Well, the dingo is its own species, Canis dingo, so it’s not a dog in the sense of what we typically think of as dogs (our domesticated breeds). But it is a dog in the sense that it’s part of the canid, or dog, kind (Family: Canidae). We know this because dingoes can reproduce with domesticated and feral dogs. This means they belong to the same created kind.
A recent study has confirmed what was first proposed in 1793—that the dingo, a wild Australian canine, is a species in its own right, not simply a breed of wild dog. The dingoes’ characteristics differentiate them from domestic and feral dogs, as well as other wild canids (i.e., wolves). The research confirms that “a dingo is a dingo, and not a dog.” So, what do I mean “it’s not a dog, but it’s a dog” in my blog’s title?
You see, God created organisms to reproduce according to their kinds. Cats produce cats, dogs produce dogs, and elephants produce elephants. But God built tremendous genetic diversity into the DNA of every kind that he made. This allows them to spread out and fill the earth, adapting to different ecological niches. That’s why we can have wolves that thrive in the cold arctic, coyotes that scavenge at the local city dump, and dingoes that hunt on the grasslands and deserts of Australia. They’re all dogs, but different species because of adaptation and speciation. Now, this is not evolution. It’s the opposite of molecules-to-man evolution, which requires new genetic information for characteristics, previously not possible, that are added to the genome.
You can learn more about created kinds in this chapter by Bodie Hodge and Dr. Georgia Purdom from The New Answers Book 3: “What are the ‘Kinds’ in Genesis?” You can also check out their chapter, “Is a Species the Same Thing as a Biblical Kind?” in our brand-new book, Glass House: Shattering the Myth of Evolution, available in our online store.
This item was on Answers News by cohosts Dr. Georgia Purdom, Bodie Hodge, and Avery Foley today. Answers News is our twice-weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum and broadcast on my Facebook page and the Answers in Genesis Facebook page. We also answered the following questions:
Pure dingoes may not be rare
But pure dingoes may not be as rare as we think, according to authors of a new genetic study.
“While some dingoes have a dash of domestic dog, as a population they are retaining their genetic identity,” researcher Kylie Cairns of the University of New South Wales said.
But she found there was less genetic purity of dingoes in states where there is more culling of the animals as “wild dogs”.
“If we want to keep dingoes in the wild, we need to reduce culling and we need to think better about how we do it,” Dr Cairns said.
The new research, published in the CSIRO journal Australian Mammalogy, has renewed longstanding debates about the identity of the dingo and how to manage it.
Researchers announced in 2015 that genetic tests had shown “extensive hybridisation” between dingoes and domestic dogs was amounting to “death by sex in an Australian icon”.
Dr Cairns and colleagues challenge these conclusions in their analysis of DNA samples from over 5,000 wild canids.
Australia-wide, 64 per cent were pure dingo, she said.
“Over the past 200 years theres definitely been a process of hybridisation … but the animals that are in the wild are still mostly dingo,” said Dr Cairns, who is supported by a grant from the Australian Dingo Foundation.
“Even in New South Wales theyre holding their own, theyre retaining their genetic identity.”
Her figures showed 24 per cent of canids she surveyed in NSW were pure dingo.
The researchers also suggest “wild dog” culling programs perpetuate a “myth” about how many feral dogs are across the continent.
“There are not that many feral dogs living in the wild, contrary to popular belief,” said Dr Cairns, who reported only 31 feral dogs in her sample.
In fact, culling wild canids could threaten the purity of the dingo gene pool by making it more likely female dingoes will breed with dogs, Dr Cairns said.
She points to her data showing areas of Australia where dingoes are not as widely culled have a higher percentage of pure dingoes. These include Western Australia (97 per cent), South Australia (91 per cent) and the Northern Territory (98 per cent).
Dingoes are a native predator that play an important role in the ecology and should not be killed in national parks, Dr Cairns said.
Culling should not be carried out in the dingo breeding season, and needs to be more targeted to areas where there are stock losses, she added.
But Peter Fleming, a research leader at the NSW Department of Primary Industry, disagrees with the conclusions made by Dr Cairns and her colleagues.
He said the data in the new paper in fact showed a lot of similarities to earlier research he co-authored, which found hybridisation was extensive.
But Dr Cairns and colleagues had used different definitions of key terms, Dr Fleming added.
“It’s a bit of a straw man argument. First of all you redefine what feral is, you redefine what a pure dingo is, and then all the arguments fall into place afterwards.
“It would appear the authors wish to create their own dingo myth to replace the wild dog myth.”
Dr Fleming said dingoes were in greater numbers now than before European settlement, and that culling was necessary to prevent negative impacts on livestock, wildlife and human wellbeing.
Culling is already targeted and not endangering dingoes, he added.
“There is no data to support the idea that culling is a threat to dingo purity,” Dr Fleming said.
“Contrary to Cairns et al’s concern, reducing free-ranging dog populations in the targeted areas is more likely to prevent further introgression [spread] of modern dog genes.”
Read about some of the new native birds of AustraliaSpotted Whistling-Duck, Cattle Egret are recent additions to Australia’s fauna. Read about them in Chris Watson’s excellent blog:
If 5,000 – 18,000 years of occupation doesn’t make you a native, what does? Dingoes are obviously native.
Calling Dingoes “wild dogs” diminishes them and obscures the issue of their protection as a native mammal.
Demonising predators has been part of human history since livestock farming began. In the case of the Dingo, many myths persist about their aggression, damage to the sheep industry and destruction of wildlife.
In fact, live sheep exports kill more sheep than dingoes do. Read the myths and the reality here
Yet this unique, threatened native animal is on a government-sanctioned kill list in every state of Australia, except the Northern Territory.
These draconian laws rely partly on the difficulty of distinguishing a pure Dingo from a dingo-dog hybrid. But in WA, a state where killing Dingoes is legal, it is proven that over 59% of ‘wild dogs’ are pure dingoes.
EP 03 Not a Dog, a DINGO // How the Dingo is different to our domestic Dog
Back in 2019, an incredibly cute dingo pup was found hiding and crying in the garden of a backyard in north-eastern Victoria.
Marks on the pups body suggested hed been dropped from the clutches of an eagle flying overhead.
The pup, named “Wandi”, became an Instagram sensation and DNA tests reported he was pure dingo.
Soon after his crash-landing, Wandi took up residence at the Dingo Discovery Centre north-west of Melbourne, run by Lyn Watson of the Australian Dingo Foundation.
Ms Watson said she was so excited at the time because thered been a widespread belief pure dingoes were going extinct in south-eastern Australia as they interbred with other canids (members of the dog family).