13 Facts About Thylacine

Thylacine is an extinct carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea.

Thylacine was relatively shy and nocturnal, with the general appearance of a medium-to-large-size canid, except for its stiff tail and abdominal pouch similar to that of a kangaroo.

Thylacine had become locally extinct on both New Guinea and the Australian mainland before British settlement of the continent, but its last stronghold was on the island of Tasmania, along with several other endemic species, including the Tasmanian devil.

Thylacine sent a description of the thylacine in a letter to Joseph Banks, dated 30 March 1805.

Thylacine is a basal member of the Dasyuromorphia, along with numbats, dunnarts, wambengers, and quolls.

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Thylacine was able to open its jaws to an unusual extent: up to 80 degrees.

Thylacine was noted as having a stiff and somewhat awkward gait, making it unable to run at high speed.

Thylacine was a nocturnal and crepuscular hunter, spending the daylight hours in small caves or hollow tree trunks in a nest of twigs, bark, or fern fronds.

Cassowary species of northern Australia and New Guinea coexisted with the Thylacine, but had developed strong defenses against predators; the emu on the other hand was more vulnerable to the Thylacine's adaptions including endurance hunting and bipedal hop.

Thylacine trap, intended for Mount Morriston, 1823, by Thomas Scott.

Thylacine was reportedly shot and photographed at Mawbanna in 1938.

Thylacine held the status of endangered species until the 1980s.

Thylacine has appeared in postage stamps from Australia, Equatorial Guinea, and Micronesia.