A pair of proud parents at the Australian Reptile Park, on the NSW central coast, have welcomed the arrival of five fuzzy and very cute dingo pups.
Mum and dad Adina and Fred surpassed expectations with their larger-than-usual litter of three male and two female pups, bred in captivity over the autumn months.
The youngsters will be fully reliant on their mum for the next few weeks before they venture out of their den to meet winter school holiday makers later this month.
Australian Reptile Park general manager Tim Faulkner said the births highlighted the critical role endangered dingoes played in the country's ecosystem.
"Dingoes are being blasted, baited, tracked, shot and hunted in the wild because of their perceived damage to agriculture," Mr Faulkner said.
"However, killing dingoes removes them from the critical weight eco-system, allowing feral foxes and cats to continuously increase the rate of mammal extinction.
"If dingoes continue to be hunted, Australia will see another endangered species disappear, just like the Tasmanian Tiger, a marsupial which shared a similar role in the environment as the dingo."
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