Centuries-old dingo bones could help dogs survival
NEW FIND
GENES belonging to an old dingo could hold the key to the native dog’s survival.
With the animal on the brink of becoming endangered, a Queensland researcher believes the DNA of a 350-year-old dead dingo could be used to help find the areas of genetically pure dogs.
“One of the big issues facing the survival of the species is their inter-breeding with domestic dogs. The situation is so bad that we could very well see the loss of genetically-pure dingoes altogether,” Dr Sankarasubramanian said.
“Given this inter-breeding has happened since European settlement of Australia, how do you measure a genetically-pure dingo? The answer is to go back before settlement, and, fortunately, our team has access to the bones of a 350-year old dingo, which provides an excellent baseline.”
Dr Sankarasubramanian will now travel to the US to work with expert scientists at the Smithsonian Institute after receiving a grant from the Queensland government.
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