Puppy love: Dingo duo melts hearts at Australian Reptile Park

Thanks to a pair of adorable dingo puppies, the current top security risk at the Australian Reptile Park is your average family sedan being turned into a getaway car.

Head mammals keeper Seleena de Gelder said visitors to the NSW park had told her, “If one of the puppies goes missing, you’ll know where to find them”.

“Thankfully, all our puppies are accounted for,” Ms de Gelder said.

Eight-week-old pups Muffin and Rusty have been a smash hit with young fans, who love watching their playtime, with some asking if they’re able to get one to take home.

“Rusty is a soft, gentle little boy, while Muffin is a bit more cheeky,” Ms de Gelder said.

“They grow a lot quicker than normal dogs so these guys are eight weeks old now and probably like double the size of a normal eight-week-old puppy.”

While you can legally have a dingo as a pet in some Australian states and territories, provided you have a permit and obey other animal ownership laws, Ms de Gelder warned that “that doesn’t mean everybody should”.

“I would definitely recommend most people to get domestic dogs over dingoes, mainly just for the dingo’s sake,” she said.

ABOUT DINGOES*
The dingo is Australia’s very own wild dog. It is an introduced species*; the Australian Museum estimates it was about 4000 years ago that this ancient breed of domestic dog first set its paws on Australian soil.

Domestic canines descend from the grey wolf, but the dingo’s ancestral* dog is believed to have its origins in South East Asia.

Dingoes are territorial and, like the grey wolf, they howl rather than bark, particularly at night. Howling could be to attract pack members or repel* intruders.

The dingo’s standard coat is golden to ginger with white feet with quite a bushy tail.

They used to be more common throughout mainland Australia but dingoes never reached Tasmania.

Today, they’re mostly absent from much of New South Wales, Victoria, the southeastern third of South Australia and the arid eastern half of Western Australia.

Aside from humans, the dingo is Australia’s largest carnivorous* mammal*. Smaller mammals are the main menu items, especially rabbits, kangaroos, wallabies and wombats. Dingoes are unpopular with farmers because they’ve been known to hunt domestic animals and livestock* when wild meat sources are scarce.

A final interesting fact is that the dingo may have contributed to the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger population of mainland Australia. In the competition for food, the dingo emerged as the top dog.

*Additional information sourced from the Australian Museum site

POLL

GLOSSARY

• introduced species: non-native plants and animals introduced and established somewhere outside their natural range, either intentionally or accidentally
• repel: discourage, drive back, force away something unwanted
• carnivorous: meat eating
• mammal: any animal of which the female feeds her young on milk from her own body
• livestock: farm animals like cows, sheep and chickens

EXTRA READING

Scientists declare dingo ‘just another dog’

Researchers find dingoes are not dogs

Are brumbies hiding on Fraser Island?

QUICK QUIZ

1. What are the dingo pups called?
2. Which pup is the cheeky one?
3. Approximately how long has the dingo been in Australia?
4. What sound do dingoes commonly make and why?
5. How old are the young dingoes?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Dingo haiku poem
Write a haiku poem using the new information you’ve learned about dingoes.

A haiku poem is a short Japanese poem, normally about nature, seasons or emotions, structured like this:

Line 1 (5 syllables): ______________________

Line 2 (7 syllables): ______________________

Line 3 (5 syllables): ______________________

Some examples of Haiku poems:

Soft paws tread lightly,

A silent hunter, she stalks,

Sunbeam nap is bliss. Bird.

Singing in the dawn,

Wings lift towards the blue sky,

Nature’s sweet music. dog.

Loyal, furry friend,

Tail wags with happy glee,

Joy in every leap.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
While you can legally own a dingo as a pet in New South Wales, it doesn’t mean you should!

Why do you think it is not in a dingo’s best interest to be held as a pet? Discuss with a partner and state your reasons below.

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Animal alliterations
With a partner, choose one of the pictures from the article.

Make a list of nouns you could use to name the animal in the picture. For example, instead of a dingo, you could also say dog, or canine.

Pick your favourite noun and identify its initial sound — what sound it starts with, not necessarily what letter.

Now, using the initial sound, make a list of adjectives to describe the animal. Try to be specific. Don’t just look at the animal as a whole, look at their different features as well.

Build on these same sound words, and add any verbs and adverbs you could use to describe the animal and their movements.

Try to put it all together and use as many same sound words in a sentence, to create an alliteration about the animal in the picture. For example: the terrifying tiger, tiptoed through tangled trees chasing his prey.