Dingo | |
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A male dingo | |
Conservation status | |
Scientific classification | |
Unrecognized taxon (fix): | Pan-Carnivora |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Canidae |
Genus: | Canis |
Species: | |
Subspecies: | C. l. dingo |
Trinomial name | |
Canis lupus dingo Meyer, 1793 | |
Distribution of dingoes and hybrids | |
Synonyms | |
Canis dingo Meyer, 1793 |
The dingo is a dog found in Australia and South-East Asia. They are not found in Tasmania, where the sea levels cut the island off from mainland Australia about 10,000 years ago.
The earliest known dingo remains was found in Western Australia. It dates to 3,450 years ago. However, the genes show that the dingo reached Australia 8,300 years ago. The humans which brought them are unknown. Dingo morphology has not changed over the past 3,500 years: this suggests that artificial selection has not been done over this period.