The God has created many beautiful and amazing species of animals and other species. Every species has its own character and it is distinct from one another. But as human beings are selfish, they used or hunted this beautiful creatures of God, due to which many special species are endangered today. Among such species is ‘Tasmanian Tiger’.
The Thylacine also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, is an extinct carnivorous Marsupial that was native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea.
They had almost died out out on the Australian mainland from many years ago, most likely because of the climate change. Beginning in the nineteenth century they were perceived as a threat to the livestock of farmers and bounty hunting was introduced. The last known of its species died in 1936 at Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. The Thylacine is widespread in popular culture and is a cultural icon in Australia.
The Thylacine was known as the Tasmanian tiger because it displayed dark transverse stripes that radiated from the top of its back, and it was known as the Tasmanian wolf because it had the general appearance of a medium-to-large-size canid.
Both sexes had a pouch. The females used theirs for rearing young and the males used theirs as a protective sheath, covering the external reproductive organs. It also had a stiff tail and could open its jaws to an unusual extent. The Thylacine was an apex predator, though exactly how large its prey had been is disputed.
The Thylacine resembled a large, short-haired dog with a stiff tail which smoothly extended from the body in a way similar to that of a Kangaroo. The mature Thylacine ranged from 100 to 130 cm long, plus a tail of around 50 to 65 cm. Adults stood about 60 cm and they could weigh anywhere from 8 to 30 kgs. Males weighed on average 19.7 kilograms , and females on average weighed 13.7 kilograms. The skull is noted to be highly convergent on those of canids, most closely remembling that of the red fox.
Thylacines, uniquely for Marsupial s, had largely cartilaginous epipubic bones with a highly reduced osseous element. Its yellow-brown coat featured 15 to 20 distinctive dark stripes across its back, rump and the base of its tail, which earned the animal the nickname “tiger”. The stripes were more pronounced in younger specimens, fading as the animal got older. Its rounded, erect ears were about 8 cm (3.1 in) long and covered with short fur.
The Thylacine was able to open its jaws to an unusual extent: up to 80 degrees. Males had a scrotal pouch, unique amongst the Australian Marsupials, into which they could withdraw their scrotal sac for protection.
The Thylacine most likely preferred the dry eucalyptus forests, wetlands, and grasslands of mainland Australia. Indigenous Australian rock paintings indicate that the Thylacine lived throughout mainland Australia and New Guinea.
The Thylacine was an apex predator, though exactly how large its prey animals could be is disputed. It was a nocturnal and crepuscular hunter, spending the daylight hours in small caves or hollow tree trunks in a nest of twigs, bark, or fern fronds.
The Thylacine was exclusively carnivorous. In captivity, Thylacine had a clear preference for birds. In captivity, Thylacine were fed a wide variety of foods, including dead rabbits and wallabies as well as beef, mutton, horse, and occasionally poultry.
The thylacine had died out on New Guinea and very few were left on the Australian mainland before European settlement of the continent. Intensive hunting on Tasmania is generally blamed for its extinction, but other contributing factors were disease, human encroachment into its habitat and climate change.
The remains of the last known Thylacine were discovered at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in 2022. Since extinction there have been numerous searches and reported sightings of live animals, none of which have been confirmed.