TRANSCRIPT
Lyn Watson has been caring for dingoes for forty years, inspired by a childhood obsession with the Australian animal.
"They are cat-like in many ways. They are independent, they don't need me, but they have a bond with me and that bond is so special."
But it's a bond quite different to that formed with a dog.
The Australian Dingo Foundation director says they're two quite distinct beasts, despite the many misconceptions that have grown.
"Behaviourally different, physically different. Many, ways they are different. The way they breed, look after their young, teach their young to hunt."
New genetic research has reinforced her view the dingo is very much in a category of its own.
DNA fossils more than 2700 years old found in Australia show they're more closely matched to their ancient forebears.
Dr Sally Wasef, from the Queensland University of Technology says this sharply differentiates the dingo from any modern dog types that arrived with European colonisation.
"Definitely no inter-breeding with domestic dogs over the years. The modern dingo has kept its ancestry and dingo DNA is clear from inter-breeding with domestic dogs. Dingoes and current domesticated breeds of dogs don't share anything in common."
The study also provides more evidence of how dingoes have evolved over the centuries to adopt characteristics that suit the environmental conditions in which they live.
And despite recent attacks, Lyn Watson says dingoes are more shy than predatory.
With a uniqueness to the country that should be celebrated
“Our dingo is far supreme but it's the southern hemisphere wolf and we need to accept that and we need to embrace that and we need to protect that."
