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Dingo
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==Behaviour== Dingoes tend to be [[Nocturnality|nocturnal]] in warmer regions, but less so in cooler areas. Their main period of activity is around [[dusk]] and [[dawn]], making them a [[Crepuscular animal|crepuscular]] species in the colder climates. The periods of activity are short (often less than 1 hour) with short times of resting. Dingoes have two kinds of movement: a searching movement (apparently associated with hunting) and an exploratory movement (probably for contact and communication with other dogs).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Harden|first1=RH|title=The Ecology of the Dingo in North-Eastern New South Wales I. Movements and Home Range|journal=Wildlife Research|volume=12|pages=25–37|year=1985|doi=10.1071/WR9850025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Thomson|first1=PC|title=The behavioural ecology of dingoes in north-western Australia. II. Activity patterns, breeding season and pup rearing|journal=Wildlife Research|volume=19|pages=519–29|year=1992|doi=10.1071/WR9920519|issue=5}}</ref> According to studies in [[Queensland]], the wild dogs (dingo hybrids) there move freely at night through [[urban area]]s and cross streets and seem to get along quite well.<ref name="beefy15">{{cite web|title=South East Queensland's urban wild dog project|url=http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/plants/weeds-pest-animals-ants/pest-animals/a-z-listing-of-pest-animals/photo-guide-to-pest-animals/wild-dog|work=Beefy and the Beast Issue 15|publisher=Department of Natural Resources and Water|page=6|date=September 2006|access-date=8 April 2009|archive-date=17 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917140051/http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/plants/weeds-pest-animals-ants/pest-animals/a-z-listing-of-pest-animals/photo-guide-to-pest-animals/wild-dog|url-status=dead}}</ref> ===Social behaviour=== The dingo's social behaviour is about as flexible as that of a [[coyote]] or grey wolf, which is perhaps one of the reasons the dingo was originally believed to have descended from the [[Indian wolf]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Macdonald |editor-first=David W |year=2006 |title=Other Dogs |encyclopedia=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Mammals |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |page=619 }}</ref> While young males are often solitary and nomadic in nature, breeding adults often form a settled pack.<ref name=DK>{{cite book|editor1-last=Burnie|editor1-first=David|editor2-last=Wilson|editor2-first=Don E|title=Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife|year=2001|publisher=DK Publishing|location=New York|isbn=978-0-7894-7764-4|page=185}}</ref> However, in areas of the dingo's habitat with a widely spaced population, breeding pairs remain together, apart from others.<ref name=DK/> Dingo distributions are a single dingo, 73%; two dingoes, 16%; three dingoes, 5%; four dingoes, 3%; and packs of five to seven dingoes, 3%. A dingo pack usually consists of a mated pair, their offspring from the current year, and sometimes offspring from the previous year.<ref name=jackson2003/> Where conditions are favourable among dingo packs, the pack is stable with a distinct territory and little overlap between neighbours.<ref name=jackson2003/> The size of packs often appears to correspond to the size of prey available in the pack's territory.<ref name=jackson2003/> Desert areas have smaller groups of dingoes with a more loose territorial behaviour and sharing of the water sites.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Thomson|first1=PC|title=The behavioural ecology of dingoes in north-western Australia. IV. Social and spatial organisation, and movements|journal=Wildlife Research|volume=19|pages=543–63|year=1992|doi=10.1071/WR9920543|issue=5}}</ref> The average monthly pack size was noted to be between three and 12 members.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dogs, Zoonoses, and Public Health|year=2000|publisher=CABI Publishing|location=Wallingford|isbn=978-0-85199-436-9|page=31|editor=Macpherson, Calum N. L. |display-editors=etal}}</ref> Similar to other canids, a dingo pack largely consists of a mated pair, their current year's offspring, and occasionally a previous year's offspring.<ref name=jackson2003/> Dominance hierarchies exist both between and within males and females, with males usually being more dominant than females.<ref name=jackson2003/> However, a few exceptions have been noted in captive packs.<ref name=jackson2003/> During travel, while eating prey, or when approaching a water source for the first time, the breeding male will be seen as the leader, or [[Alpha (ethology)|alpha]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Miklósi|first=Ádám|title=Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-954566-7|page=89}}</ref> Subordinate dingoes approach a more dominant dog in a slightly crouched posture, ears flat, and tail down, to ensure peace in the pack.<ref name=jackson2003/> Establishment of artificial packs in captive dingoes has failed.<ref name=jackson2003/> ===Reproduction=== {{See also|Canine reproduction}} [[File:Dingowelpen Berlin.JPG|thumb|right|Dingo pups]] Dingoes breed once annually, depending on the [[estrous cycle]] of the females, which according to most sources, only come in heat once per year. Dingo females can come in heat twice per year, but can only be pregnant once a year, with the second time only seeming to be pregnant.<ref>{{cite book|last=Trummler|first=Eberhard|author2=Dietmar Mundo|title=Das Jahr des Hundes – Ein Jahr im Leben einer Hundefamilie|edition=1st|year=1984|publisher=Kynos Verlag|location=Nerdlen|language=de|isbn=978-3-924008-11-6}}</ref><ref name="victoria">{{cite journal|last1=Jones|first1=E|last2=Stevens|first2=PL|title=Reproduction in Wild Canids, Canis-Familiaris, From the Eastern Highlands of Victoria|journal=Wildlife Research|volume=15|pages=385–97|year=1988|doi=10.1071/WR9880385|issue=4}}</ref> Males are virile throughout the year in most regions, but have a lower sperm production during the summer in most cases. During studies on dingoes from the Eastern Highlands and Central Australia in captivity, no specific breeding cycle could be observed. All were potent throughout the year. The breeding was only regulated by the heat of the females. A rise in [[testosterone]] was observed in the males during the breeding season, but this was attributed to the heat of the females and copulation. In contrast to the captive dingoes, captured dingo males from Central Australia did show evidence of a male breeding cycle. Those dingoes showed no interest in females in heat (this time other domestic dogs) outside the mating season (January to July) and did not breed with them.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Catling|first1=PC|title=Seasonal variation in plasma testosterone and the testis in captive male dingoes, Canis familiaries dingo|journal=Australian Journal of Zoology|volume=27|pages=939–44|year=1979|doi=10.1071/ZO9790939|issue=6}}</ref> The mating season usually occurs in Australia between March and May (according to other sources between April and June). During this time, dingoes may actively defend their territories using vocalisations, dominance behaviour, growling, and barking.<ref name="impact"/> Most females in the wild start breeding at the age of 2 years. Within packs, the alpha female tends to go into heat before subordinates and actively suppresses mating attempts by other females. Males become sexually mature between the ages of 1 and 3 years. The precise start of breeding varies depending on age, social status, geographic range, and seasonal conditions. Among dingoes in captivity, the pre-estrus was observed to last 10–12 days. However, the pre-estrus may last as long as 60 days in the wild.<ref name="canid"/> [[File:Look at me dad.jpg|thumb|right|A male dingo with his pups]] In general, the only dingoes in a pack that successfully breed are the alpha pair, and the other pack members help with raising the pups. Subordinates are actively prevented from breeding by the alpha pair and some subordinate females have a [[false pregnancy]]. Low-ranking or solitary dingoes can successfully breed if the pack structure breaks up.<ref name="Nord">{{cite web|author=Parks|author2=Wildlife Service|name-list-style=amp|title=A Management Program for the Dingo (''Canis lupus dingo'') in the Northern Territory of Australia, 2006–2011|url=http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/wildlife/programs/pdf/dingo_management.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913072502/http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/wildlife/programs/pdf/dingo_management.pdf|archive-date=2008-09-13|publisher=Department of Natural Resources|access-date=4 May 2009}}</ref> The [[gestation]] period lasts for 61–69 days and the size of the litter can range from 1 to 10 (usually 5) pups, with the number of males born tending to be higher than that of females. Pups of subordinate females usually get killed by the alpha female, which causes the population increase to be low even in good times. This behaviour possibly developed as an adaptation to the fluctuating environmental conditions in Australia. Pups are usually born between May and August (the winter period), but in tropical regions, breeding can occur at any time of the year.<ref name="canid"/> At the age of 3 weeks, the pups leave the den for the first time, and leave it completely at 8 weeks. Dens are mostly underground. Reports exist of dens in abandoned rabbit burrows, rock formations, under boulders in dry creeks, under large [[Triodia (grass)|spinifex]], in hollow logs, and augmented burrows of monitor lizards and wombat burrows. The pups usually stray around the den within a radius of {{convert|3|km|mi|abbr=on|sigfig=1}}, and are accompanied by older dogs during longer travels. The transition to consuming solid food is normally accomplished by all members of the pack during the age of 9 to 12 weeks. Apart from their own experiences, pups also learn through observation.<ref name="Ian">{{cite book|last=Moffitt|first=Ian|title=Der Australische Busch|edition=5th|year=1984|publisher=Time-Life Books|location=Amsterdam|language=de|id={{Listed Invalid ISBN|90-6182-070-0}} }}</ref> Young dingoes usually become independent at the age of 3–6 months or they disperse at the age of 10 months, when the next mating season starts. ===Migration=== Dingoes usually remain in one area and do not undergo seasonal migrations. However, during times of [[famine]], even in normally "safe" areas, dingoes travel into [[pastoral]] areas, where intensive, human-induced control measures are undertaken. In [[Western Australia]] in the 1970s, young dogs were found to travel for long distances when necessary. About 10% of the dogs captured—all younger than 12 months—were later recaptured far away from their first location. Among these, the average travelled distance for males was {{convert|21.7|km|mi|abbr=on|sigfig=3}} and for females {{convert|11|km|mi|abbr=on|sigfig=1}}. Therefore, travelling dingoes had lower chances of survival in foreign territories, and they are apparently unlikely to survive long migrations through occupied territories. The rarity of long migration routes seemed to confirm this. During investigations in the Nullarbor Plain, even longer migration routes were recorded. The longest recorded migration route of a [[Tracking collar|radio-collared]] dingo was about {{convert|24-32|km|mi|abbr=on|sigfig=2}}.<ref name="western">{{cite web|author=A.W. Hogstrom|title=A changing approach to Dingo control in Western Australia – Proceedings of the Twelfth Vertebrate Pest Conference|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=vpc12|publisher=University of Nebraska|year=1986|access-date=8 May 2009|archive-date=11 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611170741/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=vpc12|url-status=live}}</ref> ===Attacks on humans=== {{Main|Dingo attack}} Dingoes generally avoid conflict with humans, but they are large enough to be dangerous. Most attacks involve people feeding wild dingoes, particularly on [[K'gari]] (formerly Fraser Island), which is a special centre of dingo-related tourism. The vast majority of dingo attacks are minor in nature, but some can be major, and a few have been fatal: the death of two-month-old [[Death of Azaria Chamberlain|Azaria Chamberlain]] in the [[Northern Territory]] in 1980 is one of them. Many [[Protected areas of Australia|Australian national parks]] have signs advising visitors not to feed wildlife, partly because this practice is not healthy for the animals, and partly because it may encourage undesirable behaviour, such as snatching or biting by dingoes, kangaroos, [[goanna]]s, and some birds.
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