The Ecology of the Dingo in North-Eastern New South Wales. 2. Diet.

Abstract

The diet of two populations of dingoes, from adjacent areas different in topography and altitude, from 1969 to 1974, were similar. The remains of native mammals were found in over 90% of the scats, and Wallabia bicolor was the most important single prey species in both areas. The high frequency of large native species in this and other studies of dingoes' diet suggested that dingoes may be essentially predators of the larger native species. The mammalian composition of the diet varied significantly between May-October and November-April; this reflected a change in the hunting strategy ofthe dingo, as an outcome of behavioural necessity rather than a change in the relative abundances of prey species. Concurrent with an increase in the dingo population, the composition of the diet changed between 1972 and 1974, with an increased concentration on larger prey species in the later years; this also indicated a change in hunting strategy. Large prey species provide potentially more biomass per unit kill; and this change in hunting strategy may be a behavioural mechanism for buffering dingo populations against either increases in their own population or decreases in those of their prey.