Skin and bone: observations of dingo scavenging during a chronic food shortage

Abstract

Dingo (Canis lupus dingo and hybrids) diet studies primarily rely on analyses of prey remains found in stomachs or scats (i.e. faeces). However, dingoes are also scavengers, and doubt may remain as to whether or not a given item found in a stomach/scat was killed or scavenged. This paper briefly reports some incidental observations of dingoes scavenging cattle (Bos taurus), red kangaroos (Macropus rufus), wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax), and other dingo carcasses during a chronic food shortage. This confirms that diet studies may not be evidence for predation, and that dietary items collected during a discrete period may not actually reflect the period when the item died.