How Dingoes Were Viewed in the Past

I came across an article about Australian wildlife the other day in “The Wonder World of Nature” published in 1959 by WM. Collins Sons and Co. Ltd.

A family group.
A family group.
The article contained a small description of dingoes. If you compare the description with information elsewhere on this site you’ll see that our current knowledge of Dingoes differs from that of the past. The description was as follows:

The Dingo

Dingoes, the only carnivores and most important non-marsupials, vary from terrier size to that, say, of an Alsation. They are usually yellow, with white markings, and every pup has a white chest.

They are much persecuted because they are inveterate sheep-killers. They run in small packs of about six, though bushmen from the Territory claim that some packs there number a hundred.

They never attack man.

Their cry is a strange double sound, unlike the howl of wolf or dog. They usually have four or five pups and are hard to tame. To survive in a hard and hungry land they had to become killers; now from being continually hunted they have acquired great cunning.

Their instinct to kill cannot be subdued.