The dingo (Canis familiaris,[2][5][6][7][8] Canis familiaris dingo,[4][9][10] Canis dingo,[11][12][13] or Canis lupus dingo[14][15]) is an ancient (basal) lineage of dog[11][16][17] found in Australia.[18][5] Its taxonomic classification is debated; as per the variety of scientific names presently applied in different publications, it is variously considered a form of domestic dog not warranting recognition as a subspecies; a subspecies of dog or wolf; or a full species in its own right. The dingo is a medium-sized canine that possesses a lean, hardy body adapted for speed, agility, and stamina. The dingo's three main coat colourations are light ginger or tan, black and tan, or creamy white.[18][19] The skull is wedge-shaped and appears large in proportion to the body.[18] The dingo is closely related to the New Guinea singing dog and the New Guinea Highland wild dog:[11] their lineage split early from the lineage that led to today's domestic dogs,[20][21][22] and can be traced back through the Malay Archipelago to Asia.[1] The earliest known dingo fossil, found in Western Australia, dates to 3,450 years ago,[1][2][23] Dingo morphology has not changed over the past 3,500 years: this suggests that no artificial selection has been applied over this period.[23] However, genomic analysis indicates that the dingo reached Australia 8,300 years ago but the human population which brought them remains unknown.[24] The dingo's habitat covers most of Australia, but they are absent in the southeast and Tasmania, and an area in the southwest (see map).[25] As Australia's largest extant terrestrial predator,[26] dingoes prey on mammals up to the size of the large red kangaroo, in addition to birds, reptiles, fish, crabs, frogs, insects, and seeds.[25][27][28] The dingo's competitors include the native quoll, the introduced European red fox and the feral cat.[28] A dingo pack usually consists of a mated pair, their offspring from the current year, and sometimes offspring from the previous year.[29] The first British colonists who settled at Port Jackson in 1788 recorded dingoes living with indigenous Australians,[30] and later at Melville Island in 1818, and the lower Darling and Murray rivers in 1862, indicating that dingoes were under some form of domestication by aboriginal Australians.[31] When livestock farming began expanding across Australia in the early 19th century, dingoes began preying on sheep and cattle. Numerous population-control measures have been implemented since then, with only limited success.[32] The dingo is recognised as a native animal under the laws of all Australian jurisdictions. The dingo plays a prominent role in the Dreamtime stories of indigenous Australians;[33] however, it rarely appears depicted in their cave paintings when compared with the extinct thylacine,[23][34] also known as the Tasmanian wolf or Tasmanian tiger.