Desert Dingo

The Dingo is an endangered species
Did you know that the native Australian dingo is facing extinction? Sad but true, it doesn't look too good for the dingo. The true pure-bred native dingo is rare although there are many around hich have some cross-breeding in their background history.

Are there cute puppies living in the desert?
Of course, they are the puppies of the Australian dingo. Both dingo parents take part in the raising of the pups. The den can be a hollow log, a rock shelter, an old rabbit warren or similar.

Description
An elegant medium sized dog, the fully grown Australian dingo is up to 60 cm tall and weighs between 13 and 19 kg.
A pure bred dingo will usually be lean, strong and muscular.

Habitats
The colour of a dingo reflects its surroundings. Most common is a reddish, golden yellow or sandy coloured coat (in desert habitats).About 10% of the population show a dark or even black coat with tan markings (in forest habitats), and a very small number, less than 1% can be very light cream, nearly white (in alpine habitats).

Interesting Facts
Dingoes don't bark, they only howl.

Diet
The dingo is a carnivore, but like other wild dogs it can live without meat. Actually, like all dogs dingoes should be called omnivores. They can eat meat but don't need to. The pure-bred Australian dingo will happily live on lizards and grasshoppers, a hybrid (mixed breed dingo) will not.

The pure bred Australian dingo rarely creates a problem but the mixed breed (hybid) dingoes are bigger and have given the dingo a bad name. It is now seen as a pest which destroys sheep and even attacks human children. It has been hunted and killed almost to the point of extinction.

Can the dingo be saved?
The problem is that the pure-bred dingo readily breeds with the hybrid dingo and so there does not seem to be a way to save it.
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