmos</a>” during the 1980s, is an enthusiastic fan of citizen science. “It is truly a revolution in the way science is done,” he said during an online seminar organised by the Berlin Museum for Natural Science on July 18 2016. “It allows people who are not traditionally involved in doing science and gathering data, to become active contributors to real science.”</p>
<p>This is as true in Africa as it is elsewhere in the world. More and more Africans are becoming citizen scientists – and the benefits are huge both for them as individuals and for science on the continent.</p>
<h2>African initiatives</h2>
<p>Gathering environmental data is a key focus of African citizen science. </p>
<p>In South Africa, Kenya and Uganda, for instance, volunteers monitor and record data on everything from mangrove ecosystems to beach erosion; along with a variety of animals and insects like sea turtles, bats, owls, frogs, lizards and butterflies. </p>
<p><a href="http://citsci.co.za/">Cape Citizen Science</a> asks nature lovers to become “pathogen hunters” while on nature walks. This is done by recording dying fynbos plants and collecting samples of the <a href="http://citsci.co.za/pathhunter">dead plant material</a>. From time to time, visitors to South Africa’s Kruger National Park are asked to help <a href="https://www.sanparks.org/about/news/?id=56188">monitor endangered species</a> like wild dogs and cheetahs by submitting their photographs of these animals.</p>
<p>With internet access, it’s even possible to contribute to African-based citizen science projects around the globe without leaving home. Wildebeest Watch invites people to <a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/aliburchard/wildebeest-watch">explore collective intelligence</a> in these animals as they navigate the Serengeti. <a href="https://www.snapshotserengeti.org">Snapshot Serengeti</a> asks for help in sorting photos gathered by hundreds of camera traps in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park.</p>
<p>Professor Les Underhill of the University of Cape Town’s <a href="http://www.adu.uct.ac.za/">Animal Demography Unit</a> (ADU) is a pioneer of citizen science on the continent. Over the past 25 years, his research group has integrated citizen data into ambitious research projects across southern Africa. Through this unit, data from citizen scientists are feeding into atlases and distribution maps of birds, dung beetles, frogs, scorpions, spiders, butterflies, dragonflies, lacewing moths, sea stars, mushrooms and orchids. </p>
<p>The unit’s innovative <a href="http://vmus.adu.org.za/">virtual museum</a> contains more than 6,000 photographic records provided by hundreds of citizen scientists. Most of their bird ringers are amateurs, not professional scientists, who spend their own time and money to contribute valuable ringing data. </p>
<p>“Each data point the ADU’s citizen scientists collect is a piece in the jigsaw puzzle of biodiversity,” Underhill <a href="http://www.zoology.uct.ac.za/citizen_science.php">says</a>. “It is our job to turn the myriad bits of raw data into information that can support conservation policy and action.”</p>
<h2>The limitations of citizen science</h2>
<p>The contribution of citizen science goes beyond gathering or unravelling data. Enthusiastic volunteers also bring their computer equipment and technological skills to assist with number crunching and data analysis. They can fill in knowledge gaps by providing scientists with extra hands, eyes, computers, cameras, smartphones and vehicles.</p>
<p>But not everybody is convinced.</p>
<p>“Citizen science” is an oxymoron.“ That’s what Dr Rob Little, a biologist at the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town, told me recently. "It is not possible to be a citizen dentist or a citizen lawyer, so why citizen scientists?” he asks. “Being a scientist requires a minimum of MSc-level training.”</p>
<p>Other <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/rise-of-the-citizen-scientist-1.18192">criticisms</a> revolve around the quality of data collected by non-experts and the potential for conflicts of interest – ordinary people who are opposed to fracking, for instance, might get involved in projects just to gather information that supports their stance.</p>
<p>Inclusivity is also a particular challenge when it comes to citizen science projects. It can be difficult to involve people who don’t have their own transport or access to smartphones, computers and internet; or where literacy rates are low. Some initiatives in Africa are getting creative to address these problems. The <a href="http://rdc.moabi.org/community-mapping/en/#5/-3.952/22.324&layers=">Extreme Citizen Science</a> research group in the Democratic Republic of Congo is doing some great work with communities in this regard.</p>
<h2>A powerful force for change</h2>
<p>Despite its limitations, citizen science has an important place in Africa. It is a way of driving public engagement; of creating linkages and dialogue between science and society. It can inspire people to take an interest in science and enthuse young people about careers in science. It helps make science a part of everyday life – after all, the evidence of science’s benefits is all around us.</p>
<p>It is also a vital step towards <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-communication-is-on-the-rise-and-thats-good-for-democracy-62842">democratising science</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63068/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marina Joubert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More and more Africans are becoming citizen scientists – and the benefits are huge both for them as individuals and for science on the continent.Marina Joubert, Science Communication Researcher, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/317352014-09-18T04:16:39Z2014-09-18T04:16:39ZDingo control doesn’t hurt native wildlife: largest Australian study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59239/original/bjvbgrhw-1410922301.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some people think that dingo control programs are harming Australia's native wildlife. New research suggests this isn't the case. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin Allen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Does dingo control harm Australia’s environment? Results from the largest Australian experiment on dingoes – published this week in <a href="http://www.frontiersinzoology.com/content/11/1/56">Frontiers in Zoology</a> – shows the answer to that question is a convincing “no”.</p>
<p>The study showed dingo control programs aimed at protecting cattle in the rangelands — the dry grasslands and woodlands of inland Australia — have little negative effect on wildlife, if any effect at all. </p>
<p>But you might have been led to believe differently — that poison baiting programs intended for dingoes indirectly <a href="http://theconversation.com/dingo-poisoning-reduces-native-animal-numbers-24281">harm native wildlife populations</a>. </p>
<p>This is a myth, and the reason why is actually quite simple. </p>
<h2>The dingo debate</h2>
<p>That question hinges on an ecological concept called “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopredator_release_hypothesis">mesopredator release</a>”. This hypothesis predicts that a healthy dingo population keeps the ecosystem in balance. Dingoes help control the numbers of medium-sized predators, which in Australia are mostly introduced species such as feral cats and foxed.</p>
<p>Because these predators eat smaller native wildlife, if there are fewer predators, there should be more wildlife. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59242/original/7zkhdnh5-1410922373.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59242/original/7zkhdnh5-1410922373.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59242/original/7zkhdnh5-1410922373.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59242/original/7zkhdnh5-1410922373.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59242/original/7zkhdnh5-1410922373.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59242/original/7zkhdnh5-1410922373.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59242/original/7zkhdnh5-1410922373.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59242/original/7zkhdnh5-1410922373.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dingoes are the top predator on mainland Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin Allen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to the theory, if you remove dingoes, there will be more foxes and cats, leading to a “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_cascade">trophic cascade</a>” (an ecological chain reaction) of impacts that might result in fewer native animals. If correct, this hypothesis would suggest that we should be concerned about practises that reduce or remove dingoes. </p>
<p>But there is a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320712005022">chronic absence of reliable evidence</a> supporting this hypothesis for dingoes, and there is not a single study measuring a) an increase in medium-sized predators or b) a change in vegetation in response to measured changes in dingoes. </p>
<p>In contrast, there is a growing body of evidence that these processes are absent, as shown by large-scale manipulative experiments conducted in the <a href="http://nrmonline.nrm.gov.au/catalog/mql:2673">Northern Territory</a>, <a href="http://example.com/">New South Wales</a>, and now <a href="http://example.com/">Queensland and South Australia</a>. Baiting dingoes does not result in wildlife declines. </p>
<h2>Australia’s largest predator experiment</h2>
<p>Our new research comes from the Australia’s largest predator manipulation experiment (and the second largest in the world behind a study in Canada on wolves). Since the 1990s we’ve been conducting these experiments from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the arid zone of South Australia, and now the results are in.</p>
<p>Several papers have already come out of this series of experiments, including those discussing <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11356-013-2118-7">the effects of baiting on dingo movements</a>, <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11356-013-2118-7">interactions between dingoes and cats</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emr.12118/full">historical case studies of mesopredator releases</a>, and earlier reports on <a href="http://www.frontiersinzoology.com/content/10/1/39">the response of predators to dingo control</a>. More can be found through a simple internet search and more are on the way.</p>
<p>In our latest report, we repeatedly monitored predator and wildlife populations in baited areas next to unbaited areas, before and after baiting, at nine sites across Australia over many years. We found that native wildlife populations living in areas regularly exposed to dingo control do just as well, if not better than nearby areas where dingoes are left untouched.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59240/original/3zyh8c32-1410922309.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59240/original/3zyh8c32-1410922309.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59240/original/3zyh8c32-1410922309.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59240/original/3zyh8c32-1410922309.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59240/original/3zyh8c32-1410922309.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59240/original/3zyh8c32-1410922309.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59240/original/3zyh8c32-1410922309.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59240/original/3zyh8c32-1410922309.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baiting dingoes doesn’t actually reduce their numbers, let alone harm native wildlife.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin Allen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But why? Well, we found that current dingo baiting practises don’t actually remove or reduce dingo populations enough for foxes and feral cats to increase, hence the chain reaction doesn’t even get started and wildlife are none the wiser. </p>
<p>Ultimately, dingo control programs in these systems are somewhat of an ecological non-event for wildlife, feral predators, and even for dingoes.</p>
<h2>Different experiments, different stories</h2>
<p>Because we used manipulative experiments to investigate this issue, our results represent the most conclusive work on this topic conducted in Australia. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AM12036.htm">Experimental research of this kind trumps anything to the contrary</a> that comes from the small-scale, short-term, observational or desktop studies that characterise <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320712005022">prior research</a>.</p>
<p>Almost all previous studies investigate this issue with snap-shot or correlative approaches. These are the sort of studies where predators and wildlife are monitored at a given site for only a few days at the most. It’s like taking a photo of a landscape at sunset, and then claiming that the conditions you see in the photo is what the landscape looks like all the time. </p>
<p>Those interested in the different study designs used to study this issue can compare the strengths and weaknesses of each in literature reviews published <a href="http://www.currentzoology.org/paperdetail.asp?id=11933">here</a> or <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320712005022">here</a>.</p>
<p>Of course, ecologists have argued, still argue and will undoubtedly continue to argue about the merits of any particular study. But the inability of snap-shot, correlative or observational study designs for determining causation — such as reduced dingoes causing reduced native wildlife — is indisputable. </p>
<p>Only manipulative experiments can determine cause, such as those we describe, and no such manipulative experiments have ever revealed evidence for the dingo control-induced wildlife declines.</p>
<h2>What does this mean for dingoes?</h2>
<p>Our results have important implications for people managing dingoes and wildlife in the Australian rangelands.</p>
<p>People struggling to conserve native or endangered fauna need not worry that distributing poison-baits to protect cattle from dingoes will have ecological side-effects that compromise native fauna conservation programs. Dingo control can be compatible with biodiversity conservation. </p>
<p>But before people get too carried away thinking that they can distribute poison baits without consequence, we should also recognise that baiting dingoes isn’t permanently reducing dingo populations either. So why still do it?</p>
<p>Baiting programs can certainly provide <a href="http://www.mla.com.au/Research-and-development/Final-report-details?projectid=15342">short-term benefits to cattle producers at times</a>, but robust measures of baiting efficacy require more than simply counting bodies, baits or participants. There needs to be a greater focus on managing dingo impacts, because efforts to “reduce or remove dingoes” <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/avj.12075/abstract">clearly aren’t working</a> and can sometimes <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AN12356.htm">make the situation worse</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=AM11012">Dingo management strategies should be flexible and responsive</a> to local needs given the positive, negative, neutral and variable effects that dingoes can have on economic, environmental and social assets and values.</p>
<p>The results of our experiments are reassuring, but come with one very important and intuitive proviso:</p>
<p>Control programs that sustainably remove enough dingoes <em>might</em> have an ecological impact, and harm native wildlife. </p>
<p>Thankfully, this is unlikely to ever happen under the current dingo management approaches used across most of Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59241/original/28p7sbcv-1410922327.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59241/original/28p7sbcv-1410922327.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59241/original/28p7sbcv-1410922327.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59241/original/28p7sbcv-1410922327.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59241/original/28p7sbcv-1410922327.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59241/original/28p7sbcv-1410922327.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59241/original/28p7sbcv-1410922327.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59241/original/28p7sbcv-1410922327.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author with a dingo pup.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin Allen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Allen currently works for Biosecurity Queensland investigating the ecology and management of dingoes and other wild dogs in peri-urban areas, with funds administered by the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Center. Competitive grants from the Bureau of Resource Sciences, National Heritage Trust, Caring for Our Country and other state government sources funded the work described in this report.</span></em></p>Does dingo control harm Australia’s environment? Results from the largest Australian experiment on dingoes – published this week in Frontiers in Zoology – shows the answer to that question is a convincing…Benjamin Allen, Dingo ecologist, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/234362014-02-23T19:35:51Z2014-02-23T19:35:51ZWant dingoes to leave people alone? Cut the junk food<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42002/original/nvcp8b6b-1392854652.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A dingo in the wild.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dingoes are back in the news, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott raising concerns <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/tony-abbott-emphasises-strong-relationship-with-indonesia/5263490">on ABC radio</a> last week about <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/17/tony-abbott-dismisses-link-between-drought-and-climate-change">dingoes in drought-hit areas of Queensland and New South Wales</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’d learnt some years ago on my Pollie Pedal bike ride that <a href="http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/plants/weeds-pest-animals-ants/pest-animals/a-z-listing-of-pest-animals/photo-guide-to-pest-animals/wild-dog">wild dogs</a> were a difficulty in the high country of Victoria, but I now discover that this is a much more widespread problem.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The federal government is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-16/tony-abbott-touring-drought-affected-nsw-qld/5262776">close to announcing a new assistance package</a> to help drought-struck areas. Given the Prime Minister’s unprompted remarks, there’s a chance that extra measures to control dingoes will be part of that package.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42001/original/fjdyp7sv-1392854558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42001/original/fjdyp7sv-1392854558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42001/original/fjdyp7sv-1392854558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42001/original/fjdyp7sv-1392854558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42001/original/fjdyp7sv-1392854558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42001/original/fjdyp7sv-1392854558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42001/original/fjdyp7sv-1392854558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42001/original/fjdyp7sv-1392854558.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where dingoes are found and are most abundant around Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42025/original/7445q9vy-1392860493.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42025/original/7445q9vy-1392860493.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42025/original/7445q9vy-1392860493.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42025/original/7445q9vy-1392860493.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42025/original/7445q9vy-1392860493.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42025/original/7445q9vy-1392860493.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42025/original/7445q9vy-1392860493.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42025/original/7445q9vy-1392860493.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queensland and NSW has been particularly hard-hit by rainfall shortages in the past 18 months.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/drought/#tabs=Rainfall-tracker">Bureau of Meteorology</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It would be an understandable move, given that dingoes are synonymous with livestock predation and come into conflict with people around some tourist and mining activities.</p>
<p>But while culling to control dingo numbers is one management option, there are other ways to lessen the impacts of dingoes on humans. </p>
<p>Dingoes are opportunistic predators that hunt a wide variety of prey. Consequently, they are especially likely to consume abundant food items. While in many cases this food is likely to be fauna, it can equally be food waste provided by people.</p>
<p>Our research suggests that waste food can be a key resource for dingoes, that has dramatic impacts on the ecology and behaviour of dingo populations. Further, it seems this food subsidy can escalate conflicts between humans and dingoes in all kinds of settings, including on farms, at mines and at tourist attractions.</p>
<h2>How do humans change dingoes’ behaviour?</h2>
<p>In the Tanami Desert in northern Australia, we compared dingo populations in areas with and without human-provided food. The results demonstrated that access to this food, scavenged from unfenced rubbish tips, altered the diet, weight, movement and social behaviour of dingoes.</p>
<p>Like many people, <a href="http://www.asmjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1644/13-MAMM-A-145.1">dingoes readily opt for an easy take-away meal</a>. Discarded food scraps comprised 60-70% of the diet of dingoes living close to a rubbish tip, whilst further away, reptiles, especially blue-tongues and goannas, were dingoes’ primary prey.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41996/original/zv3rvqvj-1392854281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41996/original/zv3rvqvj-1392854281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41996/original/zv3rvqvj-1392854281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41996/original/zv3rvqvj-1392854281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41996/original/zv3rvqvj-1392854281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41996/original/zv3rvqvj-1392854281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41996/original/zv3rvqvj-1392854281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41996/original/zv3rvqvj-1392854281.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dingoes scavenging at a rubbish tip.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our most recent study, <a href="http://www.asmjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1644/13-MAMM-A-145.1">which has just been published in the Journal of Mammalogy</a>, confirmed that the eating habits of dingoes around the tip were similar to free-roaming domestic dogs in a nearby township. This is akin to dingoes acting just like man’s best friend.</p>
<p>Eating human-provided food scraps also had consequences for dingoes’ weights. As with over-consumption of other “junk” foods, they got fat: animals living close to the tip were 20% larger than their desert-living counter-parts. Further, these labrador-like dingoes <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00056.x/abstract">moved only about half as much as dingoes in other areas</a>. One dingo that ate food scraps had a home range size of only two square kilometres. This is dramatically smaller than another dingo, well away from human-provided food, which ranged over 2000 square kilometres. With food provided daily at the tip, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0063931">dingoes didn’t need to roam over large areas hunting prey</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41997/original/xdvcvzw7-1392854296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41997/original/xdvcvzw7-1392854296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41997/original/xdvcvzw7-1392854296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41997/original/xdvcvzw7-1392854296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41997/original/xdvcvzw7-1392854296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41997/original/xdvcvzw7-1392854296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41997/original/xdvcvzw7-1392854296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41997/original/xdvcvzw7-1392854296.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Contrasting dingo movements: the lines represent movement paths and the circle represents the main area of occupancy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Newsome</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The reduced dingo movements were also associated with <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/WR12128.htm">drastically altered social behaviour</a>. Ordinarily, dingoes maintain small family groups and will actively defend their territories to ensure they have access to food and water. Every day at the tip, where there was regularly sufficient food for at least 225 dingoes, we observed 50 to 100 individuals. From the DNA samples we collected from some of the dingoes using the tip, it was apparent that a group of at least 55 closely related individuals were living close by; a five- to ten-fold increase on typical dingo family size. Despite this, little aggression was observed, even towards dingoes visiting from away.</p>
<p>As well as changing the size and behaviour of dingoes, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-04/ntch-tanami-dingo-purity/4729046">people appear to have also compromised the genetic purity of this remote population</a>. We observed higher rates of cross-breeding between dingoes and domestic dogs around the facility, suggesting it might have been easier for domestic dogs to infiltrate dingo society where food was abundant.</p>
<h2>Cutting down on conflict</h2>
<p>Our key point is that access to easily available food appeared to drastically alter the way dingoes live and behave. And that could alter how dingoes interact with other predators and prey. </p>
<p>That could have important knock-on effects, because dingoes can <a href="http://theconversation.com/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolf-is-the-dingo-friend-or-foe-587">help the environment and humans</a> by suppressing overabundant animals that they prey on, including emus and kangaroos and possibly goats and rabbits. In some situations, they may even suppress smaller predators in their area, such as foxes and cats.</p>
<p>Our research found that when humans make food too easily available, it appeared to have mostly negative consequences. That includes sustaining and increasing dingo populations to unnaturally high levels - potentially leading to more conflict with humans. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41998/original/tnkbgkr5-1392854310.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41998/original/tnkbgkr5-1392854310.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41998/original/tnkbgkr5-1392854310.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41998/original/tnkbgkr5-1392854310.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41998/original/tnkbgkr5-1392854310.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41998/original/tnkbgkr5-1392854310.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41998/original/tnkbgkr5-1392854310.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41998/original/tnkbgkr5-1392854310.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An example of a properly built predator-proof fence at a rubbish facility.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Newsome</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our findings are important given that people are increasingly making it easier for dingoes to eat our food scraps. Rubbish tips at mine sites, townships, remote communities and tourist areas throughout Australia are often left unfenced, or so poorly fenced that dingoes can freely access food.</p>
<p>Fortunately, addressing this problem is remarkably simple. At large industrial facilities (like mine sites), predator proof fences can be erected around food resources, such as rubbish tips.</p>
<p>At tourist facilities, including campgrounds and picnic areas, predator-proof containers for the storage of food and rubbish will help.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41999/original/3yhc7mns-1392854324.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41999/original/3yhc7mns-1392854324.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/41999/original/3yhc7mns-1392854324.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41999/original/3yhc7mns-1392854324.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41999/original/3yhc7mns-1392854324.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41999/original/3yhc7mns-1392854324.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41999/original/3yhc7mns-1392854324.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/41999/original/3yhc7mns-1392854324.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A predator-proof storage container (with bear-proof doors) installed in Yosemite National Park in the US. People and bears co-exist at Yosemite without the need for fencing around the camp ground.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Newsome</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, it would be ideal – and cheaper – if people would simply remove the waste they generate. Doing so would reduce the need for <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-03/dingo-fence-to-be-built-on-fraser-island/4795658">intensive, costly and often controversial management</a>, such as culling or excluding dingoes, to ensure human safety.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42000/original/pcts4k58-1392854338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42000/original/pcts4k58-1392854338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42000/original/pcts4k58-1392854338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42000/original/pcts4k58-1392854338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42000/original/pcts4k58-1392854338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42000/original/pcts4k58-1392854338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42000/original/pcts4k58-1392854338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/42000/original/pcts4k58-1392854338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dingoes around a cattle carcass in Ravenshoe QLD. Carcasses attract a plethora of wildlife including dingoes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graham Wienert and Invasive Animals CRC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although it is difficult to deal with carcasses in pastoral operations, it is worth highlighting that these provide easy, take-away meals for dingoes. Similarly, dumping homestead food waste and carcasses in poorly constructed tips is an open invitation to enterprising predators.</p>
<p>Better and more consistent management of food scraps would contribute to a reduction in human-dingo conflict. It may even decrease rates of cross-breeding between dingoes and domestic dogs, a process that may <a href="http://theconversation.com/dingoes-dogs-and-the-feral-identity-11635">permanently change the characteristics of Australia’s dingo</a>. </p>
<p>Importantly, removing human food would enable the dingo to fulfil its natural ecological roles, including keeping a check on other animals like kangaroos. In the long-run, that will create benefits for all of us – including farmers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23436/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Newsome receives funding from the Australian-American Fulbright Commission and is currently the Fulbright New South Wales Scholar based at Oregon State University and the University of Washington. He has previously received funding from the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Dickman receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Long Term Ecological Research Network.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guy Ballard receives funding from the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Crowther receives funding from Australia Pacific Science Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Fleming receives research operating funding from the Wildlife and Exotic Disease Preparedness Program, Australian Wool Innovation, NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service and the Invasive Animals Co-operative Research Centre, and Biosecurity NSW pays his salary.</span></em></p>Dingoes are back in the news, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott raising concerns on ABC radio last week about dingoes in drought-hit areas of Queensland and New South Wales: I’d learnt some years ago on…Thomas Newsome, Research Fellow , University of SydneyChris Dickman, Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, University of SydneyGuy Ballard, Adjunct lecturer in Wild Canid Ecology, University of New EnglandMathew Crowther, Senior Lecturer in Wildlife Management, University of SydneyPeter Fleming, Leader, Wild Canid Theme, IACRC, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/116352013-02-18T03:40:06Z2013-02-18T03:40:06ZDingoes, dogs and the feral identity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20097/original/c7zx4rdw-1360536942.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A free-ranging (dingo-like) dog in Kakadu National Park.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Tracey</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On a stop-over in Thailand, CSIRO scientist <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_dingo_in_Australia_and_Asia.html?id=panwAAAAMAAJ">Laurie Corbett</a> noticed some familiar-looking, ginger dogs wandering the streets. This encounter set him thinking about the origins of Australia’s dingoes, a subject that has intrigued naturalists since William Dampier first saw the footprints of a “wolf” on the West Australian coast in 1688.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7290/full/nature08837.html">Dingoes are a type of dog</a>. As Terry Pratchett <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/819071-men-at-arms">says</a>, “Men made dogs, they took wolves and gave them human things”. Dingoes were probably made by accidental and purposeful selection of tamer grey wolves that scavenged around the camps of people living in southern China less than <a href="http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/12/2849.abstract">16,300 years ago</a>. Corbett showed that they were dingoes he saw in Thailand and that, from morphometric, archaeological and anthropological evidence, they probably arrived in northern Australia with South East Asian seafarers and traders about 3,500 to 5,000 years ago. </p>
<p><a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/09/06/rspb.2011.1395.full">Genetic studies</a> conform with this approximate date range, but with broad confidence intervals out to 18,300 years ago. Whatever the mechanism and timeframe, the adaptable, generalist dingo was spread throughout mainland Australia when Dampier first saw its spoor.</p>
<p>Europeans and other immigrants have brought many breeds of dog to Australia over the past 200 or so years. These have not always been restrained or separated from free-ranging dingoes and so genetic intermixing has occurred. Today, we have many free-ranging dogs throughout the country, ranging from “pure” dingoes to various crosses with more modern breeds. The ginger/yellow colour is dominant and so it is impossible to tell a pure dingo from some ginger cross-breeds by looking at them. Some dingoes are black-and-tan but so are many kelpies. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.feral.org.au/molecular-ecology-of-australian-wild-dogs/">most recent DNA study</a> shows that most free-ranging dogs in south eastern Australia have some dingo genes but about 95% have domestic genes. The gene-pool of free-ranging dogs is more diverse now because of the crossing of dingoes with a range of dogs previously selected for different characteristics. Whether this broader gene-pool has adverse or beneficial impacts on free-ranging dogs and their roles in different ecosystems remains to be determined. However, even in regions with a high proportion of cross-breeds, there are pure dingoes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20098/original/nz52y3sh-1360537002.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20098/original/nz52y3sh-1360537002.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20098/original/nz52y3sh-1360537002.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20098/original/nz52y3sh-1360537002.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20098/original/nz52y3sh-1360537002.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20098/original/nz52y3sh-1360537002.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20098/original/nz52y3sh-1360537002.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of free-ranging dog DNA distribution showing areas with higher dingo purity. Grey areas are either where no samples were taken or where free-ranging dogs are absent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Danielle Stephens</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given that there are more than just dingoes out there, what should we call these animals? “Feral dog”, “wild dog” and “dingo” have different meanings and value weightings to different people. We choose to call them all “free-ranging dogs” because it is the most inclusive and value-neutral descriptive term we can think of.</p>
<p>Whatever their breeding, free-ranging dogs have various known and possible <a href="http://www.gamecouncil.nsw.gov.au/docs/mcleod.pdf">impacts on the environment and agriculture</a>. Attacks on livestock, pets and people (rarely) are known negative impacts. Peter Thomson <a href="http://www.feral.org.au/dingoes-and-sheep-in-pastoral-areas/">long ago</a> showed that predation of sheep is inevitable once free-ranging dogs move into an area and will continue until the dogs or the sheep are separated or removed. The relationship with cattle is less straightforward, with some producers preferring to retain free-ranging dogs for control of competition from kangaroos whilst others prefer control to prevent predation on calves.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.feral.org.au/the-economic-impacts-of-vertebrate-pests-in-australia/">Preliminary analyses</a> suggest that the annual cost of dog predation and control to Australian livestock industries exceeds $48.5M. </p>
<p>The social impacts of free-ranging dogs are more difficult to measure. What we think and how we feel about free-ranging dogs influences both what we choose to do about them and to what extent we accept others’ management preferences and decisions. This is a particularly vexatious problem because most people regard dogs as “man’s best friend”. That special relationship influences our attitudes and behaviours towards their free-ranging kin. A better understanding of community attitudes and free-ranging dogs’ socio-economic impacts is needed to help make and implement broader policy and local management decisions.</p>
<p>The current debate among scientists about ecological roles of free-ranging dogs, particularly dingoes, influences strongly held views in the community. Some scientists regard the dingo as an <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16094805">essential component</a> of Australian ecosystems, beneficial to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00203.x/abstract">faunal biodiversity</a> through suppression of foxes and feral cats. Others are <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AM11012.htm">more circumspect</a> about the broadscale application of this idea. The topic is currently undergoing research by a number of different groups, including our own in the temperate environments of north eastern NSW.</p>
<p>Most free-ranging dog populations are left alone, and are only controlled to prevent negative impacts. “Control” and “management” are not synonymous terms. Control of dogs is generally accepted to mean their removal or the prevention of their access to a resource of value to humans. Erecting a fence around a refuse tip, culling problem individuals on Fraser Island and reducing populations by poisoning them in and adjacent to areas with livestock production or bridled nailtail wallabies are all examples of control. </p>
<p>People use exclusion fencing, <a href="http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/sheep/management/general/guard-animals">livestock guarding animals</a> (such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/watching-over-livestock-our-guardian-animals-6754">dogs</a>, llamas, and donkeys), shepherding, poisoning, trapping and shooting as control tools. Management is a broader term including all the strategies and tools for control or conservation.</p>
<p>We think it best to manage free-ranging dogs on the basis of their known impacts. Where the welfare of livestock and other domestic animals are affected, reduce the probability of their interaction with free-ranging dogs through integrated population reduction and exclusion. Where biodiversity is proven to benefit from free-ranging dogs or the dingo is valued as a breed and it is appropriate to conserve it without adversely affecting livestock or human health, then enhance its populations and exclude other genetics. In other places, it might be best to do nothing. Regardless, we must seek to identify and carefully address the range of needs for managing free-ranging dogs. </p>
<p>The location, nature and scale of free-ranging dogs’ impacts and the social, economic, environmental and welfare imperatives must be established before proposing a course of action that might impinge upon one or more of them.</p>
<p><em>Information about distribution of dingo genes across Australia comes from Danielle Stephens’ <a href="http://www.feral.org.au/molecular-ecology-of-australian-wild-dogs/">PhD thesis</a>. Danielle’s <a href="http://www.feral.org.au/dingo-purity-in-australia/">research</a> is the broadest genetic study of free-ranging dogs undertaken to date.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11635/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Fleming receives funding and inkind contributions for research about wild canid management from Invasive Animals CRC, Wildlife and Exotic Disease Preparedness Plan, Australian Pest Animal Research Program, Australian Wool Innovation, Biosecurity NSW, Forests NSW and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guy Ballard receives funding from the Australian Pest Animals Research Program, Australian Wool Innovation and the Invasive Animals CRC. He has previously received funding and in-kind contributions from organisations including Catchment Management Authorities and the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service. </span></em></p>On a stop-over in Thailand, CSIRO scientist Laurie Corbett noticed some familiar-looking, ginger dogs wandering the streets. This encounter set him thinking about the origins of Australia’s dingoes, a…Peter Fleming, Leader, Wild Canid Theme, IACRC, University of New EnglandGuy Ballard, Adjunct lecturer, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/82582012-07-17T20:44:12Z2012-07-17T20:44:12ZPolitical dreaming: shooters solving pest problems?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/12972/original/mrgc8djc-1342398821.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">These foxes are worth $10 each when killed and scalped, is it really worthwhile in controlling fox numbers, and is $10 worth the effort?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Peacock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Victorian government has introduced bounties for foxes and wild dogs, $10 for the scalp of a fox, and $50 for that of a dog. Bounties have been tried before, and failed to control these pests, but little has been learnt. In announcing the bounties, benefits to farmers or wildlife figured little; why the program was needed was unclear.</p>
<p>Major tensions were obvious between the politicians and the Victorian government departments which had well-established fox control programs. Publicity about the bounties carried the following advice:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The most effective means of achieving a sustained reduction in fox and wild dog numbers is through simultaneous and coordinated community baiting programs, implemented at a landscape scale and supported by other control techniques. Existing fox and wild dog control programs being conducted on public land will continue during the bounty period.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>After the bounty system began, 10,000 fox scalps were returned in the first 11 weeks, meaning that $100,000 or 10% of the annual budget had been spent. One hunter reportedly shot 50 foxes in two days. The monetary return, he reported, “did not recover costs, but it helped.” Scalp collection figures were potentially distorted with a news report <a href="http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2011/09/29/388761_latest-news.html">proclaiming</a> that “The race is on to scalp and claim Victoria’s $10 bounty on hundreds of fox carcasses hanging from fences”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/12973/original/cd695c4p-1342399036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/12973/original/cd695c4p-1342399036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12973/original/cd695c4p-1342399036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12973/original/cd695c4p-1342399036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12973/original/cd695c4p-1342399036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12973/original/cd695c4p-1342399036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12973/original/cd695c4p-1342399036.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Frank Bernhardt</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Member for Polwarth, Terry Mulder, said there was a <a href="http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2951-bounty-claims-10000-foxes.html">noticeable increase</a> in spotlighting activity across the south west since the introduction of the fox bounty: “Most farmers agree that the bounty is effective at reducing fox numbers” he said. “There are lots of foxes around but some shooters have reported a reduction compared with the same time last year, which is being attributed to the bounty.”</p>
<p>Mulder’s evasive spin was not surprising. Mainland Victoria is 227,000 square kilometres, and fox-density varies seasonally between 1.2 – 3.0 foxes per km2. Applying the latter value over the summer when young foxes are dispersing, the bounties collected represented 1.5% of Victoria’s fox population. How could a mere 1 – 2% change in fox numbers be measured from shooters’ reports alone?</p>
<p>If the annual bonus payment limit of $1 million is reached, which now seems seems likely, only 15–20% of Victorian foxes will have been killed. Furthermore, with four cubs produced by the average vixen next spring, there will be no lasting benefit for lambing percentages or conservation. From the start, the scheme has knowingly been a quack remedy; a palliative rather than a cure.</p>
<p>With Victoria’s politicians so blatantly diverting funds better spent on conservation or agricultural protection into shooter’s pockets to gain favour, we must seriously question their ability and motives in general when they speak of opening up National Parks to recreational shooting for pest control.</p>
<p>In some areas, shooting can contribute to conservation. For example, South Australian Sporting Shooters have contributed time and skills to fox control in the Flinders Ranges National Park but that has been done as part of a wider program, mopping up those few foxes and feral cats left after baiting campaigns. Even then, spotlighting for long hours on cold nights soon wears thin and the shooters need to re-kindle their enthusiasm by occasionally visiting other locations where there are more foxes to shoot.</p>
<p>It is also important to note that when brush-tailed bettongs were re-introduced into that park, they eventually succumbed to cats and foxes despite intensive predator control efforts. Clearly, an extremely high level of control must be maintained if re-introductions are to succeed. But having a few hunters wandering about in National Parks randomly shooting the odd feral animal does not constitute effective control. We need to know the level of predator reduction required and make sure combined control efforts meet those goals. This cannot be decided by politicians who demonstrably lack any understanding of what pest control means.</p>
<p>I have recently visited several nature reserves where programs are in place to control feral goats, but <a href="http://www.riverland.net.au/gluepot/">Gluepot Reserve</a>, BirdLife Australia’s sanctuary in South Australia’s Riverland, stands out for its achievements. The key to success on the former sheep station has been the filling-in of dams using a bull-dozer; the few dams left to supply water for fire-fighting and domestic use have been fenced off, leaving the goats little option but to move elsewhere. Shooting is important too, but again, this is carefully used with radio-collared “Judas goats” to locate the few remnant goats. Gluepot’s lack of goats compared with surrounding areas proves that there are much better alternatives than relying on shooting alone.</p>
<p>Together with other methods, well-organised shooting can play a useful role in pest control and conservation programs. But as for recreational shooting to remedy persistent feral animal problems - forget it! Even when subsidised with bounties shooting by itself cannot work. So why promote and fund it when there are much better, well-proven ways of doing things?</p>
<p><em>Comments welcome below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/8258/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Brian Cooke is a retired researcher with over 40 years experience in pest control for the benefit of agriculture and conservation. He holds the honarary position of Adjunct Associate Professor in the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra</span></em></p>The Victorian government has introduced bounties for foxes and wild dogs, $10 for the scalp of a fox, and $50 for that of a dog. Bounties have been tried before, and failed to control these pests, but…Brian Cooke, Adjunct Associate Professor, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.