Twilight of the Thylacine - 70 Years Later

It's been over 70 years since the last captive Tasmanian thylacine died in the Hobart Zoo, but recent research carried out by the University of New South Wales suggests that humans were not the sole cause for this creature's demise.

As we noted in Prehistoric Australia, the thylacine faced fierce competition for food and resources from the dingo, which is believed to have driven the thylacine from mainland Australia. However, the University of New South Wales' comparative study of dingo and thylacine skulls suggests that other factors, such as climate change and the arrival of humans on the Australian continent hastened the species' decline and ultimate extinction.

More than any other creature, the fate of the 'Tasmanian Tiger' (as it was popularly known) continues to captivate the imagination of Australians from all walks of life, with alleged sightings of the elusive beast always receiving widespread coverage in the local media.

Even the late, great 'Crocodile Hunter' himself, Steve Irwin, apparently tried to see if the thylacine still survived in the Tasmanian wilderness - but without success.

Back in 2002, geneticists at the Australian Museum captured world headlines when they announced plans to clone the Tasmanian Tiger using DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) taken from a thylacine pup (or 'joey') that had been preserved in ethanol since 1866.

However, the project was scrapped in 2005, with researchers citing the poor quality of available thylacine DNA making the experiment impossible. (Other obstacles confronting attempts to clone the thylacine are outlined in this article from Museum Victoria.) Subsequent media reports issued later in 2005, however, claimed that the Australian Museum had not entirely abandoned the project, and was still investigating means of obtaining suitable thylacine DNA samples.

(Image of 1962 Tasmanian Tiger stamp courtesy of Thylacine Stamps.)