Editing Dingo (section)

===Hybrids, distribution and habitat===
[[File:Dingo-Distribution-Fleming.png|thumb|left|Distribution: dingoes south of the [[dingo fence]] (black line) may have a higher prevalence of [[dingo–dog hybrid]]s.]]

The [[Evolution of the wolf#Wolf-like canids|wolf-like canids]] are a group of large carnivores that are genetically closely related because their [[chromosome]]s number 78; therefore they can potentially interbreed to produce fertile [[Canid hybrid|hybrids]].<ref name=wayne1999/> In the Australian wild there exist dingoes, feral dogs, and the crossings of these two, which produce [[dingo–dog hybrid]]s.<ref name=flemingC1/> Most studies looking at the distribution of dingoes focus on the distribution of dingo–dog hybrids, instead.<ref name=smithC2/>

Dingoes occurred throughout mainland Australia before European colonisation.<ref name=NTPWS2006/><ref name=flemingC1/> They are not found in the fossil record of Tasmania, so they apparently arrived in Australia after Tasmania had separated from the mainland due to rising sea levels.<ref name=purcellC2/> The introduction of agriculture reduced dingo distribution, and by the early 1900s, large barrier fences, including the [[Dingo Fence]], excluded them from the sheep-grazing areas. Land clearance, poisoning, and trapping caused the extinction of the dingo and hybrids from most of their former range in southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. Today, they are absent from most of New South Wales, Victoria, the southeastern third of South Australia, and the southwestern tip of Western Australia. They are sparse in the eastern half of Western Australia and the adjoining areas of the Northern Territory and South Australia. They are regarded as common across the remainder of the continent.<ref name=NTPWS2006/><ref name=flemingC1/>

The dingo could be considered an [[ecotype]] or an ecospecies that has adapted to Australia's unique environment.<ref name=smith49/> The dingo's present distribution covers a variety of habitats, including the temperate regions of [[Eastern states of Australia|eastern Australia]], the alpine moorlands of the [[Great Dividing Range|eastern highlands]], the arid hot deserts of [[Central Australia]], and the tropical forests and wetlands of [[Northern Australia]].<ref name=smithC2/> The occupation of, and adaption to, these habitats may have been assisted by their relationship with indigenous Australians.<ref name=purcellC3/>