Behavioural responses of dingoes (Canis familiaris) to camera traps in Western Australia

Emily Therese Boyd

Context: In Western Australia, dingoes are an ongoing threat to grazers and farming communities due to direct (livestock predation) and indirect impacts (e.g., mis-mothering, keeping livestock from key resources). Therefore, landholders seek to suppress dingo populations through management practices. To quantify the success of control activities, monitoring population responses through camera trapping is increasingly important. Camera traps are generally assumed to be a non-invasive monitoring method; however, if dingoes alter their behaviour around camera traps, becoming more wary of the devices, they could subsequently avoid detection, which would influence density estimates and potential management of the species. Aims: This study investigated the behaviour of dingoes towards camera traps on dingo managed properties across Western Australia, to determine if their behaviour was influenced by reproductive seasons, time of day and positioning of the camera trap. For a subset of the data, images were identified to individual dingo, allowing assessment of individual behavioural responses. We hypothesised that there would be greater detectability of dingoes exhibiting trap-wary than trap-happy behaviour during the breeding seasons, at nighttime, and with the camera position angled down tracks. Methods: Dingo interactions were scored for 180 camera traps deployed on roads across properties in the Gascoyne, Murchison, Northern Agricultural and Nullarbor regions between 2020 and 2023. For each independent trigger event, dingo responses were categorised and scored as curious, cautious and neutral behaviour. Key results: Of the 2446 detection events, dingoes exhibited more neutral behaviour than either curious or cautious behaviour. A first model testing all dingo detections found a significant negative effect on the behavioural score during the Pre-Breeding season (p=0.015). A second model testing a data subset including individual identification of dingoes found a significant positive effect on the behavioural score during the Whelping season (p=0.029). Neither time of day (model one, p=0.187; model two, p=0.802) nor camera orientation to the road (model one, p=0.358; model two, p=0.957) had any significant impact on dingo interactions with camera traps. There was significant variability amongst individual dingoes in their behavioural responses (ICC = 0.319). Conclusions: We surmise that camera traps do not significantly influence overall dingo behaviour across controlled regions of Western Australia. Variability of behavioural score suggests individual dingo responses differ based on previous exposure to camera traps, human activity and experiences with lethal management. Implications: Results indicate behavioural responses influence the detectability of dingoes particularly across different periods of the year. Variation in individual responses should be considered in future monitoring designs and baiting events for lethal control management.

Behavioural responses of dingoes (Canis familiaris) to camera traps in Western Australia

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