The Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine) - Alive And Well?

The Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine) - Alive And Well?

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4aea4d7fe7a6.jpg[/atsimg]
Arkive.com

One of the most hotly contested debates in Australian Cryptozoology is the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger, or Thylacine.

Did it die out in the 1930s? Or are small numbers of the tiger alive today?

There have been thousands of sightings of the beast since its supposed demise in 1936. Some even on mainland Australia, where the tiger is meant to have died out over 2000 years ago.

Below I have composed a crash course in Tasmanian Tiger history as well as some of the better evidence for the Tiger’s continued existence.



History and Demise

The Thylacine, and its decedents, have been around for about 4 million years. Members of the same family go back as far as 23 million years.

With these numbers in mind, it becomes disturbing to think that an animal that was the dominant carnivore in the region for that long could be wiped out by man in less than 200 years.

The arrival of settlers to Australia is the key to the disappearance of this animal.

The island of Tasmania, off Australia’s South coast, is like an evolutionary bubble. There are creatures there that can be found nowhere else in the world, such as the Thylacines closest relative, the Tasmanian Devil. Once the mainland colonization began, groups began to explore the island in the south.

The first concrete sighting of the creature by non-Aboriginals was recorded by a group of French explorers in 1792. Tasmania was colonized not long after, in 1803. Finally, in 1824 the Thylacine was given its own genus and classified Thylacinus.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c38cc36d8f17.jpg[/atsimg]
Arkive.com

The creature earned the nickname Tasmanian Tiger/Wolf because of its habits and appearance. The Thylacine was an apex predator, a carnivore, which possibly hunted in packs and targeted small mammals and birds. It had tiger-like markings across its back and supported a distinctive, yet unique canine head.

In 1830 a bounty was set on the Thylacine, encouraged by farmers who’s herds were being attacked by the creatures. From then on the Thylacine went from the hunter to the hunted.

Over 2000 bounties were collected, but it is estimated many more were not reported. The already low numbers of Tiger were forced further and further into the corners of Tasmania to escape the expanding colony.

By the 1920s it had become almost impossible to find a Thylacine in the wild and in 1930 the last known wild Thylacine was shot and killed. The last known living Thylacine (in captivity in the Hobart Zoo) died in 1936.

Arkive.com has a great section on the Thylacine that includes photos and videos of this last Tiger in captivity before its death. On the page check the bottom to switch between photos and video.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6483fcde8060.jpg[/atsimg]
Arkive.com

Ever since there have been thousands of sightings of the creature, some reaching as far as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. I have gathered some of the best evidence of the Tigers continued existence below.



Photo and Video Evidence

In 1973, while on a drive in South Australia, Gary and Liz Doyle captured the following 8mm film of what appears to be a Thylacine running alongside and in front of their car.

WATCH THE FOOTAGE HERE

An online Thylacine expert, known as ‘Tigerman’, has the following to say about the Doyle film:

"The physical dimensions of the animal shown in the Doyles' footage are not consistent with a fox or dog - particularly the back legs, which look identical to those of the thylacine. The animal also appears to be bigger than a fox, and the tail seems to be longer and certainly straighter than that of a fox or dog. When running, most of the animal's driving force comes from the back legs, and some of the stills show it in a stance like that of a kangaroo. It is fairly simple to identify a hoaxed thylacine image, but I can't see anything in this film to suggest it is a hoax. The footage seems convincing to me - consistent with the running juvenile thylacine I saw in 2002, and there was no uncertainty in that case. The juvenile that I witnessed also ran primarily using the power of the back legs, and appeared to grab and pull at the ground with its front feet."

Source

In 2005 German tourist Klaus Emmerichs took a series of photographs that appear to show the indisputable markings and shape of a Thylacine in a cluster of bushes.

There have been several analysis of the photographs performed since, and it is theorized that they are forgeries using a Thylacine photograph from a German textbook. This has not been proven, but comparisons are fairly convincing.

For copyright reasons, all copies of the photographs (that I know of) have been taken off the internet.



Tracks and Castings

The aforementioned ‘Tigerman’ is one of the leading Tiger print collectors of the current generation.

In 2005 he published a free book entitled ‘Magnificent Survivor – Continued Existence of the Tasmanian Tiger’. The book can be downloaded (still for free) from the following link.

Magnificent Survivor – Continued Existence of the Tasmanian Tiger FREE DOWNLOAD

In the book, and on his website, he shares casts and photographs that are indisputably from the Tasmanian Tiger.

Once again, due to copyright reasons, I can’t directly embed the images here. Check the above link regarding the book for a quick comparison between one of the discovered prints and known animals in the area. It is clear that the Tiger is the only animal to match the print.

Some great casts can also be seen at Naturalworlds.org.

Naturalworlds.org Thylacine Casts




Conclusion

Finding a live specimen of the Thylacine would be the holy grail of all Australian Cryptozoologists.

I think humanity has a responsibility to prove the continued existence of the Thylacine. We were the major contributor to its destruction and need to capture live specimens and begin breeding programs as soon as possible so we can at least begin to make up for the damage we caused.

With the mounting evidence it may not be long before more scientists and researchers are willing to throw their hats into the ring and assist in the re-discovery of this creature.

[edit on 1-6-2009 by fooffstarr]

Sources and Further Reading

Wikipedia - Thylacine

Livescience - Thylacine

Tasmanian-Tiger.com

Arkive - Photos and Videos

Naturalworlds.org - Mainland Sightings

Naturalworlds.org - Magnificent Survivor

Magnificent Survivor E-Book

Wherelightmeetsdark.com

Edit: Link added as requested by fooffstarr.

[edit on 5-6-2009 by Gemwolf]

I've always been fascinated about the Thylacine.

There has been consistent rumours of a similar looking creature getting about my local area (Southwest WA) It's aptly named the Nannup tiger.

There is a lot of untouched bush around here so who knows.

Good thread, as always

reply to post by fooffstarr


Well researched and laid out! I don't have the time to read it now but flagged and starred.

My brother-in-law swears he saw one near Stannum, just outside the Torrington State Recreation Area in Northern Tablelands, New South Wales.

Him and his young son also had a run-in with a large (think Panther sized) cat on his property in the same area a couple of months ago.

Very wild bushland in these parts, anything could be in there! BIG CALL in my opinion, with a country as rugged as Oz and as lightly populated, that the Thylacine is extinct.

Originally posted by Chadwickus
I've always been fascinated about the Thylacine.

There has been consistent rumours of a similar looking creature getting about my local area (Southwest WA) It's aptly named the Nannup tiger.

There is a lot of untouched bush around here so who knows.

Good thread, as always

Cheers.

Yeah there are reports of big cats and Thylacine-like creatures all over Australia. Some claim this points towards mass hallucinations and a human need to experience something unique.

I claim they are looking too far into it... I think it points towards something real existing.

Originally posted by jkrog08
reply to post by fooffstarr

 

Well researched and laid out! I don't have the time to read it now but flagged and starred.

Thanks Enjoy the read when you get around to it.

Originally posted by heffo7
My brother-in-law swears he saw one near Stannum, just outside the Torrington State Recreation Area in Northern Tablelands, New South Wales.

Him and his young son also had a run-in with a large (think Panther sized) cat on his property in the same area a couple of months ago.

Very wild bushland in these parts, anything could be in there! BIG CALL in my opinion, with a country as rugged as Oz and as lightly populated, that the Thylacine is extinct.

Wouldn't be surprised.

They have been spotted in SA and WA, so why not NSW, or QLD?

I doubt they ever disappeared entirely from the mainland to begin with, as is claimed.

ive mentioned this in a previous thylacine thread, ive seen one a couple years ago on the way home from work one evening. it was still light probably an hour before sunset, and since ive been interested in crypto stories i knew what one looked like, and i see it run across the highway , probably 50 meters in front of me...well, it wasnt a run like a dog but more like a half hop half trot type of movement.

pointless telling anyone as no one would beleive me.....was in the outer western suburbs of melbourne, still sparcely populated in places and heaps of paddocks and grass lands......

few years later through u hunting club i was a member off, i got to talking to an old bloke who had a friend in the CSIRO, who confided in him that the CSIRO had a small population of tazzie tigers in victoria that they were breeding in the wild. was of the upmost secrecy the location of them, but they were breeding them.....i wonder of the one i saw was one that escaped?

CSIRO will publicly deny the existance of them the same way they deny the existance of a vast population of black pumas throughout the countryside here that constantly attack cattle, and that have had hair samples done.

i know of a person that gave hair samples of a black puma to the CSIRO to test that he got off a farmer who's sheep were attacked by one. CSIRO returned the results and said is was a feral domestic cat. so he went to a private zoo and got another hair sample from a real black puma and sent that in a few weeks later.....CSIRO returned the results as a feral domestic cat again.....

why the secrecy?

Excellent. Excellent excellent excellent thread. Flagged (lol).

I don't have much to add, other than that my friend's brother is working with cloning the DNA into mice embryos. But I'm pretty sure the tigers are doing fine in Australia. Just because they aren't in our faces doesn't mean they're not around, it just means they're smart.

reply to post by ravenshadow13


Gah, you reminded me.

I forgot to include anything about the cloning attempts.

Perhaps a whole separate topic? I'd throw that one to you considering your link to it.

Very interesting creature. It's a shame they were slaughtered to extinction by humans.

Originally posted by Melbourne_Militia
CSIRO will publicly deny the existance of them the same way they deny the existance of a vast population of black pumas throughout the countryside here that constantly attack cattle, and that have had hair samples done.

why the secrecy?

I ask myself the same question.

I can understand a bit of secrecy about the big cat population. People would panic if they thought Pumas and Panthers were running wild on the outskirts of settlements.

The Thylacine issue is different though. They aren't (and never were) a threat to humans. They are a sadly destroyed treasure of Australian individuality and our unique evolutionary situation.

Hopefully the few that are (supposedly) left are revealed to the public in my lifetime.

Really interesting comment about that puma hair though. I've never trusted the CSIRO anyway.

The tiger always piqued my interest. The footage of the last one in captivity was both sad and intriguing. My Jack Russell, when he's wet after a bath and pacing back and forth in his kennel, looks eerily like that emaciated tiger. And so that old footage is never far from my mind.

I can remember reading of the demise of the Dodo, Carrier Pigeon, Caribbean Monk Seal, Carolina Parakeet and others as a kid. Then of course Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer brought the coelacanth to world-wide attention. I can remember the paperback book "Search for a Living Fossil" by Eleanor Lowenton Clymer. It was written for kids and a real "page turner". I Googled it and you can still find it used. It was published in 1965. Talk about dating yourself.

Thanks for the fascinating thread fooffstarr! Good posts everyone.

Wherelightmeetsdark.com covers the topic of the Thylacin in great depth. It hosts all (well most) of the evidence including several photographs and video (screen) shots of supposed sightings. It also maps 40+ places around Australia where there were supposed sightings for "tiger hunters"...
One thing is sure - Australia has (had?) some of the strangest creatures.

Something that always springs to mind when I think Thylacin is the rumour that Steve Irwin did a "Crocodile Hunter" episode of the animal, which was never aired. He supposedly captured the animal on film... Why not just ask Terri?
Example of Rumour


[edit on 5-6-2009 by Gemwolf]

reply to post by Hemisphere


Cheers.

The captivity footage is indeed sad. The poor thing looks so lonely. It is as if it knows it is the (supposedly) last of its kind.

I hadn't heard of that book, but it is a bit before my time. I will look it up in the library, although I doubt they will have it.


reply to post by Gemwolf


Cheers for the link mate.

I actually dropped in there while browsing the net trying to find a remaining copy of the Emmerichs photo. Sadly, I think the only readily accessible source for it now is the MonsterQuest episode about the Thylacine.

Surprising I forgot to add it to my sources list. It is too late for me to edit it, but if you want to use your (mystical ) moderator powers and add it on on the end it would be appreciated.

I had never heard of that particular Steve Irwin rumor either. I don't think Steve would have allowed that information to be silenced if he had the ability to tell the world. Unless he was muzzled with some severe consequences it would have been aired.

As previous posters have mentioned, the Australian CSIRO aren't exactly cooperative about Australian cryptids. I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to get their grubby paws into that particular example either.

reply to post by fooffstarr


I added the link to your list of extra reads.

You never know, but I for one hope it is true. The Tasmanian tiger has always been one of my favorite cases. That and the bird of paradise (which thank god they found alive in Indonesia).

There is only one thing left to do. Find the dodo bird

[edit on 5-6-2009 by DaMod]

yes
they are here ( i am in Tassie)

i have had around 20 different storys from the people who have actually seen and or heard the thylacine and on top of that, i am 99% sure that i have experienced their strange cry/howl/yap near my house, twice. Both times at the same time of year and both times my dog became very anxious and growled, which for her ( a lovely fat lab) is way, way out of character. I had the hairs on my neck stand up as i could hear 'her' ( i am assuming) making her way up the creek bed about a km from my house.
( by the way, a farmer was shooting wallabies several years before in the same area and had one in his spotlight. before he could finish his philosophical thoughts on shooting it, so people believed him, or not it was gone!)

i have heard so many story's from people of all ages that have seen them.
the funny thing is they tell you, but quietly.
Here in Tasmania if you have seen, one you are careful who you tell. People are scared to be called crazy. You can be ostracized in your community if you go about telling everyone what you have seen, so you only tell the people who you know will believe you.
There are so many sightings which never, never see the light of day.
On top of that there are so many sightings which are reported but never revealed because of sinister intentions.
its sad, the Thylacine seems to be the silent meat in a sandwich of a battle here that has been raging for decades.

Why do we not hear more ?
There is a conspiracy here...i am sure. I will maybe start a thread about later...

[edit on 12-6-2009 by 2theC]

It could be still alive. THe takahe was supposed to be extinct for I think 80 years. It wasn't.

great thread .the Thylacine has always fascinated me after learning about it at school many moons ago. seen a good doco on Discovery as well.

thanks for all the Links .

I did find this image if anyone is interested. Looks pretty good to me.



Source