Thank you to Council for not using 1080 baits or cruel jawed traps and putting up notice boards about dingoes.
Jimbelung is the name given to a tri-coloured rainforest dingo that has been on Tamborine Mountain for months.
The name comes from local Aboriginal Yugambeh language and means friend or companion.
The tri-coloured dingo is just a different ecotype from the common tan, he may look like a domestic dog mix, but the closer you look he has all the features, including the howls, of a pure dingo.
The scientific name is Canis dingo, while domesticate dogs are Canis Lupus Familiaris.
The dingo is more unlike domestic dogs than different dog breeds are from one another.
Their skull is the broadest part of their body so they can easily judge their ability to squeeze through tight spaces.
Their teeth are longer and more prominent than domestic dogs of the same size.
Their joints are hyperflexible which allows them to navigate rugged terrain, climb trees and move differently from domestic dogs.
They breed once a year from March to June.
Domestic dogs have been designed and shaped by human selection and they breed twice a year.
Wild dingoes are naturally cautious and prefer to avoid conflict, they need to fear humans to some degree.
Befriending a dingo is essentially signing his death warrant.
If they become conditioned to expect food from people they may demand it. This is the problem on Fraser Island, but it never used to be.
Closely observe babies and toddlers at all times because a dingo sees small creatures as a food source.
Even domestic dogs will easily consume tender young hares, ducks and possums.
A lack of understanding and knowledge about rainforest dingoes has allowed Jimelung to blend in and find easy meals, he seems to like the smell of the bakery.
Hens wandering, road kill and garbage are easy food.
This dingo is very cunning, observant and intelligent, crossing busy roads he is careful and on the move. Early sightings on the community Facebook page were German Shepherd or black collarless dog wandering in a particular area.
Aboriginal people understood the dingo, they would take puppies and raise them to help hunt, protect the camp and warn about approaching dingoes.
The Aboriginal people carried warning sticks to scare off dingoes.
However, when mating season came around most would return to the wild.
