Dingo
5 February, 2011
Wild dingo. Dingo ( Canis lupus dingo) – again became the home of wild dog, the only placental carnivore in Australia. Dingo especially numerous in the northern, central and western Australia.
Name «dingo» appeared at the beginning of European colonization New SW. Wales and more likely to happen «Tingo» – term, use native to describe their dogs.
In Australia, the owners of escaped or abandoned dingoes found the perfect conditions for habitat, there are many game, the absence of enemies and competitors, because of this, they multiplied and spread across the continent and nearby islands, without hitting only Tasmania.
Most dingoes treated as subspecies of domestic dog, But some experts think it a very independent kind of (Canis dingo). Assuming the, that the dingo is almost pure-blooded descendant of the domesticated Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes), that in the wild and today is found in the Indian subcontinent and in Balochistan.
It looks like a dingo well built dog average, its height at the withers 47-67 сантиметра, length of the body with the head 86-122 сантиметра, length of the tail 26-38 сантиcentimeterss 9,60-19 килограмма, In rare situations, reaching 24 килограмма.pounds
Physique resembles a dingo hound, nee kvadratnaâ morda, small erect ears, saber and bushy tail.
The fur is short and have the dingo thick, the characteristic color – rusty-red or reddish-brown, on the face and belly lighter, infrequently encountered individuals almost dark, light and Tans. In the south-in. Australian dingoes breed inhabits the gray-white color, dingoes and black & tan dingoes are hybrids with domestic dogs, It's possible, German Shepherds.
Dingo – mostly nocturnal animals, and the main site of their habitat edge of wet forest, dry eucalypt bush, semi-arid in the interior of the continent. Dens in caves, they do, empty burrows, in the middle of the roots of trees, often far from water. Purebred dingoes do not bark, but can growl and howl.
About 60 % the diet of Australian dingos make medium-sized mammals, including, kangaroo, Rabbits, wallaby, they also feed on birds, reptiles, insects and carrion.
Young dingoes outside the breeding season live alone, indeed have the ability to form a group in the hunt for big game. Stable family flocks from dingoes, like the wolf, consist of 3-12 osobeygruppiruyuschihsya range of dominant pairs. In family groups, the strict hierarchy of, have any schools have their own hunting area, that it protects from neighbors.
Dingoes live in small flocks, which reproduces only the dominant pair, and if a female babies are born, Dominant female kills them.
Unlike normal dogs, Dingoes breed once in, marital season at the Australian dingo is in March-April. The gestational age, as well as in dogs – 63 Day, is often the litter 6-8 Puppies, which the female gives birth in the lair. Puppies are born blind, but covered with hair. For posterity take care of both parents.
At the age of 3 dingo puppies weeks for the first time leaving the birth lair, and the female ceases to feed them with milk. To 8 weeks before the end, they leave the den and living together with other members of the pack. With 9 before 12 weeks, the mother and other members of the flock bring them food and water, that regurgitate and feed puppies. In 3-4 Per month. Puppies are already independent, and is accompanied by adults while hunting.
Sexual maturity occurs at the age of dingoes 1-3 Years.
Dingoes and domestic dogs are easily crossed, and wild dingo population is largely hybridized. The exception is the population, living in Australia's national parks and other protected areas. Offspring dingoes and dogs is a major threat to sheep, tk. half-bred dingoes, usually, multiply 2 times in r. (Not 1, both purebred) and more aggressive.
Living dingo 10 years in nature, and to 13 years in captivity.
Until the emergence of Europeans were the main predators of a dingo of Australia, once on the continent, they are gradually pushed and destroyed most of the predators, including the marsupial wolf and the marsupial Satan. Dingoes are different intelligence and dexterity, their typical feature – extreme caution, that helps them successfully to avoid traps and poisoned baits.
Dingo – the main predators are mammals of Australia and occupy a significant place in the ecology of the continent. With its population of predators, they replaced the local, occupying the biological niche of being, regulating the number of herbivores. They also prevent the extinction of some species of fauna, destroying its enemies – feral cats and foxes, but have themselves become the cause of extinction of some species of marsupials. Dingo also help regulate the number of ordinary rabbits, imported into Australia and bred here in large numbers.
From the outset, the ratio of immigrants to the dingoes were tolerated, However, the situation has changed in a short time in the XIX century., when sheep became an important branch of the Australian economy. Dingo, preyed on sheep, traps caught, were shot and poisoned by toxins. In the end of XIX century in a New South Wales farmers spend each year to fight wild dogs a few tons of strychnine.
When these measures turned out not, in the 1880s. began construction of a huge mesh fence (a dog fence), enclosing areas of sheep grazing in the southern Квинсленде, order to protect livestock from dingos, and grazing by rabbits bred. In the 1960s,. Some sections of the fence were connected together, forming a barrier, interrupted only at the intersections of Highways.
To date, the fence stretches for 8 500 Kilometers – on r. Toowoomba in Queensland to a large Australian Bight, separating the arid north-western part of Australia from relatively fertile; it is the most extensive construction, constructed by people. Maintenance of the fence in good order every year costing the Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia is approximately. 15 Million. Australian $. Along the fence ply special patrols, seeking damages in the grid and underground burrows, Realized rabbits or wombats, and destroying dingoes, penetrating behind the fence.
In some countries, to keep dingoes as pets is prohibited. In Asia, the meat, like other dogs, used by local people for food.
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