Fraser Island is very, very important and is an icon to all Queenslanders and a lot of people from overseas as well. We need protection of all of the animals, from the dingoes all the way through to the rest of the animals that live on the island and the plant life.

Hallo, warm-hearted viewers, and welcome to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. This episode we present the conclusion of our two-part series on Australia’s wonderful wild dogs, the delightful dingoes.

Today we’ll meet Australian wildlife photographer and artist Jennifer Parkhurst, who has spent seven years observing, photographing and painting the beautiful dingoes of Fraser Island which is located off the coast of eastern Australia and is part of Queensland state. Due to her love, compassion, and enthusiasm for these animals, Ms. Parkhurst is known as "the Dingo Whisperer."

Dingoes don’t bark, or cry for help
Dingoes on the Island of Paradise
Dingoes don’t bark, but they still need our help
Dingoes on the Island of Paradise

I guess I’ve always been interested in wildlife. I’ve traveled a lot around Australia, spent a lot of years watching dingoes from a distance and so on. And when I came to Fraser Island, I just basically fell in love with them and that was the end of the story. It just really happened. The local indigenous people were happy that there was somebody that was looking after the dingoes for them, and so they gave me the name “Nabar Wangari Urin” which means “Our sister dingo woman,” which I guess sort of translated to “Dingo Whisperer.”

Over time dingoes have mixed with domestic dogs, causing purebred dingoes to drop in numbers. Fraser Island, a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage site, has the largest population of purebreds on the east coast of Australia and dingoes have lived here for at least 1,000 years.

Another species goes up against the wall, now’s the time we should cherish them all…

Dingoes were once numerous and found in every state of Australia except for the island of Tasmania. But as a result of habitat loss, being purposely poisoned or shot out due to human ignorance, and government culling, their numbers have severely declined.

They’re endangered on the (Australian) mainland and they’re endangered on Fraser Island. There are not a lot of dingoes and it’s very difficult to count them. We think Victoria (state) may have something like a hundred and I don’t really know about the other states. Fraser Island, the official numbers are between a hundred and two hundred dingoes. But actually we think it’s probably more like 50 adults.

Ms. Parkhurst is vice president of the non-profit organization Save Fraser Island Dingoes, which seeks to preserve the remaining dingoes on the island and conduct research on their complex social structure. An important international scientific study has shown that dingoes are truly unique wild dogs. Given their genetic line, the findings confirm that the Fraser Island dingoes are indeed very special.

Only yesterday a report was released. Alan Wilton from the University of New South Wales has been working in conjunction with UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) and one of the other universities over there, with genetics experts. And they’ve been tracing the history of the dingo through the genetic link. And they found that the dingo is the purest of all wild dogs in the world apart from the wolves. So there are dingoes in other countries, but the Australian dingo is the purest in the world. It’s official and it’s going to be published. The Fraser Island dingo is the purest of all dingoes in Australia.

Through years of closely observing dingoes, Jennifer Parkhurst has come to understand their deeply sensitive nature.

The emotional life of dingoes is what makes them so special. They’re a very family-oriented animal. And just the way that they interact with each other, it’s really clear that they do have emotions and that they do care about each other. Also, dingoes are unique as far as wild animals go in that they have a long history of companionship with people. They like companionship with each other. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, how hot it is or anything like that, they always snuggle up close together when they’re having their daily naps.

They have a beautiful greeting ceremony. Every single time they greet each other, even if they’ve only been gone for half an hour, they come up and they go through this awesome ceremony. So if it’s a big family group, there’re six or eight members, the greeting ceremony can take a long time because every individual greets each other. If I was there during the greeting ceremony, they would try and engage me in the greeting ceremony. So if I got down on my hands and knees they would actually rub my nose.

If you listen, you’ll hear the call, of the land that’s been singing a song…

Ms. Parkhurst has been fortunate to discover another of the canines’ caring customs.

I was walking along the beach one morning following this group of dingoes. It was pre-dawn. It was very dark. I was having trouble keeping track of them. And we were sort of weaving in and out of the beach and the bush and so forth. At one stage I lost them and I really couldn’t find them. So I just sort of stopped and paused and heard a howl begin and realized it was a chorus howl. So I was able to locate the family and actually witness this chorus howl, which is such a beautiful thing.

I wondered why they were howling. And then I looked across and realized the Sun was just peeking above the horizon. And I thought, “I bet that dingoes howl every morning at the Sun.” Wolves are known for howling at the moon, and I think that dingoes howl at the Sun. And I think that what they’re doing is they’re counting their numbers because they can hear each individual voice. So they’re counting just to make sure everybody’s still there.

The following story is yet another example of how the dingoes of Fraser Island love and trust Jennifer Parkhurst.

I met Kirra about five years ago when she was a puppy. And I was just on the beach picking up marine debris. She’d been playing in the water and she just came running up to me and exhibited all that play behavior kind of stuff. And we had a bit of a play and then she just sat down beside me and the friendship started from there.

It was completely her choice and that’s so special, just to have a wild animal choose to come and be your friend. We admire canine dogs because they are so loyal, but to have a wild animal loyal to you is just incredible. They don’t have to be. They owe us nothing. They just give it freely of their own choice.

The beautiful, gentle Kirra is a loyal friend and shows great concern for Ms. Parkhurst’s well-being.

Every moment spent with the dingoes just taught me something and has given me something. It’s all been so precious. I believe that Kirra would risk her life for me without thinking twice about it.

And at one stage there was a man that was harassing me and he was stalking to me through the bush. And I became fairly frightened. He raised his voice and so forth. And Kirra just came tearing out of the bush and placed herself right between the pair of us and bristled and whatever and scared the daylights out of him. And she stayed with me until she knew that I was safe again, which was just extraordinary.

Kirra’s family members have also looked out for Jennifer Parkhurst’s safety.

There was one occasion when I was lost. I’m diabetic and I had just enough supplies to get myself through for another couple of hours. But I did start to panic because I was deep in the bush and I had absolutely no idea where I was going. And I just screamed out for Kirra. I didn’t know if she was anywhere near there. And Kirra didn’t actually come along but another member of the family group did just come along and found me and led me out of the bush.

Between the ages of one and two years, female dingoes carefully select mates, remaining with their partners for the rest of their lives. And when a female becomes pregnant, she finds a sheltered area such as an abandoned burrow, hollow log or space under a boulder and gives birth to her litter. She then feeds her precious babies with her milk until they can eat solid food. But she is not alone in her task, as her entire pack helps in raising the babies.

When they’re raising pups the entire pack gets involved. And the effort that they go to ensure the survival of those pups is just incredible to watch. It’s something that I can hardly even describe and goes to show why family is important, why the family has to remain intact and why we can’t just go and destroy members of the family. Last year’s pups become alloparental helpers.

All the members of the pack provision the pups. So they go out and they eat the food and they bring it back and regurgitate it. And dingoes provision their pups in that way. So it’s very special. The fathers have a particular role in the family. They chastise the pups and teach them the rules and the social skills that they need. And look, the parents do self-sacrifice.

I’ve watched mothers nursing for three months, which is way beyond what a canine would nurse a pup. And they’re doing it at the detriment of their own welfare. The other members of the pack also provision the mother while she’s nursing. So you’ve got lots of adults that come in and actually feed the mother so she’s got enough strength in her body to provide the milk for the pups.

Dingoes don’t bark, or cry for help
Dingoes on the Island of Paradise
Dingoes don’t bark, but they still need our help
Dingoes on the Island of Paradise

Many thanks Jennifer Parkhurst for dedicating your life to protecting the magnificent dingoes of Fraser Island and helping many to understand their deeply loving nature. We pray that generations to come will also enjoy the company of these charming and sweet animals.

For more details on Jennifer Parkhurst, please visit To learn more about Save Fraser Island Dingoes and for a copy of Badtjala Wangari’s CD “Dingoes Don’t Bark,” please visit

Thank you kind viewers for joining us today on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Enlightening Entertainment is up next, after Noteworthy News. May we all cherish and care for our amazing animal friends wherever they may be.