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DINGO
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DINGO , a name applied apparently by Europeans to the warrigal, or native Australian See also:dog; the Canis dingo of J. F. See also:Blumenbach. The dingo is a stoutly-built, rather See also:short-legged, sandy-coloured dog, intermediate in See also:size between a See also:jackal and a See also:wolf, and measuring about 51 in. in See also:total length, of which the tail takes up about eleven. In See also:general See also:appearance it is very like some of the See also:pariah See also:dogs of See also:India and See also:Egypt; and, except on distributional grounds, there is no See also:reason for regarding it as specifically distinct from such breeds. Dingos, which are found both See also:wild and tame, interbreed freely with See also:European dogs introduced into the See also:country, and it may be that the large amount of See also:black on the back of many specimens may be the result of See also:crossing of this nature. The See also:main point of See also:interest connected with the dingo relates to its origin; that is to say, whether it is a member of the indigenous Australian See also:fauna (among which it is the only large placental mammal), or whether it has been introduced into the country by See also:man. There seems to be no doubt that fossilized remains of the dingo occur intermingled with those of the See also:extinct Australian mammals, such as See also:giant kangaroos, giant wombats and the still more gigantic Diprotodon. And since remains of man have apparently not yet been detected in these deposits, it has been thought by some naturalists that the dingo must be an indigenous See also:species. This was the See also:opinion of See also:Sir See also:Frederick McCoy, by whom the deposits in question were regarded as probably of See also:Pliocene See also:age. A similar view is adopted by D. See also:Ogilvy in a See also:Catalogue of Australian Mammals, published at See also:Sydney in 1892; the writer going how-ever one step further and expressing the belief that the dingo is the ancestor of all domesticated dogs. The latter contention cannot for a moment be sustained; and there are also strong arguments against the indigenous origin of the dingo. That the See also:animal now occurs in a wild See also:state is no See also:argument whatever as to its being indigenous, seeing that a domesticated breed introduced by man into a new country abounding in See also:game would almost certainly revert to the wild state. The apparent See also:absence of human remains in the beds yielding dingo See also:teeth and bones (which are almost certainly not older than the See also:Pleistocene) is of only negative value, and liable to be upset by new discoveries. Then, again (as has been pointed out by R. I. See also:Pocock in the first See also:part ofthe See also:Kennel See also:Encyclopaedia, *-907), the absence of any really wild species of the typical See also:group of the genus Canis between See also:Burma and See also:Siam on the one See also:hand and See also:Australia on the other is a very strong argument against the dingo being indigenous, seeing that, whether brought by man or having travelled thither of its own See also:accord, the dingo must have reached its See also:present See also:habitat by way of the Austro-See also:Malay See also:archipelago. If it had followed that route in the course of nature, it is inconceivable that it would not still be found on some portions of the route. On the supposition that the dingo was introduced by man, we have now fairly decisive See also:evidence that the native Australian, in See also:place of being (as formerly supposed) a member of the See also:negro stock, is a See also:low type of Caucasian allied to the See also:Veddahs of See also:Ceylon and the Toalas of See also:Celebes. Consequently the Australian natives must be presumed to have reached the See also:island-See also:continent by way of Malaya; and if this be admitted, nothing is more likely than that they should have been accompanied by pariah dogs of the See also:Indian type. See also:Confirmation of this is afforded by the occurrence in the mountains of See also:Java of a pariah-like dog which has reverted to an almost completely wild See also:condition; and likewise by the fact that the old voyagers met with dogs more or less similar to the dingo in New See also:Guinea, New See also:Zealand and the See also:Solomon and certain other of the smaller Pacific islands. On the whole, then, the most probable explanation of the See also:case is that the dingo is an introduced species closely allied to the Indian pariah dog. Whether the latter represents a truly wild type now extinct, cannot be determined. If so, all pariahs should be classed with the Australian warrigal under the name of Canis dingo. If, on the other hand, pariahs, and consequently the dingo, cannot be separated specifically from the domesticated dogs of western See also:Europe, then the dingo should be designated Canis familiaris dingo. (R. 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