The control of dingoes in New South Wales in the period 1883-1930 and its likely impact on their distribution andabundance.

Australian Zoologist 31 (3): 432-442

The sheep grazing industry has been an economic mainstay of New South Wales from the early period of European settlement. The dingo quickly established itself as a predator of sheep and a pest of the pastoral industry. In the latter decades of the nineteenth century, a system was established under which bounties were paid on a wide range of species, but bounties paid for dingoes were far in excess of those paid for other species. In addition,an exclusion fence was built, spanning 5'614 km and three States, to prevent dingoes from reinvading south-eastern Australia. This level of control effortreflects the importance of the dingo as a pest of the sheep industry. In the period between 1883 and 1930, over 280,000 bounties were paid for dingoes in New South Wales. At the beginning of this period. dingoes appeared to be distributed throughout New South Wales. By 1930, dingoes were scarce in all but the north-eastern corner of the State. The highest numbers of sheep were grazed in the areas that showed the most rapid decline in dingo numbers, while relatively low numbers were grazed in the areas where dingoes remained common.

No relationship was observed between the value of bounties offered and the number of scalps submitted. The main incentive for the destruction of dingoes by humans is likely to have been the protection of stock, rather thanthe monetary reward of the bounty payments.

glen-biblio

Mit Grzimek durch Australien - vierfüßiger Australier. Abenteuer mit Tieren und Menschen des 5. Kontinents.

310 Seiten. Mit 107 Zeichnungen  und Fotos, von denen Alan Root 62 für den Verfasser aufnahm.

Kindler Verlag GmbH, München.

Inhalt: 

Sprung auf die Känguruhinsel; Großfußhühner erfanden den Brutapparat; Dreimal lernten Neuteltiere das Fliegen; Der Beutelwolf stirbt auf einer fernen Insel; Das Wundertier Känguruh, Unter Paradiesvögeln und Steinzeitmenschen; Säugetiere legen Eier; ferner über Dingo, Wildkaninchen, Beutelteufel, Wombat, Gleibeutler etc.

grzimek-biblio

An updated description of the Australian dingo (Canis dingo Meyer, 1793)

Journal of Zoology, 292 (3). https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12134

Abstract:

A sound understanding of the taxonomy of threatened species is essential for setting conservation priorities and the development of management strategies. Hybridization is a threat to species conservation because it compromises the integrity of unique evolutionary lineages and can impair the ability of conservation managers to identify threatened taxa and achieve conservation targets. Australia's largest land predator, the dingo Canis dingo, is a controversial taxon that is threatened by hybridization. Since their arrival <5000 yBP (years Before Present) dingoes have been subject to isolation, leading to them becoming a unique canid. However, the dingo's taxonomic status is clouded by hybridization with modern domesticated dogs and confusion about how to distinguish ‘pure’ dingoes from dingo-dog hybrids. Confusion exists because there is no description or series of original specimens against which the identities of putative hybrid and ‘pure’ dingoes can be assessed. Current methods to classify dingoes have poor discriminatory abilities because natural variation within dingoes is poorly understood, and it is unknown if hybridization may have altered the genome of post-19th century reference specimens. Here we provide a description of the dingo based on pre-20th century specimens that are unlikely to have been influenced by hybridization. The dingo differs from the domestic dog by relatively larger palatal width, relatively longer rostrum, relatively shorter skull height and relatively wider top ridge of skull. A sample of 19th century dingo skins we examined suggests that there was considerable variability in the colour of dingoes and included various combinations of yellow, white, ginger and darker variations from tan to black. Although it remains difficult to provide consistent and clear diagnostic features, our study places morphological limits on what can be considered a dingo.

crowther-biblio