Dingo/Domestic Dog Hybrid

Unfortunate for the Wild Dingo population. The behaviors of the mixed dogs seem sad. Do feral dogs there fight over the last scrap of food?

I only have experience with goofy, sweet pet dogs. I know they can get argumentative over food once in a while, but if there is a human to "referee" they settle down usually. But there are also people here in the US who teach their dogs to fight each other for human sport. That's awful human behavior.

Pure dingoes in the wild are becoming rarer and rarer as they increasingly cross-breed with feral dogs - so in a sense, they could be seen as endangered. We have these dingoes on display to illustrate what dingoes are beginning to look like in the wild now. We do also display pure bred dingoes to show the difference. There is a huge difference in behaviour as well. The pure dingoes are relaxed and easy to manage. The crosses have to be chained apart when feeding as they will have a big scrap over the smallest piece of food. I've heard that pure dingoes in the wild only hunt for food, but the crosses kill for sport - but I haven't confirmed that yet though.

Why do they have dingo/feral dog crosses at a zoo? Are dingos endangered?

Hi David, what's the rational behind keeping these crosses in a zoo? We used to see some wild coy-dogs in the US, but I've never seen one on display.

It's one of the dingo/feral dog crosses at Rockhampton Zoo. I know because I work there.