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The Thylacine ('Tasmanian Tiger' Or 'Wolf')

It appears that thylacine fur glows under ultraviolet light:

'Exciting' new thylacine discovery shines light on Tasmania's extinct marsupialIn the darkest depths of 2020, a charming story brought light to our lives.​

A group of researchers in the United States shone a black light — a type of ultraviolet light — on a preserved platypus pelt to find that it glows.

The story went globally viral and researchers at the Western Australian Museum were inspired to shine a black light on many specimens, such as bilbies and wombats, finding that these marsupials also glowed.

This left ABC Radio Hobart journalist Lucie Cutting wondering; do thylacines follow this rule and would they glow under black light?

Thylacines, or Tassie tigers, were the world's largest carnivorous marsupials before they were hunted to extinction.

In 1936 Benjamin, the last known thylacine, died of exposure at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart.

The species continues to fascinate people around the world, with some believing it is still alive and others plotting its return.
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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08...r-ultraviolet-light-tasmanian-tiger/101346906
 
Lord Lucan said:
It appears that thylacine fur glows under ultraviolet light: ...
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The first thing that occurs to me is to determine whether the luminescence exhibited under UV exposure is a property of the pelt / fur itself versus something added to the specimens during preservation.
 
EnolaGaia said:
The first thing that occurs to me is to determine whether the luminescence exhibited under UV exposure is a property of the pelt / fur itself versus something added to the specimens during preservation.
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Most specimens outside of the Australian Museum, who got a lot of their material from Melbourne Zoo, won't have been treated with anything, at least not initially. Later conservation might entail this though. They'll have been cured in a skin shed by game trappers. The skin they had the hair samples from surfaced a few years back in a shop in New Zealand, it would have been taken over there privately, and would have been cured traditionally. I don't think the back story of this skin is known yet but I do know the degree of colour preservation it displays strongly suggests that nothing was added, and it's been protected from light. Traditional curing isn't always great either though. I've seen the skins in the Tasmanian Museum, I think they're discoloured and the then Curator of Vertebrates told me she put that down to bark tanning.

Aside from that, this glowing mallarky has been observed recently in living animals from a wide range of species. I think it's probably an innate property of the hairs.
brownmane said:
I don't understand why they are so excited about the reaction to ultraviolet light. Does anyone know why?
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No.
 
brownmane said:
I don't understand why they are so excited about the reaction to ultraviolet light. Does anyone know why?
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First thing I thought of was - they can go out looking at night with a UV light and might have more luck finding one?

I am so invested in these being found in a breeding population somewhere. I have no idea why, most other 'extinct' species don't inspire me in the same way.
 
catseye said:
First thing I thought of was - they can go out looking at night with a UV light and might have more luck finding one?

I am so invested in these being found in a breeding population somewhere. I have no idea why, most other 'extinct' species don't inspire me in the same way.
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Same problem with using infrared/heat signatures. You might be able to find animals but since they are pretty small in a huge area, the signal is tiny and easily missed. And it might not be what you are looking for.
 
Sharon Hill said:
Same problem with using infrared/heat signatures. You might be able to find animals but since they are pretty small in a huge area, the signal is tiny and easily missed. And it might not be what you are looking for.
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Another argument for the new generation of blimps equipped with sensors, camera etc and drones. Float almost silently above likely habitat/locations taking high quality footage and send a drone down to check out any decent hits.

Just need a billionaire, perhaps the same one who is needed for the Big Bigfoot Blimp search…
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Another argument for the new generation of blimps equipped with sensors, camera etc and drones. Float almost silently above likely habitat/locations taking high quality footage and send a drone down to check out any decent hits.

Just need a billionaire, perhaps the same one who is needed for the Big Bigfoot Blimp search…
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Even if thylacines were still present given that this may be a property common among marsupials (and I have no idea if it is), were that to happen you'd probably only end up multiple glow in the dark targets which would require a superhuman level of species recognition to decipher.

I think the biggest question is why people people think thylacines might still endure.
 
The Tasmanian Tiger that wasn't? Could be a mangy fox or dog. Whatever it is, it's peculiar looking.

Mystery animal in Belair National Park unlikely to be Tasmanian tiger​

While scientists are working on the de-extinction of the Tasmanian tiger in the lab, one bush walker in the Adelaide Hills has spotted a creature which she says shared a striking resemblance.

Key points:​

  • Bushwalkers spotted a creature they say looked like a thylacine
  • One expert says it is unlikely as Tasmanian tigers were extinct on the mainland at least 2,000 years ago
  • He has encouraged people to not give up in the search for the animal

This month, Jessie Milde was walking in Belair National Park in the Adelaide Hills with her son and sister when they sighted a mysterious creature.

"We saw this thing starting to move across the road, and to start with, it's a bit strange, you sort of go through a bit of a thought process in your head, and it's like, oh, that's a bit of a weird looking kangaroo," she said.

"Then I thought it's a really scraggy looking dog. But then it got a bit closer to us and I thought, no, it's not a dog either.

"It had a really weird gait to it, a sort of lolloping almost movement."

Her sister was convinced it was a Tasmanian tiger.
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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-24/possible-tasmanian-tiger-sighting-in-adelaide-hills/101362246
 
Lord Lucan said:
The Tasmanian Tiger that wasn't? Could be a mangy fox or dog. Whatever it is, it's peculiar looking.

Mystery animal in Belair National Park unlikely to be Tasmanian tiger​


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-24/possible-tasmanian-tiger-sighting-in-adelaide-hills/101362246
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Tail doesn't look right for a Thylacene and no obvious striping but it is weird, doesn't look much like a dog either IMO.

Wasn't there someone in the 19th Century who imported Thylacenes on to the mainland for his animal park. Was it near Belair NP?
 
oldrover said:
I think the biggest question is why people people think thylacines might still endure.
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In my case, because their habitat is sufficiently large and undeveloped that a population could endure without being regularly sighted. So it's possible (maybe not probable, but possible) that they are still around.
 
Tunn11 said:
Tail doesn't look right for a Thylacene and no obvious striping but it is weird, doesn't look much like a dog either IMO.

Wasn't there someone in the 19th Century who imported Thylacenes on to the mainland for his animal park. Was it near Belair NP?
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Fox? I am watching it on my phone, so quite small. Just a guess, particularly with the tail.
 
catseye said:
In my case, because their habitat is sufficiently large and undeveloped that a population could endure without being regularly sighted. So it's possible (maybe not probable, but possible) that they are still around.
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Yes, but unfortunately none were definitely retrieved from that habitat after August 1930, and that was a rare enough event to draw the crowds in. Also, that land was fairly well trodden back then, there was trapping, timber cutting, and mineral prospecting going on. There were also townships which are now abandoned, many of whose residents were part time snarers. Tasmania's rural economy has altered since then, trapping ended during the 80s and large scale mining is over. That's why the land seems untouched to us now.

Only a few thylacines were ever targeted, the vast majority were taken in wallaby snares. The amount of snaring which took place in Tasmania is hard to imagine, but in some years duty was paid on over a million animals (wallabies and possums). Although it lessened during the 30s Tasmania's snaring industry wrought havoc with the State's wildlife, but it also acted as a dedicated and very widespread wildlife survey. Through it, you can trace thylacines, which don't seem to have existed in great number in the first place even for an apex predator, just petering out.
 
Tunn11 said:
Wasn't there someone in the 19th Century who imported Thylacenes on to the mainland for his animal park. Was it near Belair NP?
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No, definitely not. This is a myth or misconception that's built up in last few decades. I think it seems to based on the misunderstanding of the activities of he Acclimitisation Society of Victoria. They did purchase live thylacines and they did import foreign species to be released onto the mainland. So far so good, but the species they released, the same ones which people have been trying to eradicate ever since, were the sort they deemed to be beneficial in some way, deer, rabbits etc. They weren't releasing medium sized threats to livestock. Though by the time they bought their live thylacines, around 1864 ish, they had opened a zoological collection to the public in one of Melbourne's parks, which would later become Melbourne Zoo. It was there that the live thylacines went.
 
oldrover said:
Yes, but unfortunately none were definitely retrieved from that habitat after August 1930, and that was a rare enough event to draw the crowds in. Also, that land was fairly well trodden back then, there was trapping, timber cutting, and mineral prospecting going on. There were also townships which are now abandoned, many of whose residents were part time snarers. Tasmania's rural economy has altered since then, trapping ended during the 80s and large scale mining is over. That's why the land seems untouched to us now.

Only a few thylacines were ever targeted, the vast majority were taken in wallaby snares. The amount of snaring which took place in Tasmania is hard to imagine, but in some years duty was paid on over a million animals (wallabies and possums). Although it lessened during the 30s Tasmania's snaring industry wrought havoc with the State's wildlife, but it also acted as a dedicated and very widespread wildlife survey. Through it, you can trace thylacines, which don't seem to have existed in great number in the first place even for an apex predator, just petering out.
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I still have hope. There are other species which were announced 'definitely extinct' and rediscovered (none, admittedly quite as large as the thylacine), so I am keeping the faith.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Tassie Tiger or fox with mange...?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-24/possible-tasmanian-tiger-sighting-in-adelaide-hills/101362246

[video]
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I mentioned a fox. The spotted quoll mentioned in article is an interesting looking creature and lives in Australia. Though I don't know about size. My quick browse about them doesn't make them seem large as a fox, though I am only guessing distance and relative size. Maybe the video sighting is closer than I think.
 
An interesting article:

tastig.jpg


David Fleay's four-month expedition into wilds of Tasmania in bid to save thylacines from extinction​

There's a greater chance thylacines, known as Tasmanian tigers, could have been saved from extinction if the pleas of renowned naturalist David Fleay had been heard, his son says.

One of Stephen Fleay's earliest memories is of his father's four-month search for a pair of thylacines, starting in November 1945, when Stephen was three years old.

His father had lobbied authorities unsuccessfully to protect the species and was "bitterly disappointed" when he was unable to find a breeding pair, despite evidence the animal still existed.
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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10...-to-save-thylacines-from-extinction/101530572
 
The remains of a female Thaylacine, thought to be the last of her kind have been discovered:

Remains of extinct animal found in cupboard after 85-year mystery​

Remains belonging to an Australian animal that went extinct more than 85 years ago have been discovered.
The remains of Australia’s last known Tasmanian tiger, suspected to have been lost more than 85 years ago, have been found in a museum cupboard.
And the discovery has also corrected which animal was, in fact, the last living thylacine in Tasmania.
It has been long believed that a male thylacine named Benjamin that died at Hobart Zoo on September 7, 1936, was the last known Tasmanian tiger.
However, now the incredible discovery in a cupboard at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s (TMAG) education office has turned that claim on its head, ABC reports.
The tanned skin and skeleton of a female thylacine had not been catalogued correctly which is how it took so long for the mystery to be solved.
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https://www.news.com.au/technology/...y/news-story/e4000a131fe2fad12f8ca997ecf0f973
 
Ascalon said:
Has anyone been watching the Amazon Prime series Peripheral from the William Gibson book?
There is a nice scene in it where a brace of re-engineered thylacines are tucking into their dinner in a posh back yard.
Nice touch.
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Never even heard of it. What's the premise?
 
oldrover said:
Yes, but unfortunately none were definitely retrieved from that habitat after August 1930, and that was a rare enough event to draw the crowds in. Also, that land was fairly well trodden back then, there was trapping, timber cutting, and mineral prospecting going on. There were also townships which are now abandoned, many of whose residents were part time snarers. Tasmania's rural economy has altered since then, trapping ended during the 80s and large scale mining is over. That's why the land seems untouched to us now.

Only a few thylacines were ever targeted, the vast majority were taken in wallaby snares. The amount of snaring which took place in Tasmania is hard to imagine, but in some years duty was paid on over a million animals (wallabies and possums). Although it lessened during the 30s Tasmania's snaring industry wrought havoc with the State's wildlife, but it also acted as a dedicated and very widespread wildlife survey. Through it, you can trace thylacines, which don't seem to have existed in great number in the first place even for an apex predator, just petering out.
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You make some strong points, but I remembered how some hedgehogs have learnt to avoid roads:

https://www.shortlist.com/news/london-hedgehogs-are-proof-that-natural-selection-exists

So maybe thylacines learnt to recognise and avoid snares…?

Edit: just came across this….

https://recentlyextinctspecies.com/database/the-thylacine-archive
 
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BTW, just in case anyone wasn't aware, there is a well preserved specimen Thylacine in the Natural History Museum, Dublin*.


Thylacine1.jpg


Though I'd imagine they are common enough as specimens throughout Britain, given the colonial influence in specimen collecting.



*With a collection composed primarily of preserved specimens, the museum is known locally, and affectionately, as "the Dead Zoo"
 
Ascalon said:
BTW, just in case anyone wasn't aware, there is a well preserved specimen Thylacine in the Natural History Museum, Dublin*.


Thylacine1.jpg


Though I'd imagine they are common enough as specimens throughout Britain, given the colonial influence in specimen collecting.



*With a collection composed primarily of preserved specimens, the museum is known locally, and affectionately, as "the Dead Zoo"
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There is a nice one in Leeds and a bunch of skulls.
 
Put this on here as I thought anyone interested would see it first

Dmax channel 39 9pm tonight Extinct or Alive Tasmanian Tiger
it seems part 2 or something else about the same is on right after
this.
 
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