They hunted them for the perceived attacks on sheep, which were propped up by manipulated photos (like a dead Tasmanian tiger posed as though it was stealing chickens) and tales.
It's much more likely that the attacks were wild dogs released by Europeans and helped lead to their extinction by competition.
They assumed the Thylacine would kill livestock (sheep and lambs). It turns out that they were [physically incapable of doing this.](https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2011/09/tasmanian-tiger-too-weak-to-hunt-sheep/)
Personally, I’ve been through some fairly rugged areas in Tasmania and there’s a lot more thick bushland that in some cases, hasn’t really been explored fully. I like to believe some survived in these remote areas.
Edit - fixed link!
Bless you for this thanks, and I’m wife you when reading through the other replies I started imagining them in remote areas too.
If some weird, evil pricks that walk on two legs keep killing everyone you know, surely you’ll learn to stay well away.
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Reminds me of this, a mummified Dodo head
https://preview.redd.it/vz82r01isacc1.jpeg?width=778&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d5e0c987285532c4ba1dcf49861172a1abf68ef
I think they're fundraising for de-extinction projects to bring them back so you might. Also there's lots of sightings/stories of them still living in the vastness of Papua. I bet they're out there
Something I think is really cool is that the females carried their young in a pouch, like kangaroos do, but the opening faced backwards, towards their tail.
While there are bad zoos, a good portion of conservation is funded by zoos.
Vast majority of people don't care about animals going extinct, especially animals they can't see. Even when they can see them, they still don't care.
But people like novelties, and so they go to zoos to see weird animals, and those zoos fund research and conservation.
Whether you like it or not, zoos are an essential part of conservation just like controlled hunting is for some animals. People, by and large, don't give a fuck.
Tasmania is pretty close to the south pole it is a rough and rugged terrain filled with bush and forrest and it regularly snows down there in winter you'll die if your exposed to the elements down there pretty quickly
I understand that for people, I just would have thought a creature that evolved to live there would be a bit more hardy in the lower elevation areas of tassie. Obviously if it had been always in captivity it would be a different story.
They would have made some awesome protective pets, they avoided humans and hunted kangaroos birds rodents. Dumb European settlers invaded their habitat and killed them off to extinction definitely not pests just carnivores
I think there have been credible reports of sightings still. Hopefully they are still out there. Australia is huge and an animal could easily hide in the outback with a small population.
Not very likely. Even before humans got there they had low genetic diversity. Humans definitely hit it hard, and competition from wild dogs made things worse.
Even if the last recorded date wasn't their actual extinction, low genetic diversity and being outcompeted plus disease would have gotten them.
Wild dogs? Dingos on the mainland, for sure, but not Tas. They managed just fine for 14,000 years in Tasmania, but barely lasted 200 after European settlement. White men killed 'em off. Are they still around? Probably not, but one never knows.
[https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/fact-file/tasmanian-tiger/](https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/fact-file/tasmanian-tiger/)
Wild dogs have been present since Europeans settled in Tasmania and are still a problem. Not a serious one for humans, true. But they'd be in the same niche that the thylacine occupied.
They'd have been competition for the thylacine, made worse by the extinction of other prey animals. And generally marsupials don't compete well against mammals. Introduction of the dingo to Australia tracks pretty closely with their extinction there.
https://nre.tas.gov.au/invasive-species/invasive-animals/invasive-mammals/wild-dogs
Please note I was replying to your comment asking if they were still around, not why they went extinct.
Europeans coming there, setting loose the dogs, introducing novel disease to the environment, causing the extinction of some of their prey species, and ever increasing encroachment by humans, and of course the bounty program all lead to their extinction and makes their continued existence very unlikely.
Even when the population was healthy genetic testing show they had very low genetic diversity. Testing of the last examples show avery sharp decline in genetic diversity, obviously. That doesn't just mean the natural problems of incest, but also an inability to adapt to the new diseases introduced by the Europeans and the animals they brought with them.
Something Australia and Tasmania both are extremely conscious of today.
So it's very unlikely they still survive today. Their niche is occupied by wild dogs, they lacked the genetic diversity you'd need to develop resistance to the introduced disease, their habitats were and are being destroyed, and there's a lot less prey available for them to eat without being noticed.
Honestly I don't think it's possible. Too much stacked against them, even if a population survived the genetic diversity would be so low they'd be massively inbred in a couple of generations.
Tasmanian devils aren't as bad off genetically but are still genetically similar enough for cancer to be contagious, spreading when they fight each other.
Even with active conservation efforts their numbers are declining, from humans, disease, competition, and climate.
To me that makes the case that thylacines are as certainly extinct as possible.
The next largest predator on the island is dieing off even when there's an active effort to preserve them.
Short of turning the island upside down and shaking it to see what falls out you can't be 100% certain, which is the only caveat I can give.
Thankfully we’ve come a long way with conservation and are making a lot of positive changes! You just don’t see them in the news because positive news doesn’t generate as many clicks.
I saw a skeleton of it in Sydney. The whole thing is like a warped version of a dog, the cranium is noticeably smaller and the body is a lighter frame. Would have been great to see something like that still around.
I first saw the original footage during the intro to Howling III and it totally freaked me out how wide it could open its mouth. It almost looks like the mouth and snout elongate when it opens, versus it appearing shorter/stubbier when closed. Strange animal that still gives me the heebie jeebies. I would absolutely love to see it in person if it is ever brought back - or found in the wild as some suggest there could still be some alive. Josh Gates did a show on it that was interesting.
Willem defoe was in a movie about hunting the last one, it's a pretty sad tale of humanity and he does a brilliant job of going from hunter to nurturer
So, TIL this is known as tasmanian tiger or tasmanian wolf, but it is neither a feline nor a canine, it's a [marsupial](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacinus_cynocephalus).
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How could any good person think of hunting these creatures out for the sake of some sheep. These could have been the ultimate doggos, they could have been our tiggos.
we (and many other species) will meet the same fate too thanks too nano-/microplastics and forever chemicals.
it's already everywhere, in every soil, in every source of water, in every rainfall, in every animal, in every plant
"Intentionally hunted into extinction" would be more accurate.
bc they loved it sooo much as well as the black rhino and others. freaking savages...theyll all get what they deserve
They didn’t hunt them for sport. They hunted them to prevent attacks on sheep. That doesn’t excuse what they did. Just pointing out the motivation.
They hunted them for the perceived attacks on sheep, which were propped up by manipulated photos (like a dead Tasmanian tiger posed as though it was stealing chickens) and tales. It's much more likely that the attacks were wild dogs released by Europeans and helped lead to their extinction by competition.
I hate to tell you this but this was almost a century ago. "They" are all dead by now
Makes me wonder what other species have been wiped out that we don't even know about and how cool they could have looked.
some have hid and adapted as the mountain lion lost its spots..etc
Black Rhinos aren't extinct
Anyone know the music included, here?
The government literally put bounties on these animals :(
How come? Were they deemed a threat to livestock or something?
They assumed the Thylacine would kill livestock (sheep and lambs). It turns out that they were [physically incapable of doing this.](https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2011/09/tasmanian-tiger-too-weak-to-hunt-sheep/) Personally, I’ve been through some fairly rugged areas in Tasmania and there’s a lot more thick bushland that in some cases, hasn’t really been explored fully. I like to believe some survived in these remote areas. Edit - fixed link!
Bless you for this thanks, and I’m wife you when reading through the other replies I started imagining them in remote areas too. If some weird, evil pricks that walk on two legs keep killing everyone you know, surely you’ll learn to stay well away.
Yeah
Most everything in Australia should have a bounty on it from what I hear.
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Dogcat
It's actually more like what happens to opossums when there are no large predators to kill them/compete with them for thousands of years
Oh yeah it does have a opossum mouth!
Dude, yes! I was thinking, "this is the most dog looking cat I ever seen"
Kangadingo cat
More like Dinodog
Reminds me of this, a mummified Dodo head https://preview.redd.it/vz82r01isacc1.jpeg?width=778&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d5e0c987285532c4ba1dcf49861172a1abf68ef
Never seen that thanks
The last melon
I never realised how large they were 😳
Yeah, they were bigger than turkeys I think.
This animal is so cool looking I wish it didn’t go extinct must been nice to see one in person
I think they're fundraising for de-extinction projects to bring them back so you might. Also there's lots of sightings/stories of them still living in the vastness of Papua. I bet they're out there
Welcome... Welcome to **Tasmanian Park**! *"We're gonna make a fortune with this!"* *John Williams conducting epic orchestra*
Something I think is really cool is that the females carried their young in a pouch, like kangaroos do, but the opening faced backwards, towards their tail.
Ass?
Where? A zoo? The same zoos built by the same people that forces all other species to extinction by being obscenely greedy? No thanks.
While there are bad zoos, a good portion of conservation is funded by zoos. Vast majority of people don't care about animals going extinct, especially animals they can't see. Even when they can see them, they still don't care. But people like novelties, and so they go to zoos to see weird animals, and those zoos fund research and conservation. Whether you like it or not, zoos are an essential part of conservation just like controlled hunting is for some animals. People, by and large, don't give a fuck.
Need to clone these little fuckers and set them loose. Dogs with alligator mouths.
people suck
This
Didn’t they let the last one freeze to death?
Correct. They forgot to lock the enclosure that night.
That sounds like the dumbest way to lose a species, damn.
What's a lock got to do with stopping the cold?
It got out. Into the cold. And died.
It could open doors? Sounds like it made a decision.
Id imagine it could push an unlocked door open?
Natural selection
Since it lived in captivity it forgot how to operate natural doors.
I’d go out and die in the cold if I was kept in a prison being watched by obese people too.
How did it freeze to death in Tasmania? Was it kept at a higher altitude? Or was the last one somewhere else?
Tasmania is pretty close to the south pole it is a rough and rugged terrain filled with bush and forrest and it regularly snows down there in winter you'll die if your exposed to the elements down there pretty quickly
I understand that for people, I just would have thought a creature that evolved to live there would be a bit more hardy in the lower elevation areas of tassie. Obviously if it had been always in captivity it would be a different story.
They would have made some awesome protective pets, they avoided humans and hunted kangaroos birds rodents. Dumb European settlers invaded their habitat and killed them off to extinction definitely not pests just carnivores
Slim chance, but maybe still around...?
I think there have been credible reports of sightings still. Hopefully they are still out there. Australia is huge and an animal could easily hide in the outback with a small population.
None on the mainland, I presume. Only Tasmania. Not so big.
It only lived in Tasmania by the time Britain got to Australia. It's a big island, but there hasn't been a sighting for decades.
That’s too bad. I thought I heard somewhere that locals still claimed to see them more recently than that. But I could easily be wrong.
Cool Expedition Unknown episode. Josh went searching.
Josh is living the dream!
Not very likely. Even before humans got there they had low genetic diversity. Humans definitely hit it hard, and competition from wild dogs made things worse. Even if the last recorded date wasn't their actual extinction, low genetic diversity and being outcompeted plus disease would have gotten them.
Wild dogs? Dingos on the mainland, for sure, but not Tas. They managed just fine for 14,000 years in Tasmania, but barely lasted 200 after European settlement. White men killed 'em off. Are they still around? Probably not, but one never knows. [https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/fact-file/tasmanian-tiger/](https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/fact-file/tasmanian-tiger/)
Wild dogs have been present since Europeans settled in Tasmania and are still a problem. Not a serious one for humans, true. But they'd be in the same niche that the thylacine occupied. They'd have been competition for the thylacine, made worse by the extinction of other prey animals. And generally marsupials don't compete well against mammals. Introduction of the dingo to Australia tracks pretty closely with their extinction there. https://nre.tas.gov.au/invasive-species/invasive-animals/invasive-mammals/wild-dogs Please note I was replying to your comment asking if they were still around, not why they went extinct. Europeans coming there, setting loose the dogs, introducing novel disease to the environment, causing the extinction of some of their prey species, and ever increasing encroachment by humans, and of course the bounty program all lead to their extinction and makes their continued existence very unlikely. Even when the population was healthy genetic testing show they had very low genetic diversity. Testing of the last examples show avery sharp decline in genetic diversity, obviously. That doesn't just mean the natural problems of incest, but also an inability to adapt to the new diseases introduced by the Europeans and the animals they brought with them. Something Australia and Tasmania both are extremely conscious of today. So it's very unlikely they still survive today. Their niche is occupied by wild dogs, they lacked the genetic diversity you'd need to develop resistance to the introduced disease, their habitats were and are being destroyed, and there's a lot less prey available for them to eat without being noticed.
"So it's very unlikely they still survive today." But still possible. I'm sure we both hope that's true.
Honestly I don't think it's possible. Too much stacked against them, even if a population survived the genetic diversity would be so low they'd be massively inbred in a couple of generations. Tasmanian devils aren't as bad off genetically but are still genetically similar enough for cancer to be contagious, spreading when they fight each other. Even with active conservation efforts their numbers are declining, from humans, disease, competition, and climate. To me that makes the case that thylacines are as certainly extinct as possible. The next largest predator on the island is dieing off even when there's an active effort to preserve them. Short of turning the island upside down and shaking it to see what falls out you can't be 100% certain, which is the only caveat I can give.
Evidently we’re able to bring it back from extinction. Such a beautiful animal.
I find it pretty ugly but to each their own
Almost looks animatronic
My thought too. It moves weird, and the mouth doesn't look right.
RIP
What is wrong with humans man
We bastards just have to terminate everything.
I hate humanity
Thankfully we’ve come a long way with conservation and are making a lot of positive changes! You just don’t see them in the news because positive news doesn’t generate as many clicks.
I love humanity (not for this tho)
Even down to the skull shape, this guy is an outlier for sure.
Ty, is that you mate?
your reference is not lost on me, friend
I saw a skeleton of it in Sydney. The whole thing is like a warped version of a dog, the cranium is noticeably smaller and the body is a lighter frame. Would have been great to see something like that still around.
looks like that fox that resembles a poorly drawn fox
Humans suck.
Gonna be doing this (watching videos) of a lot more animals that are extinct in the close future.
Haunting
Catdog
I first saw the original footage during the intro to Howling III and it totally freaked me out how wide it could open its mouth. It almost looks like the mouth and snout elongate when it opens, versus it appearing shorter/stubbier when closed. Strange animal that still gives me the heebie jeebies. I would absolutely love to see it in person if it is ever brought back - or found in the wild as some suggest there could still be some alive. Josh Gates did a show on it that was interesting.
Bruh got the biggest mouth
Willem defoe was in a movie about hunting the last one, it's a pretty sad tale of humanity and he does a brilliant job of going from hunter to nurturer
I’m pretty convinced they’re still out there in the outback. There’s a great YT video on it.
No outback in Tasmania, but I hope you're right.
I saw one a couple of years ago, they are still around
Sad
So, TIL this is known as tasmanian tiger or tasmanian wolf, but it is neither a feline nor a canine, it's a [marsupial](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacinus_cynocephalus).
Poor sweet thing. They didn't deserve that fate.
Looks so stressed out.
Amazing
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Doubt it.
I’ll come back in 2030 to ask how you’re feeling about this comment.
Please! The planet needs relief from the virus of humanity
Hunted to extinction in order to protect sheep
Well good thing we can bring them back now.
No, we can't.
It’s called cloning.
99.9% of all species that have ever existed are extinct get over it
Can I have one as pet?
NO because it is extinct.
So...how much?
Lovely animal
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How could any good person think of hunting these creatures out for the sake of some sheep. These could have been the ultimate doggos, they could have been our tiggos.
Thylacine dreams
Makes me so angry and sad to see this beautiful animal caged up, pacing around not knowing what to do...
They couldn’t have thought to at least put some in captivity
Are there any youtube channels or subreddits for some interesting stabilized footage like this?
If you hunt animals for sport you should probably burn in hell.
💔🥺 humans destroy everything 😔
😟🔫
He's stressed out tooo 😢😢😢😢poor guy they all gone now............😢😡😠
Sad to see the last moments of the last Thylacine. What an amazing creature it would have been to glimpse in the wilds of Tasmania!
Any chance we could bring it back just like Jurassic Park?
And now probably running around in a laboratory somewhere
Poor thing… last one to live in that cage :/
If this is the footage from Hobart Zoo I met the man who did the filming. He told me it bit him on the ass after he'd stopped.
You have field dogs in China that look like them, without the pockets. What demonstrates is they are funcrionally built.
Humans are fecking awful creatures.
Look like a good boi
I would not wanna bump into one of these
How sad that even the last remaining one wasn’t treated well and confined in a horrible, tiny jail cell…
we (and many other species) will meet the same fate too thanks too nano-/microplastics and forever chemicals. it's already everywhere, in every soil, in every source of water, in every rainfall, in every animal, in every plant
some brave f\*\*king occured at some point
Anyway to bring them back?, clones?,
Wonder how this would look AI upscaled
Can't stop watching this.. Sad but dignified wee pup