Dingos cleared in tiger demise A dingo in the wild. Picture: Alex Coppel Source: Northern Territory News THERE may be an open debate on whether a dingo took Azaria Chamberlain. But an Australian archaeological scientist has exonerated the native dog from involvement in one of Australia's most famous cold cases - the mainland extinction of the Tasmanian tiger. Dingos have been blamed for the continental disappearance of the thylacine and its cousin, the Tasmanian devil, largely because their loss roughly coincided with dingos" arrival. But the University of Wollongong's Richard Roberts cites modelling which suggests the thylacine's demise was five times more likely to have been precipitated by the Aborigines. "Human hunting of these native carnivores had less influence than did human predation on their common prey (kangaroos)," he wrote last week in the journal Science. Vindication of the dingo for the extirpation of the thylacine and devil on mainland Australia puts people - and perhaps climate change - squarely in the frame. However, University of NSW biologist Mike Letnic said dingos were the most likely culprits, with records suggesting they had been substantially larger than the thylacine. Dr Letnic said that as unfamiliar arrivals, dingos could have both outgunned the marsupial carnivores and taken them by surprise - much as foxes and cuts outgunned native species millennia later. He said animal carnivores could also have a greater impact on native species" viability than human hunters, because they targeted the easiest kills - typically the females and the young. Humans, on the other hand, targeted the biggest prey - typically, older males - which had less impact on native species" reproduction. "The disappearance of the thylacine and devil at the time the dingo arrived is remarkably coincidental," Dr Letnic said.