The Thylacine Thread

Wibbs

Crossing all my digits.... I would love to know they were still out there, somewhere. Though I'd add places like New Guinea to the list. Apparently local tribes have said they've seen them when shown pictures.

Adam Khor

Indeed, they call it "dobsegna". And New Guinea was home to other interesting species in prehistoric times. Wouldn´t it be cool if they found, say, a Protemnodon tumbuna, aka short-legged, non-hopping, rainforest-dwelling kangaroo? 

(Weirdly, the tall guy is also a Protemnodon, except from a species that could hop AND was taller than a man).

Wibbs

Adam Khor wrote: »

Indeed, they call it "dobsegna".

You know, I just knew you would know the name involved. #bows

Adam Khor

Interesting paper on the pre-Pleistocene fossil record of thylacinids and how the Tasmanian tiger/wolf came to be:

https://peerj.com/articles/7457/

Adam Khor

Although not new (it was found in 1966), as far as I can tell this spectacular find is little known and seldom mentioned. The thylacine remains have been preserved in an Australian cave for 4000 to 5000 years!





http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/palaeontology/prehistoric/prehistoric_range_4.htm

The specimen is very interesting because its from a mainland thylacine- which went extinct before the Tasmanian population, shortly after the introduction of the dingo by humans.

Adam Khor

Can we really clone the thylacine?

Adam Khor

Previously unknown, preserved thylacine pelt discovered in New Zealand:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-29/tasmanian-tiger-thylacine-colourful-pelt-from-nz-reveals/12597682

igCorcaigh

Tasmania

https://twitter.com/collieennis/status/1363863655150927888?s=19

Adam Khor

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Tasmania

https://twitter.com/collieennis/status/1363863655150927888?s=19

Hopefully will turn out to be true, but I am very cautious about this. Tasmania has high roadkill incidence. It would beg the question of how thylacines went for so long without ever being hit by a car...

Wibbs

https://twitter.com/s_maunder/status/1364080020877053954

Sadly it appears to be misidentification. I still reckon if any are around it'll be in somewhere like New Guinea where they roamed once and is far less crowded with people and roads etc.

Adam Khor

Wibbs wrote: »

https://twitter.com/s_maunder/status/1364080020877053954

Sadly it appears to be misidentification. I still reckon if any are around it'll be in somewhere like New Guinea where they roamed once and is far less crowded with people and roads etc.

I agree.

Meanwhile, a bit overshadowed by the thylacine fiasco, the black browed babbler (Malacocincla perspiscillata) a bird thought extinct for 180 years has just been rediscovered alive. That's abour 100 years longer than the thylacine's been officially extinct!
It was previously known only from a specimen collected in Borneo in the 19th century:



The live bird: