I am confused, are Dingoes Native to Australia or an introduced species? I know Dingoes were orignally introduced by aboriginals, but surely 4000 years is along enough time for the Dingo to reach native status. On the Australian Giverment Invasive species page they are listed, but the governments main issue is that Dingoes attack livestock, how damaging to the environment are they, or are they beneficial? Please post your opinion below. Thanks in advance!
Just say, naturalised. Avoids the dilemma... They are native from both a European and Aboriginal perspective, but still very close to Thai yellow dogs. Talking about the Australian-ness of dingos obscures their importance as relicts of very old Asian dogs. Then their nativeness encompasses how they were isolated from gene flow till Cook turned up.
The answer to your first question is yes. And this explains why there are divergent views on how to manage dingoes. There is good evidence that small marsupials do well in areas which overlap with dingoes. In their absence fox and feral cat populations are higher and consequently have a bigger impact on the marsupials. So I would suggest they can be beneficial to the environment. However if you are a sheep or cattle farmer, then your view may differ. Oh and the aboriginal people did not introduce dingoes to Australia, that was the Asian seafarers who traded with the locals. Aboriginal people took to them just like westerners take to their pet pooch. Same goes with New Guinea Singing dogs.
