Tasmanian Tiger Really Extinct?

Wildlife scientists have re-opened the cryptic case of a carnivore that resembled a striped coyote and vanished from its Australian haunt nearly 80 years ago.

It seems they found some droppings in the 60's and they are going to test the DNA to see if it was from one of the Tigers, plus there have been multiple sightings so they are going to reopen the case and investigate.

Tasmanian Tiger

I dont know I remember seeing a recent video somewhere that looked like one of the tigers.
I hope they are still alive, why not..
And if they are how do they stay hidden for so many years years. The last one ever seen was one in capture and it died in 1936.

Here that video

theres an analysis page for that footage here
www.wherelightmeetsdark.com...
to save you the trouble theres no evidence that the footage shows a thylacine
but then again theres no real evidence that it doesn't

but heres my problem with the logic surrounding the claim that Tasmanian tigers are still around and just hiding
this ability of theirs at hiding didn't seem so remarkable when they were hunted to exctinction back in the 1930s did it

That footage actually gives a pretty good impression of a thylacine. Too bad it's only a step above "blobsquatch" in quality.

Marduk, I don't think it's "hiding", I think it's "continued to exist where they weren't hunted, and occasionally stray outside that area". Sort of like the Florida panther.

All the recent photos and video are inconclusive. There are plenty of anecdotal reports of sightings by competent observers.

Originally posted by Marduk

but heres my problem with the logic surrounding the claim that Tasmanian tigers are still around and just hiding
this ability of theirs at hiding didn't seem so remarkable when they were hunted to exctinction back in the 1930s did it

And how true your logic would be IF they are exctinct. However if there abilities at hiding are as remarkable as some people say then maybe there are a few left. It is possible.

I read something a week or two ago about a creature thought exctinct but rediscovered recently. Sorry cant remember what it was maybe someone else seen it also.

We would love nothing better (down here) than for someone to discover that these unique creatures are still surviving but to be honest I believe it is very unlikely.

There have been so called sighting but nothing conclusive. What has been sighted could be anything but I doubt it is the Tiger.

[edit on 22/7/2007 by Lady of the Lake]

Unfortunately most of the footage and pictures I have seen, in my opinion,
are of foxes with chronic mange.
However I would really like the Thylocine to be alive, well and genetically viable somewhere out there in the Australian bush maybe in Tasmania itself.
I think the history that has led to its probable demise was tragic.

Sorry I meant to comment also on the post about another thought to be extinct animal, it was a species of Echidna in New Zealand.
The species are known collectively as Monotremes and include the Platypus they are unusual in that they lay eggs and yet have mostly mammalian characteristics.
The young are commonly known as Puggles, (honestly).

That video, by the way, was taken in South Australia. Despite popular opinion that thylacines became extinct on mainland Australia (including South Australia) some 2000 to 3000 years ago, Robert Paddle in his book on the species reveals some 19th century references to thylacines living in South Australia. These included one first-hand Aboriginal account, the examination by a naturalist of the remains of a thylacine collected in that state (and another killed in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, New South Wales) and an article discussing how the South Australian government issued a bounty in that state also for the destruction of the species.

The most likely location within South Australia seems to be the Flinders Ranges near Lake Torrens.

Further, in the late 1960s there was a spate of sightings from the south east of that state. Some believe that this was the first time that region was properly settled and due to landclearing (for the sake of laying down farms) many thylacines were spotted. Certainly some articles (and maps) show between 20 and 30 sighting locations for this period.

One person to sight an animal at the shores of the 100km (60 mile?) backwater named the Coorong, was author and thylacine researcher Col Bailey in 1967. He later moved to Tasmania and interviewed many of the "old timers" that were involved first-hand hunting the thylacine in Tasmania. Thanks to Col we have a much richer history of this animal than we would have otherwise.

One argument to explain why thylacines may be difficult to detect now is that previously people were allowed to trap and poison in order to obtain specimens. Since 1936 they have been fully protected and we now have to rely on cameras and first-hand eyewitness accounts.

I agree with comments here that there is no photograph which undeniably - or even very likely - shows a thylacine. In my opinion the footage captured by Liz and Gary Doyle in south-east South Australia in 1973 is amongst the most consistent with the species. Bear in mind this was only 6 years after Col Bailey's sighting and in the midst of 20 - 30 sightings in the area in total.

Another interesting story - you can find it at tasmanian-tiger.com - is of a farmer in Tasmania who, in the 1950s (? or was it 1960s?) laid traps for rabbits, but caught a thylacine. He told a friend who told the whole town who reported it to the newspapers. Within days wildlife officers from New South Wales came to visit - one also a police officer. The farmer claims he was directly threatened and the officers confiscated both the thylacine skin and a quoll skin. The farmer kept quiet about it for decades before finally breaking his silence. Subsequent searches of the minutes of meetings for the Fauna Protection Board showed that the two officers "cautioned him about killing native fauna". No mention of the thylacine. According to the tasmanian-tiger.com website the farmer believes they showed the organisation the quoll skin but kept the thylacine skin hidden.

That's just one of the dozens of stories of thylacine sightings from Tasmania. True - the mind can deceive, and famous Australian Dick Smith has an excellent piece in the journal Australian Geographic where he describes how he was absolutely convinced he'd seen the wreckage of the aircraft Kookaburra from his own plane whilst flying overhead in the outback. He and his team searched but could not relocate the Kookaburra. Eventually the wreck *was* found - several kilometers away from where he adamantly believed he'd seen it.

That alone is a sufficient example to explain why eyewitness testimony will almost certainly never be accepted as conclusive proof. The most reputable sighting we know of was by parks officer Hans Naarding in 1982 - but still no concrete proof.

Lastly - the other footage that warrants a mention is the Charleville "lion" from Queensland. A very short piece of film, but very thylacine-like.

Chris.
www.wherelightmeetsdark.com
www.mainlanddevils.com

I did a project on Tasmanian Tigers in school and i remember a website saying that in Tasmania there are forest patches that no one has ever been into because of the thickness of the plants and that the tigers may be living in these places.

I'm going to Tasmania in a week, I'll keep an eye out for ya, who knows, i might paint a dog yellow with brown stripes and take a blurry pic of it, wow its a tazzie tiger! j/k guys i wouldn't hoax you all...knowing you guys I'd be tackled by debunkers...thats a good thing



Roswell.