Oz wild-dog dingo more formidable hunter than Tasmanian tiger

Australian wild-dog dingo was better suited than the much larger and now extinct thylacine to resist the mechanical stresses associated with killing large prey, according to a new study in the current issue of the Proceedings B of the Royal Society.

Washington, Sept 6 : Australian wild-dog dingo was better suited than the much larger and now extinct thylacine to resist the mechanical stresses associated with killing large prey, according to a new study in the current issue of the Proceedings B of the Royal Society.

A team led by UNSW palaeontologist Stephen Wroe found that despite being armed with a more powerful and efficient bite and having larger energy needs than the dingo, the thylacine was restricted to eating relatively small prey, while the dingo's stronger head and neck anatomy allowed it to subdue large prey as well.

Earlier studies had given ambiguous results regarding the size of prey favoured by the thylacine, and had suggested that changes in mainland Aboriginal culture may have driven it to its extinction 3,000 years ago in mainland Australia.

As part of their study, the scientists used sophisticated computer simulations to reveal the bite force and stress patterns on dingo and thylacine skull specimens while hunting and eating.

The simulations revealed mechanical stresses and strains applying to the skull, jaw, teeth and cranial muscles of both animals across a range of biting, tearing and shaking motions that simulated the impact of controlling and killing a struggling prey.

The researchers applied the technique to test the hypothesis that the dingo would have substantially overlapped with the thylacine regarding its choice of favourite prey.

The researchers found considerable similarity between the two species. But they also offered informative differences.

"The thylacine has a greater bite force than the dingo but its skull becomes more stressed than the dingo under conditions that simulate the influence of struggling prey," said Dr Wroe, who believes the bigger marsupial took downsized, relatively small prey despite its big energy requirements.

"If the thylacine had been better able to hunt large prey, such as adult kangaroos and emus, as well as smaller species, then it would have faced less competition from the smaller dingo," he said.

This apart, the dingo possibly also enjoyed a competitive edge by having a social structure that enabled it to hunt in packs, whereas the thylacine was a lone hunter, Dr Wroe said.

Dr Wroe said persecution and competition from farmers who killed small animals reducing the thylacine's food base finally pushed the marsupial to its extinction.

"As a large dedicated flesh eater reliant on relatively small prey, the thylacine may have been particularly vulnerable, not only to food competition with the dingo - but also to the destructive influence of the first Europeans in Australia," Dr Wroe wrote in his study.

The last known individual died in a Tasmanian zoo in 1936.

ANI