ianmichaelthomas
Flat Out Resting....
This series of shots was taken late in the afternoon last Saturday, where in Victoria, Australia, it was a sunny and very warm day. Four of the dingoes at Healesville Sanctuary were sensibly resting or sleeping in the shade.
This one has just got up - he may look intensely, but really, I think his eyes show tiredness! You can see under his snout some of the garden mulch that has stuck to his fir!
Dingoes are believed to have descended from the Asiatic Wolf.
The dingo (plural dingoes) or warrigal, Canis lupus dingo, is a type of wild dog, probably descended from the Southern-East Asian Wolf (Canis Lupus Pallipes). It is commonly described as an Australian wild dog, but is not restricted to Australia, nor did it originate there. Modern dingoes are found throughout Southeast Asia, mostly in small pockets of remaining natural forest, and in mainland Australia, particularly in the north. They have features in common with both wolves and modern dogs, and are regarded as more or less unchanged descendants of an early ancestor of modern dogs. The name dingo comes from the language of the Eora Aboriginal people, who were the original inhabitants of the Sydney area.
The dingo is legendary as Australia's wild dog, though it also occurs in Southeast Asia. The Australian animals may be descendants of Asian dingoes that were introduced to the continent some 2,000 to 3,000 years ago.
These golden-orange canids may live alone (especially young males) or in packs of up to 15 animals. They roam great distances and communicate with wolf-like howls.
Dingo hunting is opportunistic. Animals hunt alone or in packs. They pursue small game such as rabbits, rodents, birds, and lizards in addition to larger prey such as kangaroos, sheep and deer. These dogs will eat fruits and plants as well. They also scavenge from humans, particularly in their Asian range.
Dingoes breed only once a year. Females typically give birth to about five pups, which are not independent until six to eight months of age. In packs, a dominant breeding female will kill the offspring of other females.
Australia is home to so many of these animals that they are generally considered cute, but pests. A famous "dingo fence" has been erected to protect grazing lands for the continent's herds of sheep. It is likely that more dingoes live in Australia today than when Europeans first arrived.
Though dingoes are numerous, their pure genetic strain is gradually being compromised. They can and do interbreed with domestic dogs to produce hybrid animals. Studies suggest that more than a third of southeastern Australia's dingoes are hybrids.
At between 10 and 24 kilograms (22-53 pounds), dingoes are a little smaller than wolves of the northern hemisphere and have a lean, athletic build. They stand between 44 and 63 cm (17-25inches) high at the shoulder, and the head-body length varies between 86 and 122 cm (34-48inches). Fur colour varies but is usually ginger: some have a reddish tinge, others are more sandy yellow, and some are even black; the underside is lighter. Alpine dingoes are found in high elevation areas of the Australian Alps, and grow a second thicker coat during late autumn for warmth which usually sheds by mid to late spring. Most dingoes have white markings on the chest, feet, and the tip of the tail; some have a blackish muzzle.
Unlike the domestic dog, dingoes breed only once a year, generally do not bark, and have erect ears.
Wild dingoes prey on a variety of animals, mostly small or medium-sized animals, but also larger herbivores if need be.
Dingoes do not generally form packs; they more often travel in pairs or small family groups. However, they are capable of forming larger packs to hunt cooperatively.
Domestication is possible only if the dingoes are taken into captivity as young pups.
Asian seafarers transported Dingos from mainland Asia, through South-East Asia to Australia and other parts of the Pacific, during their voyages over the last 5000 years. Fossil evidence suggests that Dingos arrived in Australia around 3500 - 4000 years ago, and quickly spread to all parts of the Australian mainland and offshore islands, with the exception of Tasmania.
The arrival of Dingos is often considered to have caused the extinction of Thylacines from mainland Australia. Aboriginal paintings and fossil evidence indicate that Thylacines once inhabited the entire Australian mainland but then disappeared suddenly about 3,000 years ago. As Dingos are thought to have arrived around 500 years earlier this was considered ample time for them to impact on Thylacine populations, either through competition for food or through the introduction of diseases. The fact that Thylacines survived until the 1930s in Tasmania where Dingos were absent was often put forward as further indirect evidence that they were a major cause for the disappearance of Thylacines from the mainland.
The role of Dingos in the extinction of the Thylacine has recently been questioned.
Healesville Sanctuary, Healesville, Victoria, Australia
Flat Out Resting....
This series of shots was taken late in the afternoon last Saturday, where in Victoria, Australia, it was a sunny and very warm day. Four of the dingoes at Healesville Sanctuary were sensibly resting or sleeping in the shade.
This one has just got up - he may look intensely, but really, I think his eyes show tiredness! You can see under his snout some of the garden mulch that has stuck to his fir!
Dingoes are believed to have descended from the Asiatic Wolf.
The dingo (plural dingoes) or warrigal, Canis lupus dingo, is a type of wild dog, probably descended from the Southern-East Asian Wolf (Canis Lupus Pallipes). It is commonly described as an Australian wild dog, but is not restricted to Australia, nor did it originate there. Modern dingoes are found throughout Southeast Asia, mostly in small pockets of remaining natural forest, and in mainland Australia, particularly in the north. They have features in common with both wolves and modern dogs, and are regarded as more or less unchanged descendants of an early ancestor of modern dogs. The name dingo comes from the language of the Eora Aboriginal people, who were the original inhabitants of the Sydney area.
The dingo is legendary as Australia's wild dog, though it also occurs in Southeast Asia. The Australian animals may be descendants of Asian dingoes that were introduced to the continent some 2,000 to 3,000 years ago.
These golden-orange canids may live alone (especially young males) or in packs of up to 15 animals. They roam great distances and communicate with wolf-like howls.
Dingo hunting is opportunistic. Animals hunt alone or in packs. They pursue small game such as rabbits, rodents, birds, and lizards in addition to larger prey such as kangaroos, sheep and deer. These dogs will eat fruits and plants as well. They also scavenge from humans, particularly in their Asian range.
Dingoes breed only once a year. Females typically give birth to about five pups, which are not independent until six to eight months of age. In packs, a dominant breeding female will kill the offspring of other females.
Australia is home to so many of these animals that they are generally considered cute, but pests. A famous "dingo fence" has been erected to protect grazing lands for the continent's herds of sheep. It is likely that more dingoes live in Australia today than when Europeans first arrived.
Though dingoes are numerous, their pure genetic strain is gradually being compromised. They can and do interbreed with domestic dogs to produce hybrid animals. Studies suggest that more than a third of southeastern Australia's dingoes are hybrids.
At between 10 and 24 kilograms (22-53 pounds), dingoes are a little smaller than wolves of the northern hemisphere and have a lean, athletic build. They stand between 44 and 63 cm (17-25inches) high at the shoulder, and the head-body length varies between 86 and 122 cm (34-48inches). Fur colour varies but is usually ginger: some have a reddish tinge, others are more sandy yellow, and some are even black; the underside is lighter. Alpine dingoes are found in high elevation areas of the Australian Alps, and grow a second thicker coat during late autumn for warmth which usually sheds by mid to late spring. Most dingoes have white markings on the chest, feet, and the tip of the tail; some have a blackish muzzle.
Unlike the domestic dog, dingoes breed only once a year, generally do not bark, and have erect ears.
Wild dingoes prey on a variety of animals, mostly small or medium-sized animals, but also larger herbivores if need be.
Dingoes do not generally form packs; they more often travel in pairs or small family groups. However, they are capable of forming larger packs to hunt cooperatively.
Domestication is possible only if the dingoes are taken into captivity as young pups.
Asian seafarers transported Dingos from mainland Asia, through South-East Asia to Australia and other parts of the Pacific, during their voyages over the last 5000 years. Fossil evidence suggests that Dingos arrived in Australia around 3500 - 4000 years ago, and quickly spread to all parts of the Australian mainland and offshore islands, with the exception of Tasmania.
The arrival of Dingos is often considered to have caused the extinction of Thylacines from mainland Australia. Aboriginal paintings and fossil evidence indicate that Thylacines once inhabited the entire Australian mainland but then disappeared suddenly about 3,000 years ago. As Dingos are thought to have arrived around 500 years earlier this was considered ample time for them to impact on Thylacine populations, either through competition for food or through the introduction of diseases. The fact that Thylacines survived until the 1930s in Tasmania where Dingos were absent was often put forward as further indirect evidence that they were a major cause for the disappearance of Thylacines from the mainland.
The role of Dingos in the extinction of the Thylacine has recently been questioned.
Healesville Sanctuary, Healesville, Victoria, Australia