Description: Dingos are a dog-like canid. They have a long muzzle, erect ears and strong claws. Their coats are commonly ginger but can also be pale or dark depending on the habitat they live in. Most have white markings on their feet, tail tip and chest. Their bushy tail is 25–37 cm long.

Diet: Dingos are carnivores and prey on a variety of animals, from insects to rodents, lizards to geese, wallabies and kangaroos to buffalos. Packs of dingos have greater success hunting larger animals like kangaroos whereas individuals are better at hunting smaller prey like rabbits.

In the wild: Dingos are often seen alone but many belong to a pack and meet every few days. When they do, there is a lot of howling and scent-marking. The pack’s territory size varies depending on the availability of prey so if there is a lot of food available their territory is smaller. Dingos are solitary hunters when small prey is abundant but hunt in packs when larger animals are available.

Threats: Ironically, dingos are currently under threat from the very processes designed to protect native fauna. Science used to determine their classification is incomplete and – for now – dingos have been relabelled a ‘dogs’ which has changed the protections they are afforded. They are seen as a threat to livestock by some farmers and can be poisoned when they eat baits left for wild dogs.

Habitat loss impacts dingos because it impacts the availability of prey and the encroachment of human settlements into previously wild areas causes fragmentation of dingo populations.