Tuesday 7 February 2017

The Truth about Dingoes: 3



 
Ecology and diet

Dingoes are opportunistic carnivores and have a broad diet. Their consumption of carrion significantly aids the natural ecology.

In remote areas, Dingoes form stable packs of anything from 3-12 individuals that collectively occupy a territory. The territory size of a pack varies with habitat and the availability of prey. Most dingoes remain close to their area of birth, but young males can disperse tens and even hundreds of kilometres.

The diet of dingoes varies according to prey abundance and availability; prey ranges in size from mice to buffalo. Kangaroos are also an important prey item. Dingoes prey heavily on rabbits where they are present and also suppress feral pigs, goats and foxes. 

There is evidence that dingoes suppress the abundance and/ or activity of feral cats, which benefits native animals threatened by cat predation.

They mostly hunt alone or sometimes in pairs and form hunting packs when hunting on larger prey.

Their natural diet is kangaroo, wallaby, rabbit, reptiles, insects, possum, wombat, birds, eggs, fox, goat, pig and buffalo. Aquatic life if available.

Dingoes are generalist predators as, although they prey primarily upon mammals, they will readily switch their diet according to prey availability.

When they are abundant, rabbits, macropods and vombatids are important prey items, along with fruits and grasses.

But Dingoes also prey heavily on rodents, water birds  and will kill and catch foxes, cats, lizards, birds, goats and pigs.




Information reproduced with permission from http://jennyleeparker3.wixsite.com/aussie-canis-dingo


2 comments:

  1. Seems we know little about balancing our ecology. Importing rabbits and foxes to satisfy hunting needs. Ooops! Then, vilifying and destroying through ignorance, a natural predator when the 'guests' became pests. There are hours of thought provoking reading in your posts! :) george

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  2. Thank you George. It is a sad fact that Australia has the highest number of extinct and endangered mammals in the world. Many could have been saved if we hadn't declared war on the dingo and imported so many European animals.

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