The
following is a document available from the Australian
Heritage Database - Author unknown
Place Details: Fraser Island, Eurong
Rd, Eurong, QLD
The dingo as a native species
The dingo, having existed in Australia for some 4000 years prior
to European settlement, has interacted with indigenous animals
and responded to and changed aspects of the environment, and
thus is considered to be a native species (Corbett 1995a).
This is reflected in the management objectives of many conservation
agencies, which seek to conserve the dingo as part of Australias
natural heritage.
The most recent
evidence from mitochondrial DNA (Savolainen et al. 2004) suggests
that dingoes arrived on the continent around 5,000 years ago
and possibly up to 10,800 years ago.
The dingo as a pure species
Research has clearly demonstrated
that dingoes can be defined on the basis of skull morphology, body
size, coat colour and some reproductive data. Although there is
only one dingo species in Australia, there are statistically distinct
subpopulations associated with tropical, desert and alpine climates
and habitats in northern, central and south-eastern Australia respectively
(Corbett 1995a). These subpopulations are sometimes referred to
as tropical dingoes, desert dingoes and alpine dingoes. The
so-called pure dingo refers to the original dingo type first described
about the time of European settlement of Australia, and may also
represent the ancestral dingo type that was transported to Australia
some 4000 years ago.
The dingo as a threatened species
The dingo Canis lupus dingo (Meyer 1793) is listed by
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) as Vulnerable VU: A2e (Corbett
2004). The criteria for this classification is a reduction
in population size of 30% over the last three generations,
where the reduction or its causes may not have ceased based
on the effects of hybridisation (with introduced domestic
dogs); and the pure dingo is therefore considered to be facing
a high risk of extinction in the wild.According to Wilton
(2001) the dingo in the wild is endangered due to hybridisation
with domestic dogs. Wilton (in Dickmann and Lunney 2001)
states that estimates of the proportion of hybrids in populations
are as high as 78% in some areas, while Corbett (2001) notes
surveys in NSW, in which 100% of samples were hybrids. According
to Corbett (2001) the dingo in the wild is endangered due
to hybridisation with domestic dogs. Wilton (in Dickmann
and Lunney 2001) states that estimates of the proportion
of hybrids in populations are as high as 78% in some areas,
while Corbett (2001) notes surveys in NSW, in which 100%
of samples were hybrids. According to Corbett (2001) given
the current rate of hybridisation it is likely that most
populations of pure dingos will be extinct by the end of
the 21st century, and Australia would then become a land
of hybrids and feral dogs.
Wild dog control is a major cause of
decline in pure dingoes. It is believed that 1080 baiting campaigns
not only directly reduce local dingo populations, but also
facilitate hybridisation with wild dogs. Fleming
(2001) states that the behavioural differences between dingoes
and domestic dogs are great enough to make it difficult for
dogs to infiltrate dingo society and breed. Dingoes typically
live in tight knit packs with one dominant breeding female,
which breeds only once a year. Barry Oakman (pers. comm., March
2005), states that 1080 baiting appears to be breaking up packs,
particularly through the loss of dominant animals. This loss
of social cohesion encourages increased fecundity and a higher
likelihood of dingos breeding with immigrant domestic
and particularly hybrid dogs. Furthermore evidence presented
by Fleming et al. (1996) showed that aerial baiting was efficient
in reducing wild-living dogs by 66-84%, however dog numbers
returned to their initial abundance within one year. (Meek
and Shields 2001). There are countless numbers of dogs in rural
districts and these dogs flow into the dingoes domain after
a 1080-poisoning event. Thus 1080 baiting causes the amount
of hybrids to increase at the expense of dingoes (Barry Oakman
pers. comm. March 2005).
The dingo as a keystone species
The importance of top-order predators
in maintaining ecosystem function has been demonstrated in a
number of marine and terrestrial systems (eg. Paine 1966, 1980;
Ripple and Larsen 2000). By limiting populations of their prey
and or subordinate competitors, top-order predators can modulate
the diversity of a system, and may ultimately increase plant
biomass and or animal biodiversity via a series of trophic links.
Species which perform this function are known as keystone predators.
Where keystone predators have been removed from a system, the
effects on species richness and abundance at lower trophic levels
can be profound. Previously subordinate predators may increase
unchecked, potentially decimating prey populations. Some herbivores
may become over-abundant, leading to overgrazing on plant populations.
Competitive relationships between prey species may be altered,
and in some cases, these effects may ultimately lead to community-level
trophic cascades in which plant biomass is redistributed throughout
a system.In Australia, a wealth of observational evidence, backed
by a small but growing body of experimental work, indicates that
the dingo fulfils the role of a keystone predator in many ecosystems
(Corbett 1995a, Glen and Dickman 2005). One example concerns
three relatively recent arrivals in Australia - the introduced
red fox, feral cat and European rabbit - that have become major
threats to biodiversity and agriculture (Rolls 1969). All three
of these species interact with the dingo and with each other.
Rabbits, in turn, are linked to plant biomass, vegetation structure
and diversity through direct grazing effects. Thus, loss of dingo
populations (via persecution or loss of habitat), could have
impacts that reverberate through the trophic levels from predator
to mesopredator to herbivore and ultimately to primary producers.
The dingo in Aboriginal life
and culture
The dingo plays a vital role in
Aboriginal culture, both past and present, as illustrated by
the following excerpts:The Dreamtime is the spiritual past of
the Aboriginal people. There is no one Dreaming which is accepted
by all aboriginal people as the creation story, and this is recognised
by different names and different stories in different areas.From
the Dreamtime comes the belief that the dingo can see into the
supernatural, it is a watchdog, warning of the approach of evil
spirits. In dog dreaming their ancestor was part human, part
dingo from which all people came, this was the belief in some
areas. Aboriginal stories of the mythical giant creatures of
the Dreamtime are passed from generation to generation and enshrine
memories of the past (see Roughsey and Trezise1973).In many Dreamtime
stories the ancestral beings metamorphosed during the story to
become a natural landmark that may still be in existence today.
Mountains and rock formations are often said to represent ancestral
beings, and their existence is often explained by a Dreamtime
story. Similarly, caves and hills, watercourses, lakes, trees
and celestial formations also are often linked to Dreamtime stories.
Dreaming stories also provide a set of rules governing and explaining
behaviour and relationships amongst people, animals and with
areas of land.
It meets the following criteria
(a) the dingo
was important in the course or pattern of the history of Indigenous
Australians. Dingoes were (and still are) an integral part of
Aboriginal life and culture and helped to shape not only their
way of life, but also their spiritual past. The dingo also has
an importance in Australia's more recent history. Australian
people have long been fascinated with this animal. The dingo
holds an important place in Australia's identity.
(b) The Fraser Island
dingo population is regarded as the most pure strain of dingoes
remaining in the world, and is an outstanding example of the
tropical type dingo subpopulation. The pure dingo is becoming
increasingly rare in Australia (and the world) and is threatened
with extinction.
(d) While other temperate
areas hold dingo populations, the Fraser Island dingo population
is an outstanding example of the tropical type dingo subpopulation
(Corbett 1995a). The population size is large and self-sustaining
and likely to remain so due to the management strategies of
the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service. The Fraser
Island dingo population is regarded as the most pure strain
of dingoes remaining in the world and stands as the Australian
and world icon of the pure dingo. This icon is a major drawcard
for the hundreds-of-thousands of Australian and overseas visitors
to the island, annually.
(g) The dingo has a
significant place in Australian culture. Indigenous Australians
have a special cultural and spiritual association with this
animal. The dingo also has a strong social cultural significance
to Australians after European settlement.
(i) The dingo has a
vital place in Indigenous tradition. There is a continuing
traditional association between Aboriginal people and dingoes
throughout the region.
Description: There
is a continuing traditional association between Aboriginal
people and dingoes throughout the region. The total Fraser
Island dingo population is about 100 adults and subadults (Corbett
1998). Most dingoes live in packs (core group of 2 adults,
range 2-9 members) within territories (about 26 territories
on the island in 1998), and packs comprise adult and younger
animals of both sexes. Packs are characterised by a male dominance
hierarchy throughout the year and a secondary female hierarchy
during the breeding season. Although lone animals are often
seen, these are loosely associated with a pack. The single
breeding season commences about March and there is usually
only one litter per pack (mean 5, range 2-6 pups per litter)
resulting in a post-breeding total population of about 200
adults and pups. However, this reduces to about half (100 adults
and subadults) immediately prior to the following breeding
season mostly due to dingo interactions within and between
packs, so that only 0-2 pups per pack remain at the commencement
of the next breeding season. Some dingoes, that are aggressive
to humans or rely mostly on human-provided food, are culled
by QPWS Rangers as part of a dingo management plan (Corbett
2003).
History:
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. It was
inscribed on the World Heritage List in recognition of its
outstanding natural universal values: Criterion (ii) outstanding
examples representing significant ongoing geological processes,
biological evolution and man's interaction with his natural
environment, and Criterion (iii) contain unique or superlative
natural phenomena, formations or features of exceptional
natural beauty.
In 1836 a number of survivors of the
wrecked ship Stirling Castle lived for about six weeks on the
island before being rescued. During these six weeks, hostility
and aggression developed between the Europeans and the Aborigines.
One of the survivors was the wife of the captain of the Stirling
Castle, Eliza Fraser, after whom Europeans named the island.
Called Kgari by the Butchulla Aborigines,
the island reveals Aboriginal occupation of at least 5,000
years, although it is possible that further archaeological
work may indicate earlier occupation. Early European reports
suggested that Fraser Island was heavily populated by Aboriginal
people, but subsequent research indicates that there was a
small permanent population of 400-600 that swelled seasonally
to perhaps 2000-3000 in the winter months when seafood resources
were particularly abundant. Fraser Island contains many sites
of archaeological, social and spiritual significance. Middens,
artefact scatters, fish traps, scarred trees and campsites
bear witness to the lives of the original inhabitants.
summary of dingo history, biology
and ecology
The dingo
(Canis
lupus dingo) is
a primitive dog that evolved from a wolf
(Canis
lupus pallipes-C.l.arabs)
6,000-10,000 years ago and became widespread throughout
southern Asia. Asian seafarers subsequently introduced
dingoes into Indonesia, Borneo, Philippines, New Guinea,
Madagascar and other islands including Australia some 3,500-4,000
years ago. Dingoes eventually colonised the entire Australian
mainland, probably assisted by the Aborigines who had arrived
in Australia at least 15 millennia earlier. Aborigines
used dingoes to hunt game, especially kangaroos, wallabies
and possums. Some Aboriginal tribes adopted the dingo as
their totem, and several dreamtime stories and corroborees
are centred on the dingo.
The average adult dingo in Australia
stands 570 mm at the shoulder, is 1230 mm long from nose to
tail-tip and weighs 15 kg. The coat colour is typically ginger
but varies from sandy-yellow to red-ginger and is occasionally
black-and-tan, white or black. Most dingoes have white markings
on the feet, tail tip and chest, some have black muzzles and
all have pricked ears and bushy tails. Pure dingoes are distinct
from similar-looking domestic dogs and hybrids because they
breed once a year and have skulls with narrower snouts, larger
auditory bullae (ear sounding box) and larger canine (holding)
and carnassial (cutting) teeth. The coat colour of hybrids
is extremely variable and usually distinctively different to
dingoes, but some are not.
Most female dingoes become sexually mature
at two years and have only one oestrus period each year, although
some do not breed in droughts. Males in arid Australia also
have a seasonal breeding cycle of about six months where the
inability to breed successfully at other times is more probably
due to a lack of seminal fluid than to a lack of sperm. Gestation
takes about 63 days and litters of 1-10 pups (the average is
5) are whelped during the winter months, usually in an underground
den. Pups usually become independent at 3-4 months or, if in
a pack, when the next breeding season begins.
Although dingoes are often seen alone,
many such individuals belong to socially integrated packs whose
members meet every few days or coalesce during the breeding
season to mate and rear pups. At such times scent marking and
howling is most pronounced. Dingoes use scent-posts to indicate
currently shared hunting-grounds, to mark territorial boundaries,
and possibly to synchronise reproduction between pairs.
Vocalisations include three basic howl
types: moans, bark-howls and snuffs. Howling is used for long
distance communication and has two purposes- attracting pack
members and repelling rivals. Dingoes distinguish these purposes
by means of howl responses, sight, physical location, and pheromones
(chemical messages) to confirm the identity and perhaps the
social status of both the initiating and responding howlers.
Basic howl types provide information about the location itself,
about the howler, and about group size. Overall, howling is
mostly used by members of stable territorial packs (or subunits)
especially when packs are using or defending essential resources,
particularly oestrus and pregnant females, food and water.
In remote areas where dingoes are not
disturbed by human control operations, discrete and stable
packs of 3-12 dingoes occupy territories throughout the year.
Such packs have distinct male and female hierarchies where
rank order is largely determined and maintained by aggressive
behaviour, especially within male ranks. The dominant pair
may be the only successful breeders but other pack members
assist in rearing the pups.
The size of a dingo pack's territory
varies with prey resources and terrain but is not correlated
with pack size. For individuals, home range size also varies
with age. The largest recorded territories (45-113 km) and
home ranges (mean 77 km) occur in the Fortescue River area
of north-west Australia. Mean home ranges recorded elsewhere
are 25-67 km for arid central Australia, 39 km for tropical
northern Australia, and 10-21 km for forested regions of eastern
Australia. Most dingoes remain in their birth area, but some,
especially young males, disperse and the longest recorded distance
for a tagged dingo is 250 km over 10 months in central Australia.
Dingoes eat a diverse range of prey types,
from insects to buffalo. However, in a particular region they
tend to specialise on the commonest available wildlife prey
and change their group size and hunting strategy accordingly
to maximise hunting success. For example, packs have greater
success than solitary dingoes at hunting kangaroos, and vice
versa when
hunting rabbits. The main prey are magpie geese, rodents and
agile wallabies in the Top End (Kakadu National Park); rabbits,
rodents, lizards and red kangaroos in central Australia; euros
and red kangaroos in the Fortescue River area; rabbits in the
Nullarbor Region; and wallabies and wombats in eastern Australia.
Since the early days of European settlement,
dingoes have harassed stock, especially sheep and cattle. However,
most attacks occur when native prey are scarce (e.g. during
droughts or after wildfire or as a result of human disturbance
to habitats); cattle also die during drought and dingoes scavenge
on their carcasses. Although dingoes often assist humans in
keeping down the numbers of rabbits, feral pigs and other pastoral
pests, governments and landholders have attempted to control
or eradicate dingoes by offering scalp bonuses, by hunting
with trap and gun, and by poisoning and fencing. These attempts
have been largely unsatisfactory since most control measures
merely harvest populations, or even promote increases in dingo
numbers by disrupting the social organisation of packs and
prompting an increase in breeding rates. Further, the widespread
provision of watering points (dams and bores fed by subterranean
water) for stock has encouraged dingoes to move beyond the
widely scattered natural waters; the provision of abundant
non-native food sources- rabbits in good seasons and cattle
carrion during drought- has had the same effect.
In recent years, there is concern that
pure dingoes are now gone from many regions of Australia and
eventually will be gone from all of Australia due to hybridisation
between dingoes and domestic dogs. However, the replacement
is essentially an evolved dingo that performs the same or similar
ecological functions as previously, and most of the replacement
hybrids will just look a bit different.
A major conservation emphasis, therefore,
should be on understanding the role of modern dingoes in different
regions and habitats in Australia and managing dingoes so that
they can fulfil a particular role (see Daniels and Corbett
2003). Roles can be ecological, cultural or economic. Ecological
roles may be dingoes as keystone species that shape prey populations
(usually in association with major environmental perturbations – drought
or wildfire) or as competitors to subordinate predators (foxes
and feral cats) that also (indirectly) acts to shape or preserve
prey populations. In conducting its ecological role, it probably
does not matter what the dingo looks like – just what
it does is important and management should focus on determining
how many dingoes (and social groupings) are needed to conduct
the ecological role.
Conversely, cultural roles (eg. as totem
animals in Aboriginal tribes) and economic roles (eg. as tourist
draw-cards on Fraser Island) require dingoes to be, or to look
like original-type dingoes (pure dingoes) and management strategies
here should focus on maintaining populations of original-type
dingoes and or dingo-like hybrids.
Location: About
163000ha, on the south-eastern coast of Queensland, comprising
the whole of the island as inscribed on the World Heritage
List in 1992. |