Range

It is difficult to say which countries the dingo calls home due to interbreeding with the domestic dog. Pure dingoes are confirmed to still exist across Australia (excluding Tasmania) and Thailand.

In Australia dingoes were once spread across most of the continent. The sheep industry being established lead to dingoes being persecuted led to them being expelled from some areas. The building of a dingo fence to keep them out of sheep country did not help this. Farmers were paid to shoot the dogs. This fence keeps them out of most of South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. They are still holding on in some of these areas though.

It is believed that dingoes came to Australia in the past 1,000 to 5,000 years from Asia. There is a belief that at one point dingoes were domestic and then they went wild again.

Habitat

Dingoes can be found throughout many habitat types. These include deserts, alpine forests, tropical wetlands & forests, forested snow clad peaks and costal scrub. Different varieties of habitat are better suited to the different colours of dingoes. Examples of this include more black dingoes in darker rainforests and more tan dingoes in the sandy deserts.

Habitat loss is one of the threats dingoes are facing.

Reproduction

Dingo breeding is regulated by when the female is on heat. This occurs once a year in most cases though some females go on heat twice with the second time being while they are pregnant. Males can breed at any time of the year but their fertility decreases over the summer.

Mating occurs between March and May throughout Australia. In Asia they breed between August and September. Throughout the breeding season the dingoes defend their territory using vocalisations, growling and dominance behaviour.

The alpha pair are the only ones that breed in most cases. Other females go into heat after this pair and the alpha female will stop them from breeding with the males. If another female has a litter the alpha kills the pups so only her genes will be passed on.

Following a 61-69 day gestation period a litter of 1-10 pups is born. Females will move to a cave or burrow to have the pups. These pups are born blind.

Three weeks after being born the pups first venture from the den. At eight weeks of age they will leave the den for the final time. The transition from milk to solids begins at 9 weeks and is generally complete at 12 weeks old. After 3-6 months the pups are independent and by 10 months they leave the pack as the next breeding season is beginning.

Sexual maturity is achieved between 1 and 3 years for males while for females it occurs at 2 years of age.