Editing Dingo (section)

====Extinction of thylacines====

{{See also|Thylacine#Extinction in the Australian mainland|l1=Extinction of the thylacine in mainland Australia}}

Some researchers propose that the dingo caused the extirpation of the [[thylacine]], the [[Tasmanian devil]], and the [[Tasmanian nativehen|Tasmanian native hen]] from mainland Australia because of the correlation in space and time with the dingo's arrival. Recent studies have questioned this proposal, suggesting that climate change and increasing human populations may have been the cause.<ref>{{cite web|last=MacDonald|first=Fiona|title=Dingoes cleared of mainland extinctions|url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2013/09/dingoes-cleared-of-mainland-extinctions/|work=Australian Geographic|access-date=2 March 2014|author2=AAP|date=9 September 2013|archive-date=20 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020010232/http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2013/09/dingoes-cleared-of-mainland-extinctions/|url-status=live}}</ref> Dingoes do not seem to have had the same ecological impact that [[Feral foxes in Australia|invasive red foxes]] have in modern times. This might be connected to the dingo's way of hunting and the size of their favoured prey, as well as to the low number of dingoes in the time before European colonisation.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Short|first1=J|title=Surplus killing by introduced predators in Australia—evidence for ineffective anti-predator adaptations in native prey species?|journal=Biological Conservation|volume=103|pages=283–301|year=2002|doi=10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00139-2|issue=3|last2=Kinnear|first2=J.E.|last3=Robley|first3=Alan|bibcode=2002BCons.103..283S}}</ref>

In 2017, a genetic study found that the population of the northwestern dingoes had commenced expanding since 4,000—6,000 years ago. This was proposed to be due either to their first arrival in Australia or to the commencement of the extinction of the thylacine, with the dingo expanding into the thylacine's former range.<ref name=cairns2017/>