[15] In 1699, Captain William Dampier visited the coast of what is now Western Australia and recorded that "my men saw two or three beasts like hungry wolves, lean like so many skeletons, being nothing but skin and bones".

[16] In 1788, the First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay under the command of Australia's first colonial governor, Arthur Phillip, who took ownership of a dingo[8] and in his journal made a brief description with an illustration of the "Dog of New South Wales".

[3] In 1999, a study of the maternal lineage through the use of mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) as a genetic marker indicates that the dingo and New Guinea singing dog developed at a time when human populations were more isolated from each other.

The specimen from the Tianluoshan archaeological site, Zhejiang province dates to 7,000 YBP (years before present) and is basal to the entire haplogroup A1b lineage.

[2] Dingo bone fragments were found in a rock shelter located at Mount Burr, South Australia, in a layer that was originally dated 7,000–8,500 YBP.

The next-most reliable timing is based on desiccated flesh dated 2,200 YBP from Thylacine Hole, 110 km west of Eucla on the Nullarbor Plain, southeastern Western Australia.

[1] Gene flow from the genetically divergent Tibetan wolf forms 2% of the dingo's genome,[38] which likely represents ancient admixture in eastern Eurasia.

The study proposes that two dingo migrations occurred when sea levels were lower and Australia and New Guinea formed one landmass named Sahul[34][46] that existed until 6,500–8,000 years ago.

[57] The wolf-like canids are a group of large carnivores that are genetically closely related because their chromosomes number 78; therefore they can potentially interbreed to produce fertile hybrids.

Dingoes can be killed by feral water buffalo and cattle goring and kicking them, from snake bite, and predation on their pups (and occasionally adults) by wedge-tailed eagles.

[88] Subordinate dingoes approach a more dominant dog in a slightly crouched posture, ears flat, and tail down, to ensure peace in the pack.

[92] The gestation period lasts for 61–69 days and the size of the litter can range from 1 to 10 (usually 5) pups, with the number of males born tending to be higher than that of females.

Furthermore, they were noted at the lower Darling and Murray rivers in 1862, indicating that the dingo was possibly semi-domesticated (or at least utilised in a "symbiotic" manner) by aboriginal Australians.

As a result, a disappearance of the dingoes may cause an increase of red fox and feral cat numbers, and therefore, a higher pressure on native animals.

[59] As Australia's largest extant terrestrial predators,[107] dingoes prey on mammals up to the size of the large red kangaroo, in addition to the grey kangaroo, wombat, wallaby, quoll, possum[108] and most other marsupials; they frequently pursue birds, lizards, fish, crabs, crayfish, eels, snakes, frogs, young crocodiles, larger insects, snails, carrion, human refuse,[108] and sometimes fallen fruits or seeds.

The dingo plays a prominent role in the Dreamtime stories of indigenous Australians,[114] but it is rarely depicted in their cave paintings when compared with the extinct thylacine.

This process was so fast that Francis Barrallier (surveyor on early expeditions around the colony at Port Jackson) discovered in 1802 that five dogs of European origin were there before him.

[112] Introduced animals, such as the water buffalo and the domestic cat, have been adopted into the indigenous Aboriginal culture in the forms of rituals, traditional paintings, and dreamtime stories.

The cattle industry can tolerate low to moderate, and sometimes high, numbers of wild dogs (therefore dingoes are not so easily regarded as pests in these areas).

A study in Central Australia in 2003 confirmed that dingoes only have a low impact on cattle numbers when a sufficient supply of other prey (such as kangaroos and rabbits) is available.

Calves usually suffer less lethal wounds than sheep due to their size and the protection by adult cattle, so they have a higher chance of surviving an attack.

[116] According to a report from the government of Queensland, wild dogs cost the state about $30 million annually due to livestock losses, the spread of diseases, and control measures.

A reward system (local, as well from the government) was active from 1846 to the end of the 20th century, but there is no evidence that – despite the billions of dollars spent – it was ever an efficient control method.

In an attempt to reduce depredation on livestock, that government offered a bounty for dingo skins, and this program was later repeated in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

[110] Poisonous baits can be very effective when they are of good meat quality; however, they do not last long[133] and are occasionally taken by red foxes, quolls, ants and birds.

[130] Fences are reliable in keeping wild dogs from entering certain areas, but they are expensive to build, need permanent maintenance, and only cause the problem to be relocated.

Nonetheless, it is regarded as unlikely that the control measures could completely eradicate the dingo in Central Australia, and the elimination of all wild dogs is not considered a realistic option.

Under New South Wales state policy in parks, reserves and other areas not used by agriculture, these populations are only to be controlled when they pose a threat to the survival of other native species.

[55] Dingo-like domestic dogs and dingo-hybrids can be generally distinguished by the more dog-typical kind of barking that exists among the hybrids, and differences in the breeding cycle,[148] certain skull characteristics,[149] and genetic analyses[150] can be used for differentiation.

Due to this interbreeding, there is a wider range of fur colours, skull shapes and body size in the modern-day wild dog population than in the time before the arrival of the Europeans.