Dingo
| Class: Mammalia:
Mammals |
Diet: Large mammals |
| Order:
Carnivora: Carnivores |
| Size: body:about
1.5 m (5 ft), tail: about 35 cm (13 3/4 in) |
| Family: Canidae:
Dogs, Foxes |
Conservation Status:
Non-threatened |
| Scientific Name:
Canis dingo |
Habitat: sandy desert
to wet and dry sclerophyll forest |
| Range:
Australia |
 The
dingoes are descended from domesticated dogs introduced by the aboriginal
human inhabitants of Australia many thousands of years ago. In anatomy
and behavior, dingoes are indistinguishable from domestic dogs, but the
two have interbred for so long that there are now few pure dingoes. They
live in family groups but may gather into bigger packs to hunt large prey.
Originally they fed on kangaroos, but when white settlers started to kill
off the kangaroos, dingoes took to feeding on introduced sheep and rabbits.
A litter of 4 or 5 young is born in a burrow or rock crevice after a gestation
of about 9 weeks. The young are suckled for 2 months and stay with their
parents for at least a year.
  
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