The team accomplished the feat by using two different scanning methods. MRI scans helped analyze the brains' gray matter, while diffusion tensor imaging looked at the white matter. Due to the sheer age of these particular tiger samples (over 100 years old), the scientists had to recreate the white matter by tracing specific tracts and generating virtual models.

There's only so much the team can do with its knowledge when there are no living animals to save. It could help researchers understand other species that went extinct relatively recently, however. And even if the lessons learned here didn't translate elsewhere, they paint a clearer historical picture. While there's no doubt that colonists were cruel to the Tasmanian tiger, we now know that they also underestimated its abilities.