Hunter poses with dead thylacine, 1869

Thylacines

The name thylacine roughly translates (from the Greek via Latin) as ‘dog-headed pouched one’.

The world’s largest marsupial carnivore, the thylacine was commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger, due to the distinctive stripes on its back.

Despite its fierce reputation, the tiger was semi-nocturnal and was described as quite shy, usually avoiding contact with humans.

The fossilised remains of thylacines have been found in Papua New Guinea, throughout the Australian mainland and Tasmania.

A number of factors, including the introduction of the dingo, led to the extinction of the thylacine in all areas except Tasmania about 2000 years ago. The thylacine population in Tasmania at the time of European settlement is estimated at about 5000.

Eradicating a threat

The establishment of the first colonies in Tasmania in the early 1800s also brought the farming industry. Settlers cleared large areas of land and cultivated livestock such as sheep and cattle.

Despite evidence that feral dogs and widespread mismanagement were responsible for the majority of stock losses, the thylacine became an easy scapegoat and was hated and feared by the Tasmanian public.

As early as 1830 bounty systems for the thylacine had been established, with farm owners pooling money to pay for skins. In 1888 the Tasmanian Government also introduced a bounty of £1 per full-grown animal and 10 shillings per juvenile animal destroyed. The program extended until 1909 and resulted in the awarding of more than 2180 bounties.

It is estimated that at least 3500 thylacines were killed through human hunting between 1830 and the 1920s. The introduction of competitive species such as wild dogs, foreign diseases including mange, and extensive habitat destruction also greatly contributed to thylacine population losses.