Dingo Adult
The
Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to their wild Asian Gray Wolf parent species, Canis lupus.
Since then, living largely apart from people and other dogs, together with the demands of Australian ecology, has caused them to develop features and instincts that distinguish them from all other canines. Dingoes have maintained ancient characteristics that unite them, along with other primitive dogs, into a taxon named after them, Canis lupus dingo, and has separated them from the domestic dog, Canis lupus familiaris.
Dingo Baby
Dingoes play an important role in Australia's ecosystems; they are apex predators and the continent's largest terrestrial predator.
The dingo has several names in both scientific and non-scientific literature, of which the word dingo is the most common term. Furthermore, on the Australian continent, the term wild
dog is now used very often in both areas. In most cases this term includes dingoes, dingo-hybrids, and all other feral dogs.