the Dingo

The dingo is a wild dog found in Australia.

Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts by the names Sahul, Australinea or Meganesia, to distinguish it from the Australian mainland, is a continent comprising mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, Seram, possibly Timor, and neighbouring islands.

The domestic dog is a domesticated canid which has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviours, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes.

A free-ranging dog is any dog that is not contained.

Documentary Dingo Wild Dog At War by World Documentary

Its exact ancestry is debated, but dingoes are generally believed to be descended from semi-domesticated dogs from East or South Asia, which returned to a wild lifestyle when introduced to Australia.

Asia is Earth's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres and sharing the continental landmass of Eurasia with the continent of Europe.

The domestic cat or the feral cat is a small, typically furry, carnivorous mammal.

Wild Dog Dingo by wildvisuals

Both the dingo and domestic dog are classified as subspecies of Canis lupus in Mammal Species of the World.

Wilson & Reeder's Mammal Species of the World, now in its third edition, is a standard reference work in zoology giving descriptions and bibliographic data for the known species of mammals, and was edited by Don E. Wilson and DeeAnn M. Reeder.

The gray wolf or grey wolf, also known as the timber wolf or western wolf, is a canid native to the wilderness and remote areas of Eurasia and North America.

In biological classification, subspecies is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, or a taxonomic unit in that rank.

The dingo's habitat ranges from deserts to grasslands and the edges of forests.

A desert is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life.

A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism.

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses, however sedge and rush families can also be found.

Dingoes will normally make their dens in deserted rabbit holes and hollow logs close to an essential supply of water.

A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion.

The dingo is the largest terrestrial predator in Australia, and plays an important role as an apex predator.

An apex predator, also known as an alpha predator or apical predator, is a predator residing at the top of a food chain upon which no other creatures prey.

However, the dingo is seen as a pest by livestock farmers due to attacks on animals.

Livestock are domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber, and labor.

Conversely, their predation on rabbits, kangaroos and rats may be of benefit to grazers.

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world.

Pastoral farming is a form of agriculture aimed at producing livestock, rather than growing crops.

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea.

For many Australians, the dingo is a cultural icon.

The dingo is seen by many as being responsible for thylacine extinction on the Australian mainland about two thousand years ago, although a recent study challenges this view.

Dingoes have a prominent role in the culture of Aboriginal Australians as a feature of stories and ceremonies, and they are depicted on rock carvings and cave paintings.

Cave paintings are painted drawings on cave walls or ceilings, mainly of prehistoric origin, to some 40,000 years ago in both Asia and Europe.

Petroglyphs are images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art.

Aboriginal Australians are legally defined as people who are members "of the Aboriginal race of Australia".

Despite being an efficient hunter, it is listed as vulnerable to extinction.

It is proposed that this is due to susceptibility to genetic pollution: a controversial concept according to which interbreeding with domestic dogs may dilute the dingo's unique adaptations to the Australian environment.

Breeding in the wild is the natural process of animal reproduction occurring in the natural habitat of a given species.

Genetic pollution is a controversial term for uncontrolled gene flow into wild populations.