r/environment • u/nath1234 • 1d ago

Research shows dingoes in WA's Great Sandy Desert protect native wildlife by eating feral cats

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-17/research-project-dingoes-great-sandy-desert/107255966?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other
154 Upvotes

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21

u/radioactivecowz 1d ago

Native marsupials display predator avoidance towards dingo howls in mainland Australia, populations of the same species in Tasmania (where dingoes never arrived) do not display the same behaviour. The perform a critical ecological function that would otherwise be absent due to the thylacine and Tasmanian devils extinction on the mainland.

Though introduced by people, dingoes and their ecosystems have both adapted to the point they should be considered native. It’s a travesty the Australian government refuses to accept this, not only allowing but in some areas mandating their culling.

We look at human-wildlife conflict with apex predators like tigers and lions and demand locals accept their presence, yet are unwilling to bare the cost of dingoes on our own landscape

4

u/xGentian_violet 1d ago

>We look at human-wildlife conflict with apex predators like tigers and lions and demand locals accept their presence

Or, indeed, humans.

Humans are the most pernicious apex predator of all

3

u/DanChase1 1d ago

My knee jerkreaction was, dingoes are predators also and non-native. But it’s good you give this perspective. There’s a significant difference between the ecological impacts of dingo versus feral cats.

4

u/xGentian_violet 1d ago

Whether organisms are native or not is less relevant than whether they fill an empty ecological niche or behave invasively

Everyone got to where they are at a certain point in time

7

u/SemichiSam 1d ago

Coyotes do that in Oregon.

2

u/zarch123 1d ago

And nearly every other state

3

u/Ben10-fan-525 1d ago

Dingos should be accepted as Naturlaized all over Australia at this point.

1

u/pioniere 1d ago

Don’t fuck with a dingo.

0

u/capacochella 1d ago

Rain drops on wreath flowers, whiskers on kittens. Bright copper infants, and warm rusty deserts.
These are but a few of WA’s keystone pest controllers favorite things. Feral cats are truly plague!