A project undertaken at the University of New England, and supervised by Melanie Fillios
The status of the dingo (Canis dingo) as either a native species or invasive pest remains a high-profile debate. This is in part because the original relationship between dingoes and indigenous peoples remains enigmatic, with their introduction to Australia as a wild or domestic (and subsequently feral) species poorly understood. The impact of this debate features in whether they should be exterminated as an invasive pest or conserved as a native species and continues to thrive because of our poor understanding of the dingo’s origins, specifically over their initial status as a domesticate. Against this background there has been new research supporting regional variation in modern dingo populations, but with little understanding of the antiquity or causes of these differences.
This research is the first to investigate ancient dingoes using multiple analyses to address the geographic and temporal origins of dingoes against the impacts of European colonisation. We collected, sampled and analysed 30 dingos from natural contexts spanning the last 2300 years, applying geometric morphometrics and molecular analyses (stable isotopes and ancient DNA), generating the most comprehensive picture to date of ancient dingoes. Our results show relative genetic stability over the past few thousand years, suggesting relative genetic isolation since their arrival in Australia. Morphological analyses of dingo crania support this finding
Interestingly, our research also found that the diet of dingoes from the Nullarbor Plain likely shifted after European arrival, as suggested by changes in stable isotope analyses. We speculate this could have been caused by changes in species abundance associated with introduced European domesticates and landscape alteration, however this study is on-going and in our sample of Nullarbor dingoes does not appear to have had a discernible physical effect.
European colonisation dramatically altered the Australian landscape, but the impact of these changes on species such as dingoes remains contentious. While there are many more questions that arise from our research, importantly our findings support the genetic distinctiveness of dingoes from domestic dogs from their earliest introduction to Australia. This finding has significant implications for the management of modern dingo populations, which should prioritise the maintenance of large populations and question the use of lethal control measures.