Scientific Name: Canis lupus dingo
IUCN Status: Common
Body Length: 86–100 cm
Weight: 12–24 kg
Gestation: 63 days
Number of young: 3–4

Distribution: Australian mainland
Habitat: All habitats except built up urban areas

Description: Dingos have a strong resemblance to domestic dogs. Pure breed dingos usually have a red-ginger or sandyyellow coat with black, white or tan patches on their cheeks, ears and legs. The dingo’s bushy tail is 26–36 cm long. Dingos with other coat colours or patterns usually indicate breeding with domestic dogs.

Diet: Dingos are carnivores and prey on mammals ranging in size from rodents to kangaroos.

In the wild: Dingos are solitary hunters when small prey is abundant but form packs to hunt larger animals when food is scarce. The dominant pair in a pack is the only one that breeds and the rest of the pack takes care of the pups.

Threats: Dingos are under threat from interbreeding with domestic dogs. There are very few pure-breed dingos left in Australia.

At Perth Zoo: Perth Zoo has two pure-breed Dingos in the Australian Bushwalk called Durka (male) and Tingo (female). The names are Aboriginal words meaning ‘Dingo’.

Did you know? While dingos belong to the same family as dogs, there are differences. Dingos do not bark, they only breed once a year and they lack the distinctive 'dog smell' of domestic dogs.

Dingos were widespread across Australia (except Tasmania) and probably contributed to the disappearance of the Thylacine and other native fauna on the mainland.