The species, respected in the culture of Australia’s indigenous people but condemned by ranchers, has become the island-continent’s No.1 predator since the Tasmanian tiger disappeared a century ago.

however, the position of the dingo on the scale of evolution has been a source of division for a long timetold AFP the co-author of the study, Bill Ballard, of the universities of La Trobe and Melbourne.

Some believe that slender canids with a reddish-brown coat, introduced to Australia between 5,000 and 8,500 years ago, are just another alternative form of pet dog.

The new study, a collaboration of 26 authors from 10 countries, compared the genome of a female dingo in the desert named Sandy, who was rescued in 2014 with her siblings, to five species of tame dogs and of the Greenland wolf. .

What did they find? The genome of the dingo is structurally different from the boxer, German shepherd, basenji (or Congo terrier), great dane, or even Labrador.

But Sandy’s genome still has more in common with these dogs than the Greenland wolf. Of the breeds sampled, the dingo was closest to the German Shepherd.

Sandy the desert dingo is in an intermediate position between the wolf and the pet dogssaid Bill Ballard, who to get to the bottom of it will also join his team to sequence the genome of the alpine dingo, a species from the Australian Alps, in the east of the country.

A romantic image

The team of researchers hopes that their research into the evolution of the dingo will shed light on the history of the ancient people who brought them from Southeast Asia.

At some point they had to cross an arm of water with some nomadic peopleunderlined Bill Ballard.

Whether they were Aboriginal Australians, or people who interacted with Aboriginal people, we don’t know.continued the researcher.

Once the alpine dingo’s genome has been sequenced, the research team hopes to learn more about the timeline of events and begin answering other questions, including whether it was a single migration, or in multiple stages. .

hated by farmers

Like the wolf in North America, the dingo is a source of deep division. On the one hand, its image is romantic by the urban population and it plays a prominent role in indigenous culture, but on the other hand, the animal is hated by farmers who are afraid of its alleged attacks on animals.

According to Bill Ballard, who also studied the metabolism of dingoes, these canids, however, evolved to hunt small marsupials, and foods high in fat are not easily digested. It is more likely that sheep are hunted by wild or hybrid dogs.

He hopes to test this theory in future behavioral studies, and thus justify the dingo.