Many present-day Australians see the dingo as a threat and a pest to human production systems. An alternative viewpoint, which is more in tune with Indigenous culture, allows others to see the dingo as a means to improve human civilisation. The dingo has thus become trapped between the status of pest animal and totemic creature. This book helps readers to recognise this dichotomy, as a deeper understanding of dingo behaviour is now possible through new technologies which have made it easier to monitor their daily lives.
The Dingo Debate explores the intriguing and relatively unknown story of Australia’s most controversial animal – the dingo. Throughout its existence, the dingo has been shaped by its interactions with human societies. With this as a central theme, the book traces the story of the dingo from its beginnings as a semi-domesticated wild dog in South-east Asia, to its current status as a wild Australian native animal under threat of extinction. It describes how dingoes made their way to Australia, their subsequent relationship with Indigenous Australians, their successful adaption to the Australian landscape and their constant battle against the agricultural industry. During these events, the dingo has demonstrated an unparalleled intelligence and adaptable nature seen in few species. The book concludes with a discussion of what the future of the dingo in Australia might look like, what we can learn from our past relationship with dingoes and how this can help to allow a peaceful co-existence. The Dingo Debate reveals the real dingo beneath the popular stereotypes, providing an account of the dingo’s behaviour, ecology, impacts and management according to scientific and scholarly evidence rather than hearsay. This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in Australian natural history, wild canids, and the relationship between humans and carnivores.
This book is the first volume on the evolution of wisdom. Using a combination of ethnographic and ethological studies, it shows how key moral attributes of compassion, justice and wisdom are woven into relationships with animals.
How did the dog become manÕs best friend? A celebrated anthropologist unearths the mysterious origins of the unique partnership that rewrote the history of both species. Dogs and humans have been inseparable for more than 40,000 years. The relationship has proved to be a pivotal development in our evolutionary history. The same is also true for our canine friends; our connection with them has had much to do with their essential nature and survival. How and why did humans and dogs find their futures together, and how have these close companions (literally) shaped each other? Award-winning anthropologist Pat Shipman finds answers in prehistory and the present day. In Our Oldest Companions, Shipman untangles the genetic and archaeological evidence of the first dogs. She follows the trail of the wolf-dog, neither prehistoric wolf nor modern dog, whose bones offer tantalizing clues about the earliest stages of domestication. She considers the enigma of the dingo, not quite domesticated yet not entirely wild, who has lived intimately with humans for thousands of years while actively resisting control or training. Shipman tells how scientists are shedding new light on the origins of the unique relationship between our two species, revealing how deep bonds formed between humans and canines as our guardians, playmates, shepherds, and hunters. Along the journey together, dogs have changed physically, behaviorally, and emotionally, as humans too have been transformed. DogsÕ labor dramatically expanded the range of human capability, altering our diets and habitats and contributing to our very survival. Shipman proves that we cannot understand our own history as a species without recognizing the central role that dogs have played in it.
"This accessible text is suitable for both senior undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in desert ecology. It will also appeal to researchers new to the field and to the many professional ecologists and conservation practitioners requiring a concise but authoritative overview of this fascinating habitat."--BOOK JACKET.
The Australian continent provides a unique perspective on the evolution and ecology of carnivorous animals. In earlier ages, Australia provided the arena for a spectacular radiation of marsupial and reptilian predators. The causes of their extinctions are still the subject of debate. Since European settlement, Australia has seen the extinction of one large marsupial predator (the thylacine), another (the Tasmanian devil) is in danger of imminent extinction, and still others have suffered dramatic declines. By contrast, two recently-introduced predators, the fox and cat, have been spectacularly successful, with devastating impacts on the Australian fauna. Carnivores of Australia: Past, Present and Future explores Australia's unique predator communities from pre-historic, historic and current perspectives. It covers mammalian, reptilian and avian carnivores, both native and introduced to Australia. It also examines the debate surrounding how best to manage predators to protect livestock and native biodiversity. Readers will benefit from the most up-to-date synthesis by leading researchers and managers in the field of carnivore biology. By emphasising Australian carnivores as exemplars of flesh-eaters in other parts of the world, this book will be an important reference for researchers, wildlife managers and students worldwide.
This authoritative volume represents a complete and comprehensive guide to the husbandry of Australian marsupials and other mammals. Australian Mammals: Biology and Captive Management dedicates a chapter to each group of animals including the platypus, the echidna, carnivorous marsupials, numbats, bandicoots and bilbies, koalas, wombats, possums and gliders, macropods, bats, rodents and the dingo. For each animal group the following information is covered: Biology; Housing; Capture and restraint; Transport; Diet; Breeding; Artificial rearing; and Behaviour and behavioural enrichment. The book provides a complete literature review of all known information on the biology of each group of animals and brings information on their biology in the wild into captive situations. Also, for the first time, it provides practical guidelines for hand-rearing, and has been extensively reviewed by zookeepers and veterinarians to incorporate the most up-to-date information and techniques. Australian Mammals: Biology and Captive Management provides practical guidance for zoo-keepers, veterinarians, zoologists, researchers and students. Winner of the 2004 Whitley Medal. Shortlisted in the Scholarly Reference section of the 2004 Australian Awards for Excellence in Educational Publishing.
Across the world, animals are being domesticated at an unprecedented rate and scale. But what exactly is domestication, and what does it tell us about ourselves? In this book, Marcus Baynes-Rock seeks the common thread linking stories about the domestication of Australia's native animals, arguing that domestication is part of a process by which late modernity threatens to undo the world. In a deeply personal account, the author tells of his encounters with crocodiles and emus behind fences, dingoes and kangaroos crossing boundaries, and native bees producing honey in his suburban backyard. Drawing on comparisons between Aboriginal and colonial Australians, Baynes-Rock reveals how the domestication of Australia’s fauna is a process of “unmaking.” As an extension of late modernity, the connections that tie humans and other animals to wider ecologies are being severed, threatening to isolate us and our domesticates from the rest of the world. It is here that Baynes-Rock reveals a key difference between Aboriginal and colonial Australian modes of landscape management: while one is focused on a systemic approach and sees humans as integral to ecological integrity, the other seeks to sever domesticates from ecological processes. The question that emerges is: How might we reconfigure and maintain these connections without undoing humanity? Written in the author’s characteristically frank, passionate, and humorous style, Crocodile Undone takes the reader on a journey across both physical and philosophical landscapes. This fascinating narrative will appeal to anyone interested in the vital connections between humans and animals.
This book - Biodiversity Enrichment in a Diverse World - considered biodiversity (plants, animals, fungi, and microbes) from three different angles: genetics, species, and ecosystems. The relationships between them are complex and it looks at these aspects from different angles and also various interventions at different levels. The scientific approach of the book demonstrates that the three levels are closely inter-connected and action is therefore needed to conserve and protect the systems if the benefits provided to human life will continue to be available. However, conservation of the biological diversity is essentially an umbrella term for traditional species, relationship to human health, ecosystem conservation and the need to manage the human use of the species and ecosystems in a sustainable way.
