Editing Dingo (section)

===Prey and diet===
[[File:The Dingo Finds a Dead Fish.jpg|thumb|Dingo with a fish on K'gari (Fraser Island)]]

A 20-year study of the dingo's diet was conducted across Australia by the federal and state governments. These examined a total of 13,000 stomach contents and fecal samples.<ref name=corbett1995C7/> For the fecal samples, determining the matching tracks of foxes and feral cats was possible without including these samples in the study, but in distinguishing between the tracks left by dingoes and those of dingo hybrids or feral dogs was impossible.<ref name=corbett1995C2/> The study found that these canines prey on 177 species represented by 72.3% mammals (71 species), 18.8% birds (53 species), 3.3% vegetation (seeds), 1.8% reptiles (23 species), and 3.8% insects, fish, crabs, and frogs (28 species).<ref name=corbett1995C7/><ref name=flemingC2/><ref name=smithC2/> The relative proportions of prey are much the same across Australia, apart from more birds being eaten in the north and south-east coastal regions, and more lizards in Central Australia.<ref name=corbett1995C7/> Some 80% of the diet consisted of 10 species: [[red kangaroo]], [[swamp wallaby]], cattle, [[dusky rat]], [[magpie goose]], [[common brushtail possum]], [[long-haired rat]], [[agile wallaby]], [[European rabbit]], and [[common wombat]].<ref name=corbett1995A3/><ref name=flemingC2/> Of the mammals eaten, 20% could be regarded as large.<ref name=corbett1995C7/>

However, the relative proportions of the size of prey mammals varied across regions. In the tropical coast region of northern Australia, agile wallabies, dusky rats, and magpie geese formed 80% of the diet. In Central Australia, the rabbit has become a substitute for native mammals, and during droughts, cattle carcasses provide most of the diet. On the [[Barkly Tableland]], no rabbits occur nor does any native species dominate the diet, except for long-haired rats that form occasional plagues. In the [[Fortescue River]] region, the large red kangaroo and [[common wallaroo]] dominate the diet, as few smaller mammals are found in this area. On the Nullarbor Plain, rabbits and red kangaroos dominate the diet, and twice as much rabbit is eaten as red kangaroo. In the temperate mountains of eastern Australia, swamp wallaby and red-necked wallaby dominate the diet on the lower slopes and wombat on the higher slopes. Possums are commonly eaten here when found on the ground.<ref name=corbett1995C7/> In coastal regions, dingoes patrol the beaches for washed-up fish, [[Pinniped|seals]], [[penguins]], and other birds.<ref name=flemingC2/>

Dingoes drink about a litre of water each day in the summer and half a litre in winter. In arid regions during the winter, dingoes may live from the liquid in the bodies of their [[prey]], as long as the number of prey is sufficient. In arid Central Australia, weaned pups draw most of their water from their food. There, regurgitation of water by the females for the pups was observed. During lactation, captive females have no higher need of water than usual, since they consume the urine and feces of the pups, thus recycling the water and keeping the den clean.<ref name=flemingC2/> Tracked dingoes in the [[Strzelecki Desert]] regularly visited water-points every 3–5 days, with two dingoes surviving 22 days without water during both winter and summer.<ref name=allan2012/>