Thylacine

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Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) A photograph of Benjamin, the last known captive thylacine. Category Living fossil Proposed scientific names Other names Tasmanian tiger, Tasmanian wolf Country reported Australia First reported 1642 Prominent investigators

Note: This is specificly about Australian sightings, for New Guinean sightings, see dobsegna.

The thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), also called the Tasmanian tiger and Tasmanian wolf, is a species of relatively large carnivorous marsupial which was found in Australia until at least 4,000 years ago, in Tasmania until at least 1936, and in New Guinea. Despite its official extinction, hundreds of sightings of thylacines have been reported from Tasmania and mainland Australia since 1936.

Tasmania

Sightings after its supposed extinction pretty much appeared as soon as the last confirmed individuals died, with multiple searches being conducted in the 1930s, with moderate success, with tracks of both thylacines and scarrying prey . This pattern of reported sightings and relatively successful searches would continue until 1968, when Jeremy Griffith organized a search for the animal, which lasted until 1973, eventually getting help from James Malley and Robert Brown and established the Thylacine Research Centre, they searched throughout Tasmania, and responded to reported sightings. At the end of the search, Griffin and Brown thought it was extinct, but Malley did not. The thylacine was declared extinct in 1986 by the IUCN, but a study in 2023 conducted by Barry W. Brook, Stephen R. Sleightholme, Cameron R. Campbell, Ivan Jaric and Jessie C. Buettel concluded it went extinct in the late 1980s to early 2000s.

Hans Naarding sighting

In autumn 1982, a man named 'Hans Naarding' would see a thylacine in Togari, Tasmania, his sighting is widely considered to be the most reliable, as he is or was a ranger. He would state the following on the matter:

''It was raining heavily. At 2 am I woke and out of habit, scanned the surroundings with a spotlight. As I swept the beam around, it came to rest on a large thylacine, standing side on some six to seven meters distant. My camera bag was out of immediate reach so I decided to examine the animal carefully before risking movement. It was a adult male in excellent condition with 12 black stripes on a sandy coat. Eye reflection was pale yellow. It moved only once, opening its jaws and showing its teeth. After several minutes of observation I attempted to reach for my camera bag but in doing so I disturbed the animal and it moved away away into the undergrowth. Leaving the vehicle and moving to where the animal disappeared I noted a strong scent. Despite an intensive search no further trace of the animal could be found''.

It should be noted that Naarding thought the thylacine was extinct in the area by 2005, due to logging and wildfires.

Cape Barren Island

The thylacine was never confirmed to have lived on Cape Barren Island (or any of the other Tasmanian islands for that matter), but one report has been made from the island in 1940 by a man named 'H. W. Pentland', which was reported by the biologist David Fleay, Fleay states:

[1]"Marsupial Wolf on Cape Barren Island? - Recently an interesting letter arrived from Mr. H. W. Pentland, then at a C.R.B. camp near Gerangamete. The astonishing part of his news lay in the statement that while encamped at a remote rocky part of Cape Barren Island he had seen two of the extremely rare Tasmanian tigers or marsupial wolves. Though never able to approach closely to these elusive animals, Mr. Pentland often found the remains of their kills. These were always wallabies and their leg-bones were usually well broken up and eaten away. Fogs were frequent in the mountainous region frequented by these mystery animals, but Mr. Pentland's enclosed drawing showed that he had seen enough to sketch his impressions, and they bore a distinct resemblance to illustrations of the Tasmanian wolf. Approximately the size of a dingo, the animals were fawn grey on forequarters and flanks, with rump and hindquarters appearing light yellowish at a distance. Mr. L. Smith, a friend of Mr. Pentland, has spent many months in the wild southwest of Tasmania, carrying provisions by pack horse to mining camps. As a man experienced in the ways an appearance of the marsupial wolf his general description of these remarkable looking animals appeared to tally exactly with what M. Pentland had seen on Cape Barren Island. At the present time, the general opinion is that the marsupial wolf, tiger or thylacine is confined to the remote southwest of Tasmania, being extremely rare. No record of its occurrence on any Bass Strait islands has ever been made. Still the matter is possible should the tigers have been liberated there in previous years. It is also interesting to remember that the mammalian fauna of these islands is closely similar to that of Tasmania. Should this note come before the notice of any Bass Strait islander, comments and hearsay on the subject would be most welcome."

Mainland Australia

The thylacine is known from mainland Australia from fossils, but seems to have disappeared there a few thousand years ago. Why is debated, but it's usually directed towards dingoes, humans and climate change. However, some reports from even pre-1936 times suggest it might have survived here into historic times. And after 1936, they started to gain popularity.

Doyle Film

Still of the Doyle film.

A video was taken in South Australia in 1973 by Liz and Gary Doyle, and it shows an animal running over a road. The animal in the video has been attributed to the thylacine by the tail, the gait, the way the ankle sits and that in some frames it seems to have stripes, and multiple analyses by Where Light Meets Dark have concluded it was consistent with the thylacine, though some think it's a dog or mangey fox.

Theories and identities

Misidentification

A lot of skeptics point to other thylacine like animals found in Australia, usually canids (often with mange), quolls and Tasmanian pademelons. Red foxes are confirmed to have been in Tasmania in 2000, and were thought to have been exterminated there by 2011, but a corpse of one was found in 2016. For the mainland, however, foxes are in the millions, and on the mainland, dingoes are also present. In both areas, feral dogs are present.

The TAGOA photos.

In 2021, a group of photos were released by the Thylacine Awarness Group Of Australia showing a few animals they thought were thylacines, but the anatomy of the animals on the photos was quickly linked with the Tasmanian pademelon.

Introduced thylacines

On the mainland, some people have theorized that thylacine were introduced onto the mainland, usually said to be for conservation, but these claims are unverified. However, The Thylacine Museum found evidence of this in the form of a newspaper from 1868, which states the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria had a farm with a tiger quoll (?), two Tasmanian devils and a thylacine.

Similar cryptids

See New Guinean thylacine for thylacine reports from Papua New Guinea and Western Papua. The Queensland Tiger, a cryptid which the thylacine is often compared with, which also has its own New Guinean version: New Guinea tiger.