Dingoes are no ordinary dogs. They trace their roots back to an ancient Asian lineage and made their way to Australia more than 3,500 years ago.

Since then, they’ve become integrated into Australian ecosystems. They hold deep cultural meaning for many Indigenous Australians — woven into songlines, ceremonies, and family life, and often regarded as kin.

In research published today in PNAS, our team sought to unravel how European colonisation has shaped dingoes over the last two centuries. Like everyone and everything else in Australia when the First Fleet arrived in 1788, dingoes had to adapt to a new reality – and that adaptation is written in their bones.

The arrival of Europeans in Australia irrevocably changed Indigenous communities, ecosystems and the continent’s apex predator, the dingo. With the First Fleet came livestock and many European dogs including greyhounds, terriers and spaniels.

During the past 237 years, public attitudes to dingoes have been shaped by the creatures’ conflict with livestock. Trapping, shooting, bounties and poison baiting have become commonplace.

Some have been concerned that interbreeding between dingoes and European dogs may lead to dingoes losing their unique identity.

However, recent DNA studies have suggested such

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