There is nothing like the impossible chance of seeing the Tasmanian tiger that gets people into a flurry.

International news outlets were knocking on the door of James Cook University's Distinguished Research Professor Bill Laurance once he announced he was kicking off a field survey in Cape York earlier this year to try to find the extinct Tasmanian tiger, known as the thylacine.

The last known Tasmanian tiger, seen in 1936, the year it died in a Hobart zoo. Credit:Tasmanian Museum

He had heard an account by a long-time camper and outdoorsman from north Queensland who claims he spotted four of the animals one night back in 1983.

"He gave a fair dinkum sounding description of what he had seen," Professor Laurance said.