Dingo Facts

Mother dingo and youngster.
Mother and youngster.
  • Dingoes cannot bark – but they can howl.
  • Dingoes have unique wrists in the canine world, capable of rotatation.
    This enables dingoes to use their paws like hands and turn door knobs.
    Their ability to go where other dogs can’t means dingoes can cause more problems for humans than other wild members of the dog family can.
  • A dingo can turn its head through almost 180 degrees in each direction.
  • Dingoes have permanently erect ears.
  • Dingoes can be found living in Australia and Southeast Asia, mainly Thailand.
  • Australian dingoes are larger than Asian dingoes.
  • The plural of dingo is dingoes, not dingos.
  • Male dingoes are larger than females. Males weigh 26 to 43 pounds (12 to 20 kg) and females weigh 21 to 35 pounds.
  • Most Australian dingoes are ginger-coloured or sandy coloured with white chests. There are also dark coloured dingoes.
  • Wild dingoes can live for up to ten years but usually live for more like five or six years.

dingo-woodland

  • Dingoes cared for by people can live up to 15 years or more.
  • Domestication of dingoes has been difficult. Dingoes are intelligent animals. They are more independent and harder to train than other dogs.
  • Dingoes have larger canine teeth than domestic dogs.
  • Wild Australian dingoes kill and eat prey ranging in size from small lizards, birds and rodents up to sheep and kangaroos. They will also scavenge carrion.
  • The days of the pure dingo may be numbered. Dingoes are increasingly mating with feral domestic dogs. Some of the genetically purest dingoes live on Fraser Island in Queensland.
  • Evidence has emerged of pure dingoes living close to Sydney.
  • Research at Sydney’s University of New South Wales indicates dingoes may be the world’s oldest breed of dog.
  • Dingoes breed once a year.
  • Australian dingoes mate in autumn.
  • Dingoes’ gestation period is two months.
  • Dingoes produce one litter of pups each year.
  • Dingo litter sizes range between one and ten pups. The average number of pups born is five or six.
  • The dominant female dingo kills any pups born to other females in a dingo pack.
  • Pack members help care for the pups of the dominant dingo pair.
  • At around 8 weeks old, pups are weaned on to solid food, often consisting of regurgitated meat.