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The dingo must have already been at least somewhat domesticated when it was brought to Australia (4-12,000 years ago, later than the first humans) because nobod
by hugh3 16y ago
The dingo must have already been at least somewhat domesticated when it was brought to Australia (4-12,000 years ago, later than the first humans) because nobody is going to cross a 50 km strait in a canoe/raft/boat with a wild dog.
Presumably they went wild again afterwards, but it must be easier to re-domesticate a dog that was domesticated a few thousand years ago than to domesticate an entirely new species.
- jacquesm 16y agoGood point, I hadn't thought of that. Was it brought there or did it raft there by itself ? (that's not a joke, plenty of animals have been involuntarily moved between continents on makeshift rafts) The dingo is a fascinating creature.
- hugh3 16y agoFloating there on its own seems pretty unlikely, since Australia didn't acquire any other wildlife from South-East Asia. At the time of British settlement the dingo was the only placental mammal on the continent, apart from bats and humans.