The Thylacine
(Thylacinus cynocephalus)
I chose to investigate the topic of the last Tasmanian tiger as my subject for the Australian National History Challenge, because of the story my Grandfather tells about how, when he was a child, he saw the last known Tasmanian tiger, at his grandfathers private zoo. For my grandfather the memory is still very strong even though he is now 90 years of age now. Also because it although it has only been 74 years since the species was declared extinct the species, it is now considered to be almost a creature of mythology.
To me the thylacine has a dinosaur like quality. I used to think that because it is now extinct, there would be no further living memories.
My grandfather’s memory of the Tasmanian tiger is a valuable link from the past to present time. It seems important that we record our oral history before it disappears.
Dictionary Meaning –
also called a Tasmanian wolf or thylacine
a large, flesh-eating, dog like, Australian marsupial, above 50 centimetres high at the shoulder and with several dark stripes across the back and upper tail. (Reference dictionary)
Appearance –
The Thylacine was a sandy yellow colour varying to grey or brown shading. The coat was short, soft and around 15 millimetres long with stripes running down its backs and extending to the base of the tail.
Its head was similar to that of a dog or a wolf, with short legs and a stiff, short tail. On average the male Tasmanian tiger was larger than what the females were.
Habits –
Usually the thylacine stayed clear of humans and, because of their shy and timid ways there is no evidence of humans ever being attached.
Although they were timid animals if cornered or threatened they were fierce fighters.
Their hunting routines were to hunt by themselves or if not, occasionally in pairs.
The Tasmanian tiger was a solitary fighter, however on occasions they would hunt in pairs.
Pouches and Litters –
With most marsupial animals it is only the female that has the pouch but with the Thylacine both female and male had rear opening pouches. However it was the female that transported and cared for the young. The maximum litter size was 4 pups and they were fully dependant on their mother until they were half grown.
Bounties –
In the early 1830’s The Van Diemen’s Land Company introduced a bounty on the Thylacine.
Between 1888 and 1909 the company paid out £1 for every dead adult Thylacine and 10 shilling was paid for every pup.
A total of 2,184 bounties were paid by the Van Diemen’s Land Company, but it is that there were many more unaccounted for.
Benjamin- the Last Reported Tasmanian tiger
After being sent to the Beaumaris Zoo, ‘Benjamin’ lived there from 1933 until 1936. The day he died so did all hopes of saving this rapidly disappearing species.
It was on the 7th September 1936 and Hobart was having extreme weather changes, by day it was one enormous heat wave and by night it was bone chillingly cold.
Although the zoo staff came up with his name ‘Benjamin’, his sex was never confirmed although many people had different theories on it.
There has been confusion over the name and sex though, some sources say it was never referred to with a pet’s name, and never ‘Benjamin’ and as for its sex some pictures suggests it was a female but the zoo official insists it was male. Weather he was called ‘Benjamin’ or not the name has stuck and even 74 years after his death people know him as ‘Benjamin – The last Tasmanian tiger.’
Reports have suggested that if he had been treated with proper care he could have lived a longer life. He was locked away in the small enclosure and forced to endure the extreme weather changes. With his death went the hopes of once again rebuilding this struggling species.
While he lived in his temporary home in the Beaumaris zoo his diet consisted of dead beef, mutton, rabbits, wallabies and the occasional meal of poultry. When in the wild, ‘Benjamin’ would have eaten prey that he would have hunted himself, such as pademelons, wallabies, some birds and small mammals.
Date of Extinction –
The Thylacine is one of the very few extinct animals for which an exact date of its extinction is known.
The last reported Thylacine died in the Beaumaris zoo, Hobart, Tasmania, on the 7th September 1936.
There have been many alleged sightings since that date, however there has been no physical evidence of the existence.
Extinction –
Once the Thylacine lived all over the Australian mainland and New Guinea, but by the time of the European settlement the species were close to extinction. The only place that they remained in viable numbers was on the state of Van Diemen’s Land now known as the Island State of Tasmania.
Because of the dark stripes running down on the thylacines back it was commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger.
It was because of the Thylacines tendency to hunt the early settler’s poultry, sheep and lamb that the Thylacines were hunted to extinction. The farmers considered them to be a threat and pest and so didn’t hold back when it came to killing the animals. Other factors that contributed to the rapid extinction of the species could include competition from the European introduced wild dogs, habitat erosion, the extinction of food sources and introduced diseases.
But by the early 1920’s wild Tigers were becoming extremely rare. It was in 1936 that the last known Thylacine died, although at the time many people still thought they were still thriving in the dense Tasmanian wilderness.
Even local authorities sometimes questioned themselves years after the extinction. In a letter to a Mrs. Branagan, R. H. Green once said that… “Personally, I am of the opinion that the Thylacine is once more increasing but no doubt will require stringent protective measures for many years to come.”
This letter was written in 1962, 22 years after ‘Benjamin’ the last reported Tasmanian Tiger died in the Beaumaris Zoo.
Alleged Sightings –
Over the years that followed the extinction of the Thylacine there have been many sighting reports of the elusive animal. Some were pranks, while others were positive that they had seen the tiger. Although there have been many reports filed none of them have been proven true and no more tigers have been seen since 1936. Many people chose to remain anonymous in case of public humiliation or being believed as mad.
A lady once reported that she had seen a Thylacine just out of Ulverstone once, less than a 5 minute drive from where I live now. She said.
“I’m positive it was a tiger. I’ve lived in the bush for years and tigers cannot be confused with any other animal.
You don’t see things with stripes like that running around every day.”
The spot where she reported the sighting was only kilometres from where another man reported a sighting only 6 years before her.
With all of the sightings and tracks that have been reported it is surprising that no useful video recording has been produced or that not one animal has been captured.
