Editing Dingo (section)

==Adaptation==

===Hybrids, distribution and habitat===
[[File:Dingo-Distribution-Fleming.png|thumb|left|Distribution: dingoes south of the [[dingo fence]] (black line) may have a higher prevalence of [[dingo–dog hybrid]]s.]]

The [[Evolution of the wolf#Wolf-like canids|wolf-like canids]] are a group of large carnivores that are genetically closely related because their [[chromosome]]s number 78; therefore they can potentially interbreed to produce fertile [[Canid hybrid|hybrids]].<ref name=wayne1999/> In the Australian wild there exist dingoes, feral dogs, and the crossings of these two, which produce [[dingo–dog hybrid]]s.<ref name=flemingC1/> Most studies looking at the distribution of dingoes focus on the distribution of dingo–dog hybrids, instead.<ref name=smithC2/>

Dingoes occurred throughout mainland Australia before European colonisation.<ref name=NTPWS2006/><ref name=flemingC1/> They are not found in the fossil record of Tasmania, so they apparently arrived in Australia after Tasmania had separated from the mainland due to rising sea levels.<ref name=purcellC2/> The introduction of agriculture reduced dingo distribution, and by the early 1900s, large barrier fences, including the [[Dingo Fence]], excluded them from the sheep-grazing areas. Land clearance, poisoning, and trapping caused the extinction of the dingo and hybrids from most of their former range in southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. Today, they are absent from most of New South Wales, Victoria, the southeastern third of South Australia, and the southwestern tip of Western Australia. They are sparse in the eastern half of Western Australia and the adjoining areas of the Northern Territory and South Australia. They are regarded as common across the remainder of the continent.<ref name=NTPWS2006/><ref name=flemingC1/>

The dingo could be considered an [[ecotype]] or an ecospecies that has adapted to Australia's unique environment.<ref name=smith49/> The dingo's present distribution covers a variety of habitats, including the temperate regions of [[Eastern states of Australia|eastern Australia]], the alpine moorlands of the [[Great Dividing Range|eastern highlands]], the arid hot deserts of [[Central Australia]], and the tropical forests and wetlands of [[Northern Australia]].<ref name=smithC2/> The occupation of, and adaption to, these habitats may have been assisted by their relationship with indigenous Australians.<ref name=purcellC3/>

===Prey and diet===
[[File:The Dingo Finds a Dead Fish.jpg|thumb|Dingo with a fish on K'gari (Fraser Island)]]

A 20-year study of the dingo's diet was conducted across Australia by the federal and state governments. These examined a total of 13,000 stomach contents and fecal samples.<ref name=corbett1995C7/> For the fecal samples, determining the matching tracks of foxes and feral cats was possible without including these samples in the study, but in distinguishing between the tracks left by dingoes and those of dingo hybrids or feral dogs was impossible.<ref name=corbett1995C2/> The study found that these canines prey on 177 species represented by 72.3% mammals (71 species), 18.8% birds (53 species), 3.3% vegetation (seeds), 1.8% reptiles (23 species), and 3.8% insects, fish, crabs, and frogs (28 species).<ref name=corbett1995C7/><ref name=flemingC2/><ref name=smithC2/> The relative proportions of prey are much the same across Australia, apart from more birds being eaten in the north and south-east coastal regions, and more lizards in Central Australia.<ref name=corbett1995C7/> Some 80% of the diet consisted of 10 species: [[red kangaroo]], [[swamp wallaby]], cattle, [[dusky rat]], [[magpie goose]], [[common brushtail possum]], [[long-haired rat]], [[agile wallaby]], [[European rabbit]], and [[common wombat]].<ref name=corbett1995A3/><ref name=flemingC2/> Of the mammals eaten, 20% could be regarded as large.<ref name=corbett1995C7/>

However, the relative proportions of the size of prey mammals varied across regions. In the tropical coast region of northern Australia, agile wallabies, dusky rats, and magpie geese formed 80% of the diet. In Central Australia, the rabbit has become a substitute for native mammals, and during droughts, cattle carcasses provide most of the diet. On the [[Barkly Tableland]], no rabbits occur nor does any native species dominate the diet, except for long-haired rats that form occasional plagues. In the [[Fortescue River]] region, the large red kangaroo and [[common wallaroo]] dominate the diet, as few smaller mammals are found in this area. On the Nullarbor Plain, rabbits and red kangaroos dominate the diet, and twice as much rabbit is eaten as red kangaroo. In the temperate mountains of eastern Australia, swamp wallaby and red-necked wallaby dominate the diet on the lower slopes and wombat on the higher slopes. Possums are commonly eaten here when found on the ground.<ref name=corbett1995C7/> In coastal regions, dingoes patrol the beaches for washed-up fish, [[Pinniped|seals]], [[penguins]], and other birds.<ref name=flemingC2/>

Dingoes drink about a litre of water each day in the summer and half a litre in winter. In arid regions during the winter, dingoes may live from the liquid in the bodies of their [[prey]], as long as the number of prey is sufficient. In arid Central Australia, weaned pups draw most of their water from their food. There, regurgitation of water by the females for the pups was observed. During lactation, captive females have no higher need of water than usual, since they consume the urine and feces of the pups, thus recycling the water and keeping the den clean.<ref name=flemingC2/> Tracked dingoes in the [[Strzelecki Desert]] regularly visited water-points every 3–5 days, with two dingoes surviving 22 days without water during both winter and summer.<ref name=allan2012/>

===Hunting behaviour===
Dingoes, dingo hybrids, and feral dogs usually attack from the rear as they pursue their prey. They kill their prey by biting the throat, which damages the [[trachea]] and the major blood vessels of the neck.<ref name=flemingC6/> The size of the hunting pack is determined by the type of prey targeted, with large packs formed to help hunt large prey. Large prey can include kangaroos, cattle, water buffalo, and feral horses.<ref name=flemingC2/> Dingoes will assess and target prey based on the prey's ability to inflict damage. Large [[kangaroo]]s are the most commonly killed prey. The main tactic is to sight the kangaroo, bail it up, then kill it. 

Dingoes typically hunt large kangaroos by having lead dingoes chase the quarry toward the paths of their pack mates, which are skilled at cutting corners in chases. The kangaroo becomes exhausted and is then killed. This same tactic is used by wolves, [[African wild dogs]], and [[hyenas]]. Another tactic shared with African wild dogs is a relay pursuit until the prey is exhausted. A pack of dingoes is three times as likely to bring down a kangaroo than an individual because the killing is done by those following the lead chaser, which has also become exhausted.<ref name=corbett1995C7/> 

Two patterns are seen for the final stage of the attack. An adult or juvenile kangaroo is nipped at the hamstrings of the hind legs to slow it before an attack to the throat. A small adult female or juvenile is bitten on the neck or back by dingoes running beside it.<ref name=flemingC2/> In one area of Central Australia, dingoes hunt kangaroos by chasing them into a wire fence, where they become temporarily immobilised. 

The largest male red kangaroos tend to ignore dingoes, even when the dingoes are hunting the younger males and females. A large eastern grey kangaroo successfully fought off an attack by a single dingo that lasted over an hour. Wallabies are hunted in a similar manner to kangaroos, the difference being that a single dingo hunts using scent rather than sight and the hunt may last several hours.<ref name=corbett1995C7/>

Dingo packs may attack young cattle and buffalo, but never healthy, grown adults. They focus on the sick or injured young. The tactics include harassing a mother with young, panicking a herd to separate the adults from the young, or watching a herd and looking for any unusual behaviour that might then be exploited.<ref name=corbett1995C7/> 

One 1992 study in the [[Fortescue River]] region observed that cattle defend their calves by circling around the calves or aggressively charging dingoes. In one study of 26 approaches, 24 were by more than one dingo and only four resulted in calves being killed. 

Dingoes often revisited carcasses. They did not touch fresh cattle carcasses until these were largely skin and bone, and even when these were plentiful, they still preferred to hunt kangaroos. 

Of 68 chases of sheep, 26 sheep were seriously injured, but only eight were killed. The dingoes could outrun the sheep and the sheep were defenceless. However, the dingoes in general appeared not to be motivated to kill sheep, and in many cases just loped alongside the sheep before veering off to chase another sheep. For those that did kill and consume sheep, a large quantity of kangaroo was still in their diet, indicating once again a preference for kangaroo.<ref name=thomson1992/> 
 
Lone dingoes can run down a rabbit, but are more successful by targeting kits near rabbit warrens. Dingoes take nestling birds, in addition to birds that are moulting and therefore cannot fly.<ref name=corbett1995C7/> Predators often use highly intelligent hunting techniques. Dingoes on Fraser Island have been observed using waves to entrap, tire, and help drown an adult swamp wallaby<ref name=behrendorff2018/> and an echidna.<ref name=behrendorff2018b/> In the coastal wetlands of northern Australia, dingoes depend on magpie geese for a large part of their diet and a lone dingo sometimes distracts these while a [[White-bellied sea eagle|white-breasted sea eagle]] makes a kill that is too heavy for it to carry off, with the dingo then driving the sea eagle away. They also scavenge on prey dropped from the nesting platforms of sea eagles.  Lone dingoes may hunt small rodents and grasshoppers in grass by using their senses of smell and hearing, then pouncing on them with their forepaws.<ref name=corbett1995C7/>

===Competitors===
Dingoes and their hybrids co-exist with the native [[quoll]]. They also co-occur in the same territory as the introduced European [[red fox]] and [[feral cat]], but little is known about the relationships between these three. Dingoes and their hybrids can drive off foxes from sources of water and occasionally eat feral cats. Dingoes can be killed by feral [[water buffalo]] and [[cattle]] goring and kicking them, from [[snake]] bite, and predation on their pups (and occasionally adults) by [[wedge-tailed eagle]]s.<ref name=flemingC2/><ref>Olsen, P. (2005). 'Wedge-tailed Eagle.' (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.)</ref>