Australia's iconic dingo may be world's oldest breed of dog

London, March 18 (ANI): Dingo is the world's oldest breed of dog, according to a new study.

Experts from University of New South Wales in Sydney have found closest genetic similarity between the dingo and wolves, reports The Telegraph.

Also, dingo's close relation, the rare New Guinea singing dog, shares similar DNA.

Nearly 1,000 dogs of 85 different breeds as well as hundreds of wolves were tested as part of the study.

Dingoes and the singing dog were separate from other breeds for thousands of years.

"This gives us a huge weight of evidence supporting the theory that the dingo is quite distinct from all modern dog breeds," said joint author Alan Wilton, of Sydney's University of New South Wales.

"It's a bit of information that could be important to the conservation issue. If it's distinct from domestic dogs there may be scientific reasons for conserving the dingo."

Dingo was brought to Australia from Indonesia about 5,000 years ago. (ANI)