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Dingo [OP]
* Provides a comprehensive overview of Australia’s most controversial and iconic predator
* Discusses the role of the dingo in contemporary Australian culture and shows the conflict between reality and perception
Many present-day Australians see the dingo as a threat and a pest. An alternative viewpoint, which is more in tune with Indigenous culture, allows others to see the dingo as a means to improve human civilization. The dingo has thus become trapped between the status of pest animal and totemic creature. This book helps readers to recognize this dichotomy, as a deeper understanding of dingo behavior is now possible through new technologies which have made it easier to monitor their daily lives.
Recent research on genetic structure has indicated that dingo purity may be a human construct and the genetic relatedness of wild dingo packs has been analyzed for the first time. GPS telemetry and passive camera traps are new technologies that provide unique ways to monitor movements of dingoes, and analyses of their diet indicate that dietary shifts occur during the different biological seasons of dingoes, showing that they have a functional role in Australian landscapes.
Dingo brings together more than 50 years of observations to provide a comprehensive portrayal of the life of a dingo. Throughout this book dingoes are compared with other hypercarnivores, such as wolves and African wild dogs, highlighting the similarities between dingoes and other large canid species around the world.
* Discusses the role of the dingo in contemporary Australian culture and shows the conflict between reality and perception
Many present-day Australians see the dingo as a threat and a pest. An alternative viewpoint, which is more in tune with Indigenous culture, allows others to see the dingo as a means to improve human civilization. The dingo has thus become trapped between the status of pest animal and totemic creature. This book helps readers to recognize this dichotomy, as a deeper understanding of dingo behavior is now possible through new technologies which have made it easier to monitor their daily lives.
Recent research on genetic structure has indicated that dingo purity may be a human construct and the genetic relatedness of wild dingo packs has been analyzed for the first time. GPS telemetry and passive camera traps are new technologies that provide unique ways to monitor movements of dingoes, and analyses of their diet indicate that dietary shifts occur during the different biological seasons of dingoes, showing that they have a functional role in Australian landscapes.
Dingo brings together more than 50 years of observations to provide a comprehensive portrayal of the life of a dingo. Throughout this book dingoes are compared with other hypercarnivores, such as wolves and African wild dogs, highlighting the similarities between dingoes and other large canid species around the world.
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 19, 2011
This is a very informative book about the Australian dingo and the author passionately argues against the dingo control and the "purity"-mania as well as the flaws in the current practices to identify "pure" dingoes as well as the flaws of the concept of purity itself.
However I must say that the author has one big flaw:
He denies the dingo to be a dog, the genetic study he cites did not state that the dingo is some form of primitive canid prior to the domestic dog but rather that the dingo is a dog. In addition he counts the annual breeding cycle of dingoes as a trait placing them to the primitive canids but ignores the on average all year round virility of dingo-males which is not a feature known for wolves but among the genus canis is one of the defining characteristics of the domestic dog. In addition it has been proven that wolf-packs do not function in the way the author describes and that the known dominance hierarchies for wolf-packs are rather typical for captive packs than those in the wild.
Furthermore a single heat cycle is not unknown among domestic dogs and was proven to exist among Basenjis, Indian Pariah dogs, New Guinea Singing dogs (which can actually have up to three per year), West Siberian Laikas and as far as I know also East Siberian Laikas, Tibetan Mastiffs and Akitas. In addition studies in Germany (of which the author is probably not aware) showed that dingo-females can have two heat cycles per year.
I agree with a critical review of the book I once read and say that the authors assessment of the dingo as a rather wolf than dog is not based on evidence but on his desire to conserve the dogs and in the environmental community a wolf counts more than a dog.
So all in all this book is to be recommended, but when it comes to the taxonomic status of the dingo it is to be read with great care since the author seems to lack a clear definition of what is a domestic dog and what a wolf and his assesment of the dingo's state seems to be rather based on conservation wishes (where a status as a protected animal would be easier to gain if the dingo would be classified as a wolf instead of a dog).
However I must say that the author has one big flaw:
He denies the dingo to be a dog, the genetic study he cites did not state that the dingo is some form of primitive canid prior to the domestic dog but rather that the dingo is a dog. In addition he counts the annual breeding cycle of dingoes as a trait placing them to the primitive canids but ignores the on average all year round virility of dingo-males which is not a feature known for wolves but among the genus canis is one of the defining characteristics of the domestic dog. In addition it has been proven that wolf-packs do not function in the way the author describes and that the known dominance hierarchies for wolf-packs are rather typical for captive packs than those in the wild.
Furthermore a single heat cycle is not unknown among domestic dogs and was proven to exist among Basenjis, Indian Pariah dogs, New Guinea Singing dogs (which can actually have up to three per year), West Siberian Laikas and as far as I know also East Siberian Laikas, Tibetan Mastiffs and Akitas. In addition studies in Germany (of which the author is probably not aware) showed that dingo-females can have two heat cycles per year.
I agree with a critical review of the book I once read and say that the authors assessment of the dingo as a rather wolf than dog is not based on evidence but on his desire to conserve the dogs and in the environmental community a wolf counts more than a dog.
So all in all this book is to be recommended, but when it comes to the taxonomic status of the dingo it is to be read with great care since the author seems to lack a clear definition of what is a domestic dog and what a wolf and his assesment of the dingo's state seems to be rather based on conservation wishes (where a status as a protected animal would be easier to gain if the dingo would be classified as a wolf instead of a dog).
October 31, 2020
Extremely short (half the book is the reference section), and while I found some information interesting, the book really just wanders through various topics. The flow was really awkward, and I found the writing to be very messy and unenjoyable to read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews