Canis dingo

Reviews

"This is the book that all Australians who care about the dingo have been waiting for. Canis dingo is a deep and stimulating exploration of the environmental and cultural significance of the dingo, and its complex and contested place in Australian life. Written by one of Australia's key scientific experts on dingo behaviour, the book is based on a wealth of scholarly research, brought to life by Smith's many years of personal experience of dingos in the wild and captivity. Read this book to discover what a remarkable animal the dingo is, and for an informed perspective on the debates that surround it."
Professor Chris Johnson, ecologist and conservation biologist, University of Tasmania

"Canis dingo is, perhaps, this century's most important book on the relationship between humans and animals. It is essential reading for anyone who cares about canines. With an accessible style, Smith invites readers to grapple with the true identity of the Australian dingo: are they the clever, enigmatic spirit of wild Australia, or a villain and pest? At stake is not only how we see dingoes, but how we understand ourselves and our relationship with all dogs. As a leading authority on the Australian dingo, Smith confronts these questions by synthesizing a remarkable breadth of scientific research that will challenge and engage even the most knowledgeable dog experts. He demonstrates that dingoes are neither wolves nor domestic dogs, but a distinct species shaped by nature. The result is a powerful new understanding of these extraordinary predators and an urgent call for coexistence that can enrich our shared world. This is a book that truly matters, and a gift to anyone concerned with the future of the natural world on which we all depend."
Professor Brian Hare, evolutionary anthropologist, Duke University, and New York Times bestselling author

"Mirrigan and Country are inseparable. They play a role in dreaming, companionship, hunting and they help care for Country. Importantly, this book brings together diverse knowledges, and begins to reframe an ongoing and contentious issue, how we manage Dingo in this country. It asks the question of us, can we collectively work through generations of stigma and misinformation to respectfully work with Mirrigan to heal Country?"
Jack Pascoe is a Yuin man living on Gadabanut Country, Co-Chief Councillor of the Biodiversity Council, and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne

"I closed Bradley Smith's remarkable Canis dingo stunned at the similarity of the dingo story he tells to that of the coyote in North America. In America coyotes are held sacred by Native people, Old Worlders destroyed them by the millions as pests, yet the animals are now replacement predators for eradicated wolves. On the other side of the world the dingo exists in that same cultural and ecological soup. Perhaps the thylacine will return, but the dingo will forever be Australia's coyote, its own special wild canid."
Dan Flores, author of the New York Times Bestseller, Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History

Details

Paperback | June 2026 | $ 59.99
ISBN: 9781486318483 | 296 pages | 245 x 170 mm
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
B&W photographs, Illustrations

ePDF | June 2026
ISBN: 9781486318490
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Available from eRetailers

ePUB | June 2026
ISBN: 9781486318506
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Available from eRetailers

Features

• Presents a timely and evidence-based reappraisal of Australia’s most misunderstood predator, challenging myths and reframing the national conversation.
• Integrates scientific research, ecological theory, Indigenous cultural perspectives and policy analysis to explore the dingo’s identity, origins and role in Australian landscapes.
• Investigates the complex politics behind dingo management, including hybridisation myths, legal definitions and the influence of industry and government agendas.
• Explores practical, non-lethal strategies for coexistence, highlighting Indigenous knowledge, emerging science and community-led solutions for living with predators.
• Combines engaging storytelling with personal field experience to create an accessible, thought-provoking account.

Contents

Preface
Cultural sensitivity warning

1 Introduction

Part 1 A new arrival
2 Origins
3 Dingo Dreaming
4 The case of the vanishing tiger

Part 2 The dingo
5 Secrets to survival
6 Following the sun
7 A wolf in a dog’s clothing

Part 3 Dingoes in the landscape
8 The dingo effect
9 The feral invaders
10 Rewilding

Part 4 An identity in crisis
11 Taxonomic tangles
12 Between worlds
13 The hybrid myth
14 True blue

Part 5 Dingoes in the crossfire
15 Dangerous liaisons
16 The mad red hour
17 Wild dog menace

Part 6 Embracing the wild
18 The baiting paradox
19 Breaking the cycle
20 Pathways to coexistence

Acknowledgements
Chapter sources and further reading
Index


View the full table of contents (PDF, 80 KB)

Authors

Dr Bradley P. Smith is a recognised expert on dingoes. He is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at CQUniversity, specialising in animal behaviour, conservation science and the complex relationship between humans and wildlife. He is the author of The Dingo Debate and lead editor of Wildlife Research in Australia.