Dingo

Coat and looks how to spot one

short

A lean, athletic dog with a broad head, a long tapering muzzle, upright ears and a full, brushy tail. The body coat is short and its shade tends to follow the landscape it lives in.12

Personality what they are like

A wild-living canid that keeps to its own territory and lives alone, in pairs or in small family groups. It seldom barks and prefers howling and scent marking to keep in touch.12

Daily activity how busy a day looks

Most active around dawn, dusk and at night, roaming its home range to hunt.2

Grooming and care the hands-on bits

Keeping a dingo is regulated differently in each Australian state and territory; some need a permit, and in others it is a declared pest, so local rules must be checked first.2

Home where they are happiest

Found across much of mainland Australia, from deserts to forests and alpine areas, holding a defined territory it defends against other dingoes.12

Food basics what goes in the bowl

An opportunistic meat-eater. Mammals such as rabbits, kangaroos, wallabies and wombats make up most of the diet, topped up with birds, reptiles and insects.12

Company who they like around

Often solitary or in breeding pairs, but can band into packs of roughly 3 to 12 to take larger prey, with only the leading pair usually breeding.12

The story where it all began

Dingoes descend from domestic dogs brought to Australia from Asia, probably by seafarers, thousands of years ago. Genetic work hints the lineage may be older still. Since then they have lived wild and become the continent's top land predator.12

Recognised by the official bits

Taxonomy

Classified variously as Canis dingo, Canis lupus dingo or a form of the domestic dog; the American Society of Mammalogists (2020) treats it as a synonym of the domestic dog, and the Australian Museum lists it as Canis familiaris.2