When the comparatively small island of Tasmania becomes more densely populated, and its primitive forests are intersected with roads from the eastern to the western coast, the numbers of this singular animal will speedily diminish, extermination will have its full sway, and it will then, like the Wolf in England and Scotland, be recorded as an animal of the past.
~John Gould
The last thylacine died in captivity on September 7, 1936.
The thylacine, more commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger were hunted to extinction by Australian farmers who (wrongly) feared that the animal would kill their sheep. A recent study (Aug 2011) published in the Journal of Zoology suggests that, though the jaws of the thylacine were quite large, they were not strong enough to kill sheep.
The thylacine resembled large, long dog. It was striped and had a big head. Thylacinus cynocephalus, means pouched dog with a wolfs head. At maturity it measured about 6' long (nose to end of tail) and was about 2' tall. It has short brown fur and a series of blak/dark brown stripes that covered the tail and about half way up the back. Despite the stripes, and the canine like jaw, thylacines were marsupials.
Footage of the last known thylacine in captivity in Hobart Zoo (from 1933):
The Thylacine Museum, an online educational guide to the thylacine has excellent and detailed information about the thylacine and it's demise..
Note: There are still reported sightings of thylacines.
A very strange looking critter, but how sad the story.
ReplyDeleteI hope some of those reported sightings are factual!
ReplyDelete