National Post (National Edition)
Tasmanian tiger reports likely other species, experts say
Last known thylacine died 85 years ago
An Australian group of enthusiasts searching for an extinct species believes it has discovered three Tasmanian tigers, but its evidence has been dismissed by wildlife experts, who said the photographed animals were most likely pademelons.
The Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia (TAGOA), a non-profit organization dedicated to the research and discovering of thylacine — an extinct Tasmanian tiger, the last of which died some 85 years ago — reported that it had photographed the three animals in northeast Tasmania.
In a YouTube video posted by TAGOA, its president Neil Waters said a camera trap spotted three thylacines, which he believed were the mother, father and a baby. Waters said this discovery proves the species are “breeding.”
“Looking at the baby, not only (do) we have a family walking through the bush but we have proof of breeding so it puts our thylacine in a much stronger position than it's been in for the last 30-something years now,” he said in the video.
While two of the animals' identification Waters called “ambiguous,” the baby, he said, was not, and based on his descriptions, looks like a thylacine.
“The baby is not ambiguous: the baby has stripes, a stiff tail, the hock, the coarse hair. It's the right colour, it's a quadruped stocky, and it's got the right-shaped ears.”
Waters rejoiced: “Congratulations, everyone. We've done it, cheers!”
But this finding was further denied by experts.
Nick Mooney, an Australian wildlife biologist and honorary curator of vertebrates at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG), reviewed and analyzed the footage provided by Waters.
According to The Guardian, TMAG released a statement, saying that Mooney had “concluded that based on the physical characteristics shown in the photos provided, the animals are very unlikely to be thylacines, and most likely Tasmanian pademelons.”
“TMAG regularly receives requests for verification from members of the public who hope that the thylacine is still with us. However, sadly there have been no confirmed sightings documented of the thylacine since 1936,” the statement stated.
Pademelons are small, short-tailed wallabies that commonly reside in rainforests from Tasmania to New Guinea.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, there were close to 5,000 thylacines in Tasmania during the European settlement, but due to habitat destruction and hunting, the animal quickly went extinct.
Researchers suggest that the last living thylacine, Benjamin, died in Tasmanian Hobart Zoo in 1936. But for decades, many people have reported they have seen the extinct tiger across the Australian state.
As The Guardian stated, scientists from James Cook University in Queensland carried out a search for the animal after several “plausible” sightings.
In 2019, Tasmania's Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment released a document that revealed there had been eight sightings of the thylacine between 2017 and 2019.
Waters also told Guardian Australia in 2016 that he spotted a thylacine in 2014 when he was doing work on his house when the animal passed his bedroom window.
The Guardian also reported that based on the state environment department's report, two people from Western Australia claimed they saw the extinct tiger during their visit to Tasmania in 2018.
“The animal walked from the right hand side of the road … turned and looked at the vehicle a couple of times,” the report stated. “It was in clear view for 12-15 seconds.”
“The animal had a stiff and firm tail that was thick at the base. It had stripes down its back.”
“The animal was calm and did not act scared at all. Both are 100 per cent certain that the animal they saw was a thylacine. It appeared to be in good condition,” the report reads.
But without DNA evidence, it is hard to define whether the animals captured on camera were genuine thylacines.
“Nobody can adequately look at a video and say, `That's definitely a thylacine,' without some DNA evidence,” Andrew Pask, a marsupial evolutionary biologist at the University of Melbourne, told the CNET. “We've got to have a hair sample, a scat sample, something that can back it up.”
CNET also reported that according to the Tasmanian Government's Department of Parks, Water and Environment, any group of animals would likely undergo inbreeding, which makes longterm survival unachievable.
“Even if there did exist a few remaining individuals, it is unlikely that such a tiny population would be able to maintain a sufficient genetic diversity to allow for the viable perpetuation of the species in the long-term,” the report reads.
NOBODY CAN ... SAY `THAT'S DEFINITELY A THYLACINE,' WITHOUT SOME DNA EVIDENCE.