Dingoes on Fraser Island

by Roy Chambers (subscribe)

K'gari World Heritage area on Fraser Island is one of the premium tourist attractions in the world. The Aboriginal name means paradise, but there is one little issue with paradise, and it is dingoes. K'gari is the best place in Australia to see dingoes in their natural habitat, but they are wild animals and sometimes attack people. This is a guide about how to see dingoes on the island and also how to remain dingo safe.



What's in a name

There is some confusion between the indigenous name K'gari and the name Fraser Island. At the time of writing this and as far as I can tell, Fraser Island is still the official name for the island and the government locality, along with the Fraser Coast area. But K'gari is the name used to refer to the World Heritage area, which is pretty much the entire island. People use the names interchangeably, so you can call it either, and some businesses have removed Fraser Island from their name and replaced it with K'gari.

By the way, the name K'gari is pronounced gurri and means paradise. So even if the name change becomes official, there is still going to be lots of pronunciation confusion.

About dingoes

Dingoes are an ancient canine species whose origins are in Asia with its closest relatives being the singing dogs of New Guinea who, like dingoes, are also barkless. There is some debate about whether dingoes should just be considered a domestic dog (canis familiaris), a subspecies of domestic dogs (canis familiaris dingo) or a subspecies of wolf (canis lupus dingo) or its own species (canis dingo).

Dingoes arrived in Australia somewhere between 3500 and 8500 years ago, with the oldest fossil record being 3500 years, but analysis of the genome suggests they probably came across earlier. While similar dogs in Asia disappeared over time the dingo continued to survive in Australia and have been here long enough that they are not considered a feral species, but an integral part of the ecosystem. In fact, in areas where dingoes still thrive, they keep down the number of feral animals, benefiting the ecosystem greatly.

About the dingoes of K'gari

When we think of dingoes we imagine the gingerish/tan colouring that you see on the island. For a long time it was assumed that the dingoes on the mainland have interbred with modern dogs and the only remaining population of pure dingoes are on K'gari. But a recent genetic study found that most of the dingoes living in the wild across Australia are actually pure dingoes, even though they are of different colours.



Yes, dingoes come in all colours. The ones seen in Sydney when Europeans arrived were a dark brown colour. Across Australia there many different coloured dingoes and it was assumed that these were the results of interbreeding. But this turned out to be false.



But K'gari is the one place to really be guaranteed to see dingoes. It is pretty rare to go to the island and not see any. Though when we went, for most of our first day on the island we didn't see any until we spotted one on the beach near the end of the day.

Dingo dangers

There has been a lot said about the dangers of dingoes, but much of it has been said to discourage people from doing stupid things. Dingoes look very cute, which is partly due to the kawaii aspect of their oversized heads compared to their bodies. But they are not domestic dogs and even when they live with humans they do not have the same relationship that domestic dogs have with humans.



Overall though, they are coy animals, often happy to mingle around humans, and not showing territorial aggression or other behaviour. Having said that, you shouldn't approach dingoes and definitely don't try to pet them. Just for the record, all the photos you see in this article were taken with a telephoto lens and often cropped. Usually, I was in a car, on a ferry or on the sand some distance from them.



But they will come up to people with no signs of aggression. Sometimes people are sitting on the beach during the day or night and have had dingoes come up and sit near them. At one stage, I was keeping my distance photographing some dingoes, and others came along, so I was more or less surrounded by them. But they mostly just mingled around, throwing the occasional timid glance in my direction, I guess to see if I had some food.



But dingoes do attack people. They will attack people who get scared and start to run away, often nipping them on the legs. They will attack kids, who they see as small enough for a meal. They will sniff around tents looking for food, steal people's picnic blankets and so on. They are wild animals and they can attack people, so it pays to be cautious and act appropriately. I don't think the high levels of fear many people express are justified, but it still pays to be careful.



How to act around dingoes

Dingoes do attack, though, for the number of people who visit K'gari, the numbers are fairly low at about 2 a year. So rather than fear dingoes it is more important to be dingo safe and know how to live with dingoes.

First of all, don't feed dingoes. In fact, don't feed any native animals in Australia anywhere, it is irresponsible as it doesn't provide them proper nutrition and changes the animal's behaviour, including potentially increasing aggressive behaviour towards people. This shouldn't have to be said, but people still do it and think they are kind for doing so. On the island it is illegal to feed the dingoes, so that is another reason not to feed them.



There are also dingo fences at some campsites, and dingo cages to store your food for hikers. A lot of popular locations, such as Lake McKenzie, forbid people from eating food except in a dingo-safe enclosed area. So basically, don't feed dingoes, don't leave food lying around and store your food securely. This usually means putting in your car, not in your tent, and not eating food at popular places as the scraps attract dingoes.



The other important thing is don't approach dingoes. I know you want a cool photo of a dingo, but with many mobile phones, that means getting in close and crouching down in front of the dingoes. This can be seen as threatening behaviour and they might respond aggressively. As already said, my photos were taken at a distance with a telephone lens.

So definitely don't try to pet or hug any dingoes. If you want to hug a dingo, go to one of the souvenir shops that sell plush toy dingoes and hug them instead. These won't bite you if you do, and you can take those home with you. Leave the live ones to enjoy their life on the island.



The best way to observe the dingoes is from your car. They are coy but also curious and will come right up to people's parked cars. So often you can get a nice closeup photo without having to get out of the car.



If you are out somewhere on foot, and unless you spend all your time in your car, hotel or behind fences, you are likely to be out where dingoes roam. They are unlikely to attack, but keep an eye out for how the dingoes are behaving. Generally, they are not aggressive towards people, but if they start baring their teeth and snarling then back away slowly.



Do not turn your back and especially don't run. Most attacks involve dingoes biting the backs of people's legs as they run away. This is because when you run it triggers the dingo's predatory instincts. It is better to make yourself bigger, as you are both larger and taller than a dingo. I don't want to encourage going around hitting dingoes, but if they are snapping at you, then you need to defend yourself by any means possible. Metal water bottles used by hikers are a good option for a last possible defence.

The real issue is children. It might sound facetious, but a young child is meal sized for a dingo. Also, children playing and running around, even in the water, can trigger dingo predatory behaviour. Older children too, including smaller teenagers, are likely to panic in the face of a dingo and run away, prompting an attack.

So if you go to K'gari with kids, you should keep an eye on them at all times and stay close to them. You should also keep an eye out for dingoes, as they can turn up anywhere at any time that is not fenced off. They can also move very fast.



The thing is to be aware rather than afraid of dingoes. Attacks are rare but can happen. Some happen to people not doing anything that could provoke an attack and others because people were doing the wrong thing. The more aware you are of the issue, the safer you will be.

Dingo spotting

Anyone going to K'gari wants to spot a dingo. They can turn up anywhere that isn't fenced off. But the most likely place to spot them is on the beaches. There are several reasons for this. The beaches are open spaces, making it easy to spot them. They head to the water in search of food and catch fish and crabs. They are also attracted to the activity of people, including their cars and tents, just the in the hope of some food. When we were taking the ferry back to the mainland, once all the cars were loaded onto the ferry, 2 dingoes came down to the beach sniffing around, I guess, hoping for some scraps.



If you do see a dingo, often you can just stop your car and they will approach. This will rarely be aggressive as they are just sniffing around hoping for some food. Though of course, please don't feed them.

I think because tourists are more dingo-aware now, and following good practice when visiting various locations around K'gari, you tend to see fewer of them around lakes and other attractions. But they do turn up, though probably when they are less busy.

Overall

One of the key experiences in visiting the K'gari World Heritage on Fraser Island is seeing dingoes. They are not the only wildlife on the island, but they are what everyone comes to see. They are beautiful animals, often coy, but rarely shy. While there are dangers from dingoes, attacks are rare, so my advice is to enjoy these beautiful animals while being dingo aware and safe.

Help us improve  Click here if you liked this article  108

Share: email  facebook  twitter

Why? Dingoes of beautiful, coy & only a little dangerous

80