• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Thylacines & Thylacoleos: Pre-1936 & Genetic Ethics

Article here on Col Bailey, plus some input from Nick Mooney.

"The bushman told him he was a returned serviceman and that after coming home from World War II he was out trapping animals in the Weld Valley with his father when they found a dead mother thylacine with two freezing, starving cubs trying to drink milk from her body. They took the two cubs back to their farm, reared them for a few months until they were strong enough, and released them back into the wild".

Really? Honestly? Cor!

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/t...s/news-story/81bcb88ef29b43896a02fc5c63dbe304
 
It's stories like that, that give us hope.
 
I think the opposite I'm afraid. But, as Mooney says, you cannot say absolutely.

I suppose as this is something I want to believe in so much, I'm cautious to the point of relentless pessimism.
 
New discovery christened Microleo. Teeny little relative of T carnifex. Apparently the size of a domestic kitten. Cute isn't in it.


It's difficult not to "Aww" at wombats. The herbivorous marsupials look like animate pillows. But now imagine a wombat that fed on flesh rather than grasses and roots. Such beasts really existed in the prehistoric past. These were the marsupial lions....​


http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/paleo-profile-the-micro-lion/
 
If we were responsible for the extinction of an animal and we develop the ability to bring it back......I think it is our responsibility to do so. We may or may not have caused the Mammoth's extinction. But it does appear we hurried it along. But we ARE responsible for the extinction of the Passenger pigeon and the Tasmanian wolf. Those two should be first in line for bringing back. Same goes for the Dodo bird.
 
C
oldrover said:
New discovery christened Microleo. Teeny little relative of T carnifex. Apparently the size of a domestic kitten. Cute isn't in it.


It's difficult not to "Aww" at wombats. The herbivorous marsupials look like animate pillows. But now imagine a wombat that fed on flesh rather than grasses and roots. Such beasts really existed in the prehistoric past. These were the marsupial lions....​


http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/paleo-profile-the-micro-lion/
Click to expand...
Humanity has made cuteness an adaptive trait for animals.
 
Cute that goes for your jugler, makes "cute" scary. Humans may be attracted to cute; but hard facts can turn cute into fearsome.
 
Brig said:
Cute that goes for your jugler, makes "cute" scary. Humans may be attracted to cute; but hard facts can turn cute into fearsome.
Click to expand...
I'm slightly baffled with the current anthropomorphisation of animals and the over-the-top love of cuteness in anything fluffy. I hypothesise the evolution of a new predator that looks cute and fluffy then eats you when you try to pet it or take a selfie with it.
 
Coal said:
I'm slightly baffled with the current anthropomorphisation of animals and the over-the-top love of cuteness in anything fluffy. I hypothesise the evolution of a new predator that looks cute and fluffy then eats you when you try to pet it or take a selfie with it.
Click to expand...
By a slightly tenuous synchronicity I was hypothesising a similar thing this morning except by combination of things Australia is already there. Animals seem to be either very deadly (funnel web spider) or brain-meltingly cute (platypuses, budgerigars etc) and some are a combination of both (quolls are practically the perfect combination of cute/scary). Possibly platy are scary too, not sure how much damage the toxic spur does?
 
I saw a wild quoll last year. It has been reintroduced to the Flinders Ranges here in my home state of South Australia. At first I thought it was a feral cat at the edge of the road, but as I drove closer I saw those spots and the snouty face and it was a joyous moment. It scurried off pretty quick. Hope they stay away from the traffic out there.
 
Most people react positively to cute and fluffy. I think it's inborn , a holdover to new born protectionism. But cute and fluffy can be misleading. I've known cute and fluffy puppies who are nip happy. As I understand it the Platypus spur is very painful but not normally fatal.
 
skinny said:
I saw a wild quoll last year. It has been reintroduced to the Flinders Ranges here in my home state of South Australia. At first I thought it was a feral cat at the edge of the road, but as I drove closer I saw those spots and the snouty face and it was a joyous moment. It scurried off pretty quick. Hope they stay away from the traffic out there.
Click to expand...

I envy you. I'd love to see a quoll, probably only the devil is higher up on my list.
 
I guess I do not know what a Quoil is. Uhhhhh, Old Rover do you figure the Devil is cute?
 
Brig said:
I guess I do not know what a Quoil is. Uhhhhh, Old Rover do you figure the Devil is cute?
Click to expand...

Oh my god yes. I know they'd never win any beauty contests...

images


...but how could you not love that?

baby-devils.jpg


Plus, their young definitely have the 'aaah factor'.
 
images


Quoll.

One of the Dasyuromorphia, the family making up the vast majority of the Australian predatory marsupials, which includes the thylacinidae, but not the thylocoleonidae. Within that, and along with a load of little brown things and the devil they make up the Dasyurids. Which may be a sister group to the thylacinidae.

There are six species of Quoll, all are in trouble. They're small, but very feisty.
 
kamalktk said:
C

Humanity has made cuteness an adaptive trait for animals.
Click to expand...

Wombats aren't cute - they like to bowl you over, then bite.

Just had a thought - Australia's got a rugby team somewhere...hasn't it...
 
I don't really want to dwell to much on the 'Wallabies' after last Saturday in Cardiff.

Edit: Tghis conversation reminds me of the possum in the 1978 'Long Weekend'.
 
Last edited:
We always learn some ting new. Now I know a Quoll is a Tasmainian devil. Mean lil cuss. I eonder which is meaner; the Wolverine or the Quoll? Both are famous for a lousy attitude
 
Brig said:
We always learn some ting new. Now I know a Quoll is a Tasmainian devil. Mean lil cuss. I eonder which is meaner; the Wolverine or the Quoll? Both are famous for a lousy attitude
Click to expand...

I saw a wild life show were a wolverine drove off an entire pack of wolves from their kill and heard of them taking on a grizzly bear to. Somebody forgot to tell him he is not that big....LOL
 
krissy97 said:
I saw a wild life show were a wolverine drove off an entire pack of wolves from their kill and heard of them taking on a grizzly bear to. Somebody forgot to tell him he is not that big....LOL
Click to expand...

They must be related to Jack Russell Terriers.
 
Krissy97 that was my point precisely. I have known outdoorsmen who would rather deal with a wolf pack than get a wolverines dander up. They are larger than the Quoll I have read about; but I suspect a confrontation between the two would be a bloody spectacle indeed.
 
Edited till later due to crappy writing
 
Last edited:
oldrover said:
images


Quoll.

One of the Dasyuromorphia, the family making up the vast majority of the Australian predatory marsupials, which includes the thylacinidae, but not the thylocoleonidae. Within that, and along with a load of little brown things and the devil they make up the Dasyurids. Which may be a sister group to the thylacinidae.

There are six species of Quoll, all are in trouble. They're small, but very feisty.
Click to expand...
I've seen these wild, very beautiful animals. I also spoke to a man who own a market garden and claimed to have shot one in the 1960s after it repeatedly killed his chickens. He said it was over five feet long including the tail and had a body the size of a cattle dog.
 
Brig said:
We always learn some ting new. Now I know a Quoll is a Tasmainian devil. Mean lil cuss. I eonder which is meaner; the Wolverine or the Quoll? Both are famous for a lousy attitude
Click to expand...
The Tasmanian devil is a different animal to the quoll. Both are related but distinct.
 
oldrover said:
Article here on Col Bailey, plus some input from Nick Mooney.

"The bushman told him he was a returned serviceman and that after coming home from World War II he was out trapping animals in the Weld Valley with his father when they found a dead mother thylacine with two freezing, starving cubs trying to drink milk from her body. They took the two cubs back to their farm, reared them for a few months until they were strong enough, and released them back into the wild".

Really? Honestly? Cor!

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/t...s/news-story/81bcb88ef29b43896a02fc5c63dbe304
Click to expand...
Col's last two books have many stories from old bushmen. Some sound like utter tripe but the majority do not. A couple involve the semi-taming of Tasmanian wolves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top