- [Coyote] I'm gonna get to go inside the enclosure
with the dingoes themselves.
- [Mark] You nervous at all?
- Watch your back, Mark, here they come.
(intense music)
(growling)
(intense percussion music)
There are over 375 species of mammals
that call Australia home, and almost all of them
are completely unique to this continent.
From hopping kangaroos and cuddly koalas,
to sleepy wombats and the adorable brushtail possum,
we have the chance to get up close
with some of the country's most iconic species.
However, these animals are primarily herbivores,
which means that they eat plants.
So what about the carnivorous mammals?
You know, the ones who eat meat.
Well, as it turns out, there are many carnivores,
and my goal is to get up close
with one of the country's top mammalian predators,
and the best way to do that is to work
with a pack of them at the Billabong Sanctuary.
Get ready, it's time to find out whether
or not a coyote will be accepted into the dingo pack.
A lot of people have requested we do an episode
with the dingo, and sure enough,
we're being given the opportunity today
at the Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary.
And I'm gonna get to go inside the enclosure
with the dingoes themselves.
This is gonna be awesome.
- [Mark] You nervous at all?
- No, they told me that dingoes are incredibly friendly,
very intelligent canines.
We're ready for me to go in?
- We are indeed.
- Okay, anything that I need to know
before I get into the enclosure?
- Not with these guys. - No?
- They're pretty tame. (laughs)
- Okay, pretty friendly just like palling
around with some puppy dogs.
Now, you said to go in through this gate.
- [Guide] Go in through the gate.
- [Coyote] And don't touch the fence, right?
- [Guide] That's right.
- [Coyote] Hi, guys.
- [Guide] Nice and sweet they are.
- The moment of truth, opening up the gate
to see if I can become one of the pack.
Here we go.
Oh, boy, hi!
I'm coming in.
Oh, this is amazing.
Look at you guys.
All right, so far, so good.
Okay, all right, hi.
How are you?
Hello, there.
Oh, welcoming kisses.
How about that?
- I'd say you're in. - I am in.
All right, I'm gonna take off my pack here
and just sort of sit it down on this log.
And I think what's probably best
is if I just sit here on the rock
and see if the dingoes will come to me.
Come here, guys.
Come here, hey, come here.
Look at you.
So, what's this one's name?
- King - King?
Hi, King, how are you?
You know, I've got some kangaroo meat right here.
Would you like some kangaroo meat?
Oh King, look at this.
Look, bud.
This is my offering, kangaroo meat.
Boy, that's good, isn't it?
Now, I would try this kangaroo meat, but it's raw,
and I don't think that's gonna make my stomach feel good.
Okay, let's see, here we go.
Yeah, you are so gentle.
Look at how he just carefully takes that out of my hand.
There you go.
Okay, that's good, huh?
- [Crew Member] Now this is a very classic dingo.
- Oh yeah, look at that kind of goldish coloration
to the coat and slender design of the body.
Look at those big paws too.
What's this one's name?
- Alira. - Alira.
Hi, Alira, how are you?
So we've got Alira and King.
You look like you're king of the rock over there, huh?
Kind of gotta let them get used to us
being in the enclosure and get used to the cameras.
I'm gonna sit down right here, King.
Is that cool, hi.
Lira, how are you doing?
And what's the third one's name?
- Kalari.
- Kalari, and she's just laying down
in the sun over there, huh?
They kind of look like Shiba Inus, don't they?
How ya doing?
So noble up there on top of that rock.
There he goes, cool.
You guys sniffing my pack?
Sniffing the pack?
Hi, how are you doing?
- What's their coat feel like? - Incredibly soft.
You can feel on top there are these coarser guard hairs,
but they're a lot softer than a wolf or a coyote.
All this fur right here is really bushy.
Go ahead Mark, put your hand out there
and feel how soft her coat is.
- [Mark] Oh, wow.
So gentle, right?
Your teeth look really clean.
This is a good thing.
It's amazing how calm and peaceful they are.
Yeah, just having a good hangout, huh?
- [Mark] So you didn't expect this, did you?
- Did not expect to be in an enclosure with a dingo today.
No, I certainly did not.
It's a good thing I'm not allergic to dogs
'cause I'm getting fur and dander all over me.
And they seem to be completely unfazed
by us having the cameras in here,
and I think they're pretty well acclimated
to us at this point.
I honestly thought it would take a couple minutes
for them to kind of,
oh, and now as I say that, they kind of run off.
I think we've lost their attention.
King, come here.
Come here, buddy.
Look, he has like white socks on.
Okay, let's see.
Got some kangaroo meat here for you.
Good, lean meat, huh?
There you go.
King, I got a little bit more.
Ew, kangaroo meat smells funky.
But they absolutely love it.
And of course, kangaroo and wallaby
would certainly be on the menu for these animals,
since to take down the size of a kangaroo,
the dingo would actually need to be hunting in a pack.
Now, this is the apex land mammalian
predator here in Australia.
I mean, just right now,
it's interesting the way they walk looks just like wolves.
All right, let's see if we can really get
into the situation with the dingoes.
Hi, you guys wanna play?
Do you wanna play?
Who wants to play?
Come here, hi, okay.
Okay.
We're gonna go right here, get down on the ground.
See if we can get you guys in here.
There we go.
Oh, like a big lap dog, huh?
All right, now get in the shade here.
Hi, oh, look at those paws.
Look at those paws.
Oh, belly rub time, huh?
Oh, there we go.
I'm gonna lay down right there with you, okay.
Let's see, look at those big ears.
You see those ears?
For incredible sense of hearing,
and they do a lot of their hunting at night
when it's cooler out, and of course,
they have amazing eyesight for hunting in the dark.
It was close.
Close to getting her to be right here with me.
Now she's behind you on that side, Mark.
- Hey, hello.
- Hi, come here.
Working on it.
You guys wanna see if we can get a dingo to climb a tree?
That would be cool.
Now, in the United States,
I know that coyotes have been seen
occasionally climbing trees.
But certainly something like a gray fox
is capable of getting up into a tree.
But something like a dingo,
which as large as this animal is,
you would think wow, how are they actually
gonna get up into that tree?
Wow, look at that.
Look at that balance.
Good job, King.
- (laughs) He's gonna try and cheat.
- [Coyote] Right there bud.
Can you get up there?
- [Guide] He usually cheats like that.
- Whoa. (Guide laughs)
Let's see if I can put a piece of meat up in the trees.
Watch this.
Move up.
There it is.
Wow, look at the way that he's able to just
spread his claws out almost like a cat.
Look at that agile jump,
just kind of can completely turn his body
to land right in that spot.
That was awesome.
All right, well, dingoes can climb trees.
Okay guys, so we're gonna try to switch up
the tactic a little bit.
I was kind of coming into the enclosure being quiet,
letting the dingoes get acclimated to me,
and they seem pretty comfortable at this point.
So we're gonna try to up the excitement a little bit,
and I'm actually gonna start running in the other direction
and see if I can get them to chase me.
Ready for that? - Sure.
- All right, let's see what happens.
Come on, buddy, come on.
(exciting drum music)
Here we go.
Now they're moving.
Just gotta get 'em fired up a little bit.
All right, playing tag with the dingoes.
Now, I've got them excited,
and they're playing with each other,
but I need them to actually chase me.
As soon as I started running that way,
King took off after me
and then the other two sprinted right after.
Watch your back, Mark, here they come.
Hi!
- [Crew] Whoa.
- It's like a flash.
There you go, Candy, whoa!
- Hi, Candy, come here.
(playful music)
Whew, I can't keep up with them.
They're so fast.
I can make like halfway down,
and then they both pass me in the other direction.
King is definitely leading the charge right now.
Whew, it's getting dusty in here.
Might be getting on your lens a little bit.
But they are definitely getting excited.
So coming into the enclosure, getting acclimated,
and then getting 'em to play
definitely was the right tactic.
(growls and barks)
Come here, you.
Come here.
Ooh, probably don't wanna get in the middle of that though.
I don't have real thick flesh on the side of my neck.
- [Crew Member] Get down a little bit.
- Okay, good boy, Duke, come here.
All right, let's take 'em over to the water trough here.
Check this out.
You guys, getting a drink?
Getting a drink.
Ah, that was a good run, huh?
I can see what King is doing right now
is just kind of laying in the shade,
and the ground is rather cool.
Now, when it's really hot out,
dingoes will just sort of nestle down in the shade,
and they'll dig these little kind of circular burrows
that they can then curl up in.
And as they get a little deeper into the soil,
the ground is a little cooler.
It helps them regulate their body temperature.
Let's get this chance now
while King is sort of laying down like this
to look at the body structure of the dingo.
Look at how lean this animal is.
And it's definitely a hunter, that's for sure.
Long legs, big paws, sharp claws,
and look at this narrow sort of waistline.
You can see all this muscle in the back haunches there,
obviously give them the ability to leap pretty high
into the air, straight up vertical.
King can probably jump about five to six feet straight up.
Let's take a look at King's paws.
Look at those pads there.
The paws aren't quite as big as the paws of a wolf.
Now obviously because they aren't out there in the snow,
their paws don't need to spread quite as far.
But when we saw King climbing up the trees,
he was able to grip on with his claws almost like a cat.
And see this space right here?
This is where their paws are capable
of curling under and holding onto things,
whether it's a tree limb,
or if they're hunting and they leap onto their prey,
they can grabble onto it and then inflict a death bite.
- [Crew Member] They don't rest for that long, do they?
- No, King said okay, if you're gonna play with my paws,
I'm heading this way.
Let's follow him over there.
- [Crew Member] There you go.
- There we go.
Is that the spot right there?
Now just like a dog, you gotta find
that right spot for a good scratch.
Yeah, there we go.
All right.
Well, this was pretty awesome.
Hanging out in the dingo enclosure,
getting acclimated, eating some kangaroo meat,
having a run, and now it's time to just relax in the shade.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
I learned a lot as I attempted to become one of King's pack,
and despite the fact that they are effective predators,
these wild Australian canines, just like a family dog,
are always ready to play on.
(barks) Come here, you, come here.
Hey Coyote pack, I have some exciting news.
I'm proud to announce that the crew and I
will be back on tour in 2018 with Brave Wilderness Live,
visiting cities all across North America.
Our first shows are in Anaheim and San Diego, California.
From there, we head to Phoenix, Arizona.
Beyond that, we will be visiting San Francisco, California,
Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington,
and Boulder, Colorado,
with many more shows to be announced in the coming months.
Tickets can be purchased at the Brave Wilderness website,
so make sure to reserve your seats today.
And don't forget, subscribe so you can join me
and the crew on this season of Breaking Trail.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave,
- [Audience] Stay wild!