Sunday, November 11, 2007

Tasmanian Tiger: Alive And On Film?

From Wiki:

The Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. Native to Australia and New Guinea, it is thought to have become extinct in the 20th century. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger (due to its striped back), the Tasmanian Wolf, and colloquially the Tassie (or Tazzy) Tiger or simply the Tiger.[a] It was the last extant member of its genus, Thylacinus, although a number of related species have been found in the fossil record dating back to the early Miocene.

The Thylacine became extinct on the Australian mainland thousands of years before European settlement of the continent, but survived on the island of Tasmania along with a number of other endemic species, including the Tasmanian Devil. Intensive hunting encouraged by bounties is generally blamed for its extinction, but other contributory factors may have been disease, the introduction of dogs, and human encroachment into its habitat. Despite being officially classified as extinct, sightings are still reported.

Sightings are still reported, and apparently filmed on occasion as well. Loren Coleman has collected a number of these videos from YouTube and posted them here. I've picked the best of them, and coupled it with some zoo footage from the early 20th century so you can get an idea of how the animals typically moved. Note that the first few seconds of the zoo footage may be film of the creature in the wild, but its pretty grainy. Both clips are from Cryptomundo.

Zoo Footage


Tiger In The Wild?



Note that the hindquarters do seem appropriately striped.

6 comments:

Raging Ranter said...

Goddam. That really does look like a Tasmanian Tiger doesn't it. Are there enough remote wilderness areas left in Tasmania that this thing could have escaped notice for the past 100 years?

bigcitylib said...

There's room for Dingos, and they're about the same size.

900ft Jesus said...

this is great, BCL! I have always been fascinated by the Tasmanian tiger. I've only seen the zoo clip before this. According to reports, people still see them occasionally and some sound pretty credible, but farmers don't lie reporting them since they kill sheep and would rather have people believe they are extinct so they can keep killing any they see.

I think there may be a few left. Out here where I live, the Eastern Elk is supposed to be extinct (since the forties, I think) but natives say they've seen the odd one, and my pal and I saw one hit by a car a month ago. Same for wolves. I hear them howl every night (very different from coyotes) but MNR says there aren't any in this area.

The T. tiger might be around. Apparently the import of the dingo did him in. Tiger couldn't compete.

Thanks again!

Raging Ranter said...

They thought cougars were extinct in Ontario (actually anywhere west of the Riding Mountains in MB) for the past 60 years or so, but there have been confirmed sightings, even here in eastern Ontario. Whether the cats have always been here or they are just moving back into their old territory, no one knows. Since cougar populations still exist elsewhere, it's quite possible they are simply repopulating their old turf. Wolves have been doing this as well, trickling over the border from Canada into Montana and Idaho.

Also, lynx have moved south into Minnesota and Michigan. They've actually found several lynx-bobcat hybrids (called "blynx) in both MN and MI, which is kind of cool. Since the northern states have been largely reforested (they were nearly entirely denuded as little as 100 years ago), it's likely the lynx are just trickling back into there old habitat as well.

Anonymous said...

this is of that animals that for disgrace is rare see in wild state, and this is our fault, the destruction of then environment, some organization like Viagra Online are trying to save the rest of the ambient.

Unknown said...

Does look like Tasmanian tiger Rare videos.

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