Thylacine - a species presumed to be extinct Thylacine - a species presumed to be extinct
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Australian Endangered Species Profile Sheet
Common Names: Thylacine, Tasmanian Tiger, Tasmanian Wolf
Scientific Name: Thylacinus cynocephalus
The scientific name means 'pouched dog with a wolf head'.
Conservation Status: Presumed Extinct
Thylacines were not dogs; they were Australia's largest carnivorous (meat-eating) marsupial. Adults were about one metre long and had a tail about 65cm long covered with short hair. Adult Tasmanian Tigers weighed between 15 and 35kg. Their fur was short, thick and coarse, sandy brown in colour with dark brown stripes across the back, rump and base of tail. These stripes are the reason the animal was called a `tiger'. The powerful jaws of the Thylacine could open very wide, and they had five toes on each front foot unlike a dog.
Fossils of Thylacines show they were once widespread on the Australian mainland and in Papua New Guinea. Rock paintings of Thylacines can be found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and in the Northern Territory. They are thought to have disappeared from everywhere except Tasmania about 2 - 3 000 years ago. By 1863 the Thylacine could only be found in remote areas in Tasmania. They have not definitely been seen in the wild since 1933.
Thylacines preferred open forest, woodlands and grassy plains that had rocky areas nearby for the animals to hide or shelter amongst during the day.
Thylacines disappeared from mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea probably because they had to compete with Dingoes on mainland Australia and wild dogs in Papua New Guinea.
Thylacines were still common in Tasmania when Europeans settled probably because there were no Dingoes. However they ate the sheep and chickens that settlers brought to Australia, and the settlers shot them to protect their stock. As early as 1863, John Gould predicted that "it will, like the wolf of England and Scotland, be recorded as an animal of the past". From 1888 to 1912 the Tasmanian Government offered a reward for the heads of Thylacines and many more were killed. During this time the habitat of Thylacines was being destroyed as forests were cleared for farming.
The number of Thylacines fell dramatically because of hunting, loss of habitat, competition with domestic dogs and possibly disease. The last recorded wild Thylacine was shot in 1933 and the last one collected from the wild died in Hobart Zoo in 1936. In that same year the Tasmanian Government passed a law to protect Thylacines but it was too late. Despite thorough searching and many reported sightings in Tasmania and mainland Australia the Tasmanian Tiger has not been reliably seen or reported for more than 50 years.
Thylacines were mainly nocturnal (active at night) and although they would sometimes hunt in pairs or in a family group, they usually hunted by themselves. Their prey included kangaroos, wallabies, small mammals and birds. Thylacines had strong wide jaws for capturing prey. They hunted by chasing until their prey was exhausted.
Thylacines mated from winter to spring. The female carried her young in a pouch which opened backwards. She had four teats, but raised only two or three young at a time. Young Thylacines left the pouch after three months but stayed close to the nest or their mother until they were able to hunt for themselves. Thylacines communicated by a range of noises from a coughing bark to a whining cry. The lifespan of the Thylacine is only known from those that lived in zoos. One animal lived for 12 years.
Thylacines are not closely related to any other animals. They are unique and the only member of the Family Thylacinidae. Earlier scientists linked them with the Families Canidae (dogs, wolves) and Dasyuridae (carnivorous marsupials - quolls, dunnarts, Tasmanian Devil, etc) because of their habits and appearance.
Presumed Extinct: An animal or plant species that has not been found in the wild during the past 50 years.
Endangered: An animal or plant species that is in danger of extinction and will probably not survive if threats to it continue.
Vulnerable: An animal or plant species that will probably become endangered if threats to it continue.
Flannery T (1990) Australia's Vanishing Mammals. R D Press, Sydney.
Guiler E R (1985) Thylacine: The Tragedy of the Tasmanian Tiger. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Strahan R (1983) The Australian Museum Complete Book of Australian Mammals. Angus and Robertson.