Ghost of the Tasmanian Tiger: Scientists Investigate Sightings

[Skeptix List]

Is Australia's extinct thylacine — a striped, dog-like marsupial
commonly
known as the Tasmanian tiger — not extinct after all? Recent alleged
thylacine sightings convinced scientists at James Cook University in
Australia to investigate whether the species is still among the
living.

The last wild thylacine was killed
<http://www.livescience.com/7320-mysterious-tasmanian-tiger-extinct.html>
between
1910 and 1920, and in 1936, the last known thylacine died in captivity
in
Hobart, Australia. Since then, no conclusive evidence has emerged to
suggest that Tasmanian tigers still exist in the wild, and the species
was
declared officially extinct in 1986, the Tasmanian Government's
Department
of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment reported on the
Tasmanian federal Wildlife Management website
<http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/wildlife-management/animals-of-tasmania/mammals/carnivorous-marsupials-and-bandicoots/tasmanian-tiger>
.

But rumors of thylacines
<http://www.livescience.com/7320-mysterious-tasmanian-tiger-extinct.html>
in
the wild have persisted. Recent reports from two people in North
Queensland, Australia, provided "plausible and detailed descriptions"
of
animals that resembled thylacines. After those reports, researchers
decided
to launch a survey to determine whether any of the animals were alive
in
Australia, James Cook University (JCU) representatives announced March
24 in
a statement
<https://www.jcu.edu.au/news/releases/2017/march/fnq-search-for-the-tasmanian-tiger>.
[6 Extinct Animals That Could Be Brought Back to Life
<http://www.livescience.com/27930-images-deextinction-species.html>]

Despite their "tiger" sobriquet, thylacines are not members of the
cat family. Nor should they be confused with the Tasmanian devil

(Sarcophilus harrisii), another carnivorous marsupial that is native
to

Australia and is still widespread in Tasmania.


Fossil evidence suggests that the modern thylacine -- Thylacinus

cynocephalus, whose name means "dog-headed pouched one" -- emerged

about 4 million years ago. Once widespread across Australia, the
animal

disappeared everywhere except Tasmania about 2,000 years ago,
according

to the [37]National Museum of Australia (NMA).


When European settlers arrived in Australia in the early 19th
century,

the last remaining thylacines -- an estimated 5,000 individuals --

entered a decline, their numbers dwindling due to hunting,
introduced

diseases and habitat loss, the NMA reported.


Extinct or elusive?


The new investigation for the [38]purported thylacines will survey

sites on the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia,

based on accounts supplied by an employee of the Queensland Park
Service, and by another observer. This individual was "a frequent
camper and outdoorsman," study co-investigator Bill Laurance, a
professor in the College of Science and Engineering at JCU, said in
the
statement.

All the observations of the animals thought to be thylacines were
made
at night, but were descriptive nonetheless, Laurance reported. In
one
instance, four animals were spotted at close range, lit up by a
spotlight at a distance of about 20 feet (6 meters), and details in
the
descriptions strongly suggested that the observers had not
misidentified a more common animal, Laurance said.

"We have cross-checked the descriptions we received of eye-shine
color,
body size and shape, animal behavior, and other attributes, and
these
are inconsistent with known attributes of other large-bodied species
in
North Queensland, such as [39]dingoes, wild dogs or feral pigs," he
explained.

Researchers will employ 50 camera traps, and their survey is
expected
to begin in April, once the researchers receive the necessary
permits
from private landowners. The [40]hunt for thylacines will also offer
the scientists an opportunity to investigate the status of other
vulnerable or threatened wildlife in the area, Laurance added.

"Regardless of which species are detected, the survey will provide
important data on the status of mammal species on Cape York, where
wildlife populations have evidently been undergoing severe
population
declines in recent years," Laurance said in the statement.

Original article on Live Science.

http://www.livescience.com/58483-search-for-extinct-tasmanian-tiger.html








http://www.livescience.com/58483-search-for-extinct-tasmanian-tiger.html
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