page_title: Dingo–dog hybrid
section_title: Degree of interbreeding
hierarchical_section_title: Dingo–dog hybrid / Degree of interbreeding
context_page_description: A dingo–dog hybrid is a hybrid cross between a dingo and a domestic dog. The current population of free ranging domestic dogs in Australia is now probably higher than in the past. However, the proportion of the so-called "pure" dingoes has been on the decrease over the last few decades due to hybridisation and is regarded as further decreasing.
  Because of this ongoing interbreeding of dingoes and domestic dogs and the resulting hybrids, there is a much wider range of colours and body shapes today among the Australian wild dog population than in the time before the human introduction of domestic dogs. The full extent of the effects of this process is currently unknown and the possibility of potential problems, as well as the wish to preserve the "pure" dingo, often leads to a strong rejection of the interbreeding.
context_section_description: Dingo-samples that have been collected in the 1960s and 1970s indicated that half of the wild dogs of southern Australia were dingo-hybrids; analyses from the early 1980s supported the trend of increasing interbreeding. Based on skull features researchers found out that the proportion of "pure" dingoes in the highlands of the Southeast decreased from 49% in the 1960s to 17% in the 1980s. During examinations in the year 1985 in Southeast-Australia only 55% of the 407 studied "dingoes" weren't hybrids. 36% of the dogs were dingo-hybrids and the rest wild dogs of other origin. In the middle of the 1980s the proportion of "pure" dingoes to dingo-hybrids in Central Australia was estimated (based on skull features) to be 97.5% and 2.4% respectively. In contrast, in Southeast-Australia the estimates were 55.3% and 33.92% respectively. It was reasoned from these findings that mixed populations can be expected in areas were human settlements exist and wild dogs remain, furthermore that hybrids can be expected to be rarer in remote areas. Broken colour-patterns, red with white, black or bluish spots, completely black, brown or bluish, black-and-white and piebald striped patterns were also more prevalent in the second area (34.8%) than in the first (5.7%). In Southeast-Australia there were no differences between areas near farmlands and forest concerning the frequency of the colorations. Many of these colorations also occurred in breeding experiments of reddish dingoes with variously colored other domestic dogs. All in all about 50% of the populations in Eastern and Southern Australia consisted of hybrids in the 1980s. Depending on the area in Southeast-Australia it was estimated that the proportion of "pure" dingoes was at least 22% and at its most 65%. 100 dog skulls from the Queensland Museum were measured and analysed, to determine the frequency of dingoes in the dog-populations of Queensland. The highest frequency of dingoes (95%) was found among skulls from central Queensland and the highest frequency of other domestic dogs and dingo-hybrids (50%) was found in the Southeast of the state. Fraser Island had only a low frequency of hybrids (17%) that were mostly limited to the southern half of the island. It was estimated back then that the proportion of dingo-hybrids in the continent-wide population was about 78%. At the turn of the millennium only 74% of 180 skulls from seven main areas of Australia could be classified as dingo-skulls during measurements and none of the populations consisted exclusively of dingoes. According to Laurie Corbett some examined wild dog populations in New South Wales consisted entirely of hybrids.
  Hybrids of dingoes and other domestic dogs are considered to exist in all populations worldwide today. Their proportion is regarded as increasing and completely "pure" populations may no longer exist. However, the exact extent of this interbreeding is unknown. This process might have reached such a high extent that there are big populations that consist entirely of hybrids. Traditional methods for the identification for dingoes, dingo-hybrids and other domestic dogs (based on skull features, breeding patterns and fur colour) also indicate that interbreeding is widespread and occurs in all populations of Australia, especially in the East and the South of the continent. Based on skull features there are only a few "pure" dingoes left in New South Wales and the "pure" form might be locally extinct in the highlands of the Southeast. Even in areas that were once regarded as safe for "pure" dingoes, like the Kakadu national park or parts of the Northern Territory, dingo-hybrids now appear on the border zones of bush and settlements. In addition, hybrids have been spotted in northern Australia and in remote regions.
  According to some sources, the dog population of Southeast Australia and along the East Coast now consists to 90% of dingo-hybrids, other sources state that the dog population along the East Coast consists to 80% of hybrids and only 15% to 20% of the dingoes in Southeast-Australia and South-Queenslan
caption: Possible distribution of dingo-hybrids in Australia
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