the-tabulariumreblogged your photoset:hey dogfang, I’ve got some more unusual dingoes...I’d have to grab the book and check, but I think Dr Brad Purcell was surprised to find that brindle dingoes are less...
ahha!! I know the one :D I’ve got it here, but I’m still yet to get through it all... i may have gone on a book binge and overwhelmed myself a bit. I’m slowly getting there but haha. His book was my favourite of the ones I’ve bought though, by far.
You’re right, there’s been taxonomic evidence of many coat differences dingoes before hybridisation was statistically viable enough to have any significant influence on the animals collected for the research into creating the official taxonomy. I’ll put a link here, there’s some photos of pelts and taxidermies they’ve collected, too. If you click on the “Diagnosis” subtitle, it’s in there.
The text says:
“ Dingoes are dog-like and possess a fairly broad head, tapered muzzle, erect ears and a bushy tail (Kerr, 1792; Fig. 6). Relative to similar-sized domestic dogs, dingoes have longer and more slender muzzles. The 19th century dingoes we examined, like wolves but unlike many dogs, do not possess dewclaws on the hind legs (Ciucci et al., 2003). Dingoes can have five basic pelage colours: yellow, brown, ginger/red, black and white (Cairns, Wilton & Ballard, 2011). These colours occur in various combinations and 19th century skin specimens included animals that are entirely white (Fig. 6), entirely yellow/brown (Fig. 6), entirely black, yellow with white patches (Fig. 6), particularly at the tip of the tail and ankles (Fig. 6), and yellow with black fur along the dorsal parts of the body (sable, Fig. 6). The original specimen of C. dingo (Fig. 1) illustrated in Mazell & Phillip (1789) was uniformly brown on its dorsal surface, with the face, underparts and feet being white (Kerr, 1792). Other pre-1800 paintings included colours such as dark brown, reddish brown, and sandy with sabling (Supporting Information Figure S1).
Historical records describing dingo colours are scant, and mostly not detailed (Elledge et al., 2006). The earliest report of a dingo from 1697 is of a ‘yellow-dog’ near Jurien, Western Australia (Abbott, 2008). Collins (1798) reported dingoes in the Sydney region as ‘two colours, the one red with some white about it, and the other quite black’. Explorer Mitchell (1839) reported a ‘small black native dog’ in northern central New South Wales in 1832. Historical descriptions of dingoes from Western Australia during the period 1826–1890, compiled by Abbott (2008), include red, yellow, black, black and white, white, tan and tawny animals.
Diagnosing the dingoDiagnosing what constitutes a dingo remains difficult due to the overlap in morphological characters with domestic dogs, localized adaptations in dingoes and morphological variation through time (Radford et al., 2012). Identification of diagnostic morphological characters is also difficult, especially when there is more variation within the domestic dogs in shape and size than in the whole Canidae (Drake & Klingenberg, 2010). Our morphological analyses showed that there is considerable overlap between domestic dogs and dingoes for most morphological characters. This was particularly the case for some Australian breeds, such as the Australian cattle dog, which are thought to have dingo ancestry (Arnstein, Cohen & Meyer, 1964). A similar degree of overlap in shape exists between North American wolves and closely related husky dogs (Clutton-Brock, Kitchener & Lynch, 1994).Consistent with previous studies, a broad cranium, widening of the palate and shortening of the rostrum were characteristics separating domestic dogs from dingoes (Newsome et al., 1980; Newsome & Corbett, 1982). Previous studies have regarded widening of the palate and shortening of the rostrum as indicators of domestication in dogs (Clutton-Brock, 2012). The 19th century skin specimens we examined possessed erect ears and a bushy tail.
These characteristics were considered to be typical traits of dingoes in the original description given by Kerr (1792) and also in subsequent studies (Corbett, 1995; Elledge et al., 2008). Pre-20th century dingoes lacked dewclaws on the hind legs (Clutton-Brock, Corbet & Hills, 1976; Ciucci et al., 2003).The range of coat colours that can occur in dingoes is a controversial subject, with some authors only accepting black, and black and tan dingoes (Macintosh, 1975; Newsome & Corbett, 1985; Jones, 2009), while others only accepting yellow or light brown (ginger) and rejecting animals with dark dorsal fur (sable) (Elledge et al., 2008). The small sample of 19th century dingo skins and 18th century illustrations of dingoes we examined shows that there was considerable variability in the colour of dingoes, and that their coloration was not restricted to just yellow and white animals, but also included various combinations of yellow, white, brown and black. The range and combinations of coat colours in these skins and illustrations were consistent with historical accounts from the 19th century and observations of dingoes made by Newsome & Corbett (1985). Markings such as white spots restricted to feet, chest spot, neck flash, underbelly and tail tip, as used by the Australian National Kennel Council in the dingo breed standard (http://www.ankc.org.au/Breed_Details.aspx?bid=103), are not recorded in most early accounts, and are not present in all pre-1900 CE skins or illustrations.The presence of individuals with sable pelage (dark dorsal coloration and lighter lateral coloration: Fig. 6b,d) in the sample of 19th century skins suggests that this coloration is not necessarily indicative of hybridization as has been suggested by previous authors (Corbett, 1995; Elledge et al., 2008). The sample of skins and illustrations we examined did not include animals with brindle coloration. Brindle, dingo-like dogs appear in the historical record from the 1890s, and could plausibly be the result of hybridization, particularly as it is a colour pattern found in greyhounds, which were brought into Australia in 1788 and are not found in most older dog breeds (Cairns et al., 2011). However, the small sample size of specimens we examined does not allow inferences to be made as to whether brindle individuals are dingo-dog hybrids or dingoes.”
Oh man... that’s a bit of a wall of text, sorry!
I’m absolutely not an expert on genetic purity though, it’s such a complex issue, when it can be bred in/out of DNA tests, and pups of the same litter will come up with such drastically different percentile of dingo vs dog alleles.. I’ve had a few discussions with the lecturer for Wild Dog Ecology class who is involved with the same research project as Guy Ballard (the scientist that is sharing these photos/ findings that I’ve been following), and he seemed to have the attitude of “Arrrghhh So Wibbley Wobbley Timey Wimey!”.. I’ve had similar responses from other researchers I’ve spoken with, but it’s one of those issues which is a bit controversial and I haven’t really had the chance to find someone who specialises in genetic research of dingoes, specifically.
Dr Brad’s is one of my absolute favourite scientists, but I’m a bit wary of generalisations when it comes to something as much of a grey area (but still very interesting one) as coat colour, as opposed to diet, social behaviour, bone structure, etc. I know that common sense plays a part in seeing different parts in the whole animal (individually and as a species), but there are people who literally have a heap of dingo pups brought to them, and they pick out the ginger ones with white paws and tips, call them “dingoes” and consider them wildlife, while picking out the others who are sabel, brindle, black/tan, or solid ginger, and call them “dogs” and give them away as pets. These are animals from the same litter, too. It’s just insane.. There are also hunters who will kill a sabel dingo and claim it wasn’t a dingo at all, it must have been a kelpie or shepherd cross. There are dingo sanctuaries who will refuse a brindle animal because it must be a dog, must be part staffy. There are government sites which describe anything other than ginger with white tips, white, or black and tan, as wild dog hybrids that need to be killed. I’m ranting a bit by this point, but not at you (cus you’re awesome and i love your reply), just because there’s so much social and scientific consequences from fascination or damnation of dingoes based on their coat colour.
