DINGO (Canis dingo) , the native Australian dog, a stoutly built, short-legged animal, inter mediate in size between a jackal and a wolf. It is very similar in appearance to the pariah dogs of India and Egypt, from which it is probably derived. The dingo occurs both wild and tame, and is the only large placental mammal which inhabited Australia previous to European colonization. There is strong evidence, how ever, that the dingo is not indigenous to the continent, but was brought from Asia by the aborigines. In colour it is sandy-brown often marked on the back with black.
Owing to the introduction of the rabbit, which affords it a staple food-supply, the dingo has recently increased in numbers to such an extent as to become a serious menace to the sheep farmers in many parts of Australia. It hunts singly or in pairs, more rarely in small packs of five or six.
Fossil remains of the dingo are found in the Australian Pleisto cene mixed with bones of giant marsupials.