From about 6 months of age, litter sisters Keira and Amber regularly sparred with each other.
Keira was generally the less dominant, frequently showing her tongue. Concentration during these matches was total, and as their second breeding season approached, the behaviour became more intense.
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| Amber solicits Keira to play |
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| Amber demands that Keira participate. |
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| Upright, feet pressed against opponent’s shoulders, Amber and Keira commence their sparring, moving backwards and forwards over the ground, voicing their rage at each other. |
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| Close up showing facial expressions and position of front feet, claws pressing into opponent. Although this scrapping is noisy, the rest of the colony took no notice. Visitors to the sanctuary who were not familiar with this ritual often became alarmed at the apparent hate the girls show each other. If this were a real fight the whole colony would scream in excitement, with general chaos as squabbles break out |
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| The ritual is nearing completion as Keira starts to drop front feet and shows her tongue. Both forelegs will be lowered together. After break in eye contact, both will move carefully away. |
I see it daily, but it doesn't just have to be between sisters, brothers against brothers, brothers against sisters.
ReplyDeleteThe noise you hear, you'd think they were killing each other.
Yes it can be fearful to the un-initiated.
Then they stop, have a shake then carry on as if nothing happened.
But if one does get hurt amongst all that play off, the reaction could be " why did you do that"? or " you are going to pay for that":, ahahahah they are so funny.
But by the time they reach about 3 years old, the fighting becomes very serious, even to death.
Son will attack father, trying to gain top status, daughter will fly into mother.
The secret is to know the right time to separate them before you feel guilty about not picking up on the signals.
Then it is too late, and the burden of that death will haunt you for the rest of your life.
The simple fact remains, Dingoes are NOT dogs, so until you can begin to think like a dingo , you have a long way to go to understanding dingoes.
Thank you Simon for your comments. it is only through people like yourself sharing their knowledge and experience we will ever get to really know the Dingo
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