Dingo

Dingo
ISBN: 9780643096936
Publication Date: 9 November 2010

* Provides a comprehensive overview of Australia's most controversial and iconic predator
* Discusses the role of the dingo in contemporary Australian culture and shows the conflict between reality and perception

Many present-day Australians see the dingo as a threat and a pest. An alternative viewpoint, which is more in tune with Indigenous culture, allows others to see the dingo as a means to improve human civilization. The dingo has thus become trapped between the status of pest animal and totemic creature. This book helps readers to recognize this dichotomy, as a deeper understanding of dingo behavior is now possible through new technologies which have made it easier to monitor their daily lives.

Recent research on genetic structure has indicated that dingo purity may be a human construct and the genetic relatedness of wild dingo packs has been analyzed for the first time. GPS telemetry and passive camera traps are new technologies that provide unique ways to monitor movements of dingoes, and analyses of their diet indicate that dietary shifts occur during the different biological seasons of dingoes, showing that they have a functional role in Australian landscapes.

Dingo brings together more than 50 years of observations to provide a comprehensive portrayal of the life of a dingo. Throughout this book dingoes are compared with other hypercarnivores, such as wolves and African wild dogs, highlighting the similarities between dingoes and other large canid species around the world.