A
Although it was called tiger, it lookedlike a dog with black stripes on its back and it was the largest knowncarnivorous marsupial of modem times. Yet, despite its fame for being one ofthe most fabled animals in the world, it is one of the least understood ofTasmania's native animals. The scientific name for the Tasmanian tiger isThylacine and it is believed that they have become extinct in the 20th century.
B
Fossils of thylacines dating from aboutalmost 12 million years ago have been dug up at various places in Victoria,South Austnilia and Western Australia. They were widespread in Australia 7000years ago, but have probably been extinct on the continent for 2000 years. Thisis believed to he because of the introduction of dingoes around 8000 years ago.Because of disease, thylacine numbers may have been declining in Tasmania atthe time of European settlement 200 years ago, but the decline was certainlyaccelerated by tlie new arrivals. The last known Tasmanian Tiger died in HobartZoo in 1936 and the aninml is officially dassilied jis extinct. Technically,this means that it has not been ofiicially sighted in the wild or captivity for50 years. However, there are still unsubstantiated sightings.
C
Hans Naarding, whose study of animalii hadtaken him around the world, was conducting a survey of a species of endangeredmigratory, bird. What he saw that night is now regarded as the most crediblesighting recorded of thylacine that many believe has been extinct for more than70 years.
D
"I had to work at night",NaardingUikes up the story. "I was in the habit of inlermittently shining aspotliglit around. The beam fell on an animal in front of the vehicle, lesstlian 10m away. Instead of risking movement by grabbing for a camera, I decidedto register very cairefiilly what I was seeing. The animal was about the sizeof a small shepherd dog, a very healthy male in prime condition. What set itapart from a dog, though, was a slightly sloping hindquarten with a fairlythick tail being a straight continuation of the backline of the animal. It had12 distinct stripes on its hack, continuing onto its butt. I knew perfectlywell what I was seeing. As soon as I reachetl for the camera, it disappearedinto the tea-tree underprowth and scrub."
E
The director of Tasmania'sNational parks at the time, Peter Morrow, decided in his wisdom tokeep Naarding's sighting of the thylacine secret for two years. When the newsfinally broke, it was accompanied by pandemonium. I was besieged by televisioncrews, including four to five from Japan, and otliers from the United Kingdom,Germany, New Zealand and South Ainerica,w said Naarding.
F
Government and private search partiescombed the region, but no further sightings were made. The tiger, as always,had escaped to its lair, a place many insist exists only in our imagination.But since then, the thylacine has staged something of a comeback, becoming partof Australian mythology.
G
There have been more than 4,000 claimedsightings of the beast since it supposedly died out, and the average claimseach year reported to authorities now number 150. Associate professor ofzoology at the University of Tasmania, Randolph Rose, has said he dreams ofseeing a thylacine. But Rose, who in his 35 years in Tasmanian academia has fieldedcountless reports of thylacine sightings, is now convinced that his dream willgo unfulfilled.
H
"The consensus among conservationistsis that, usually, any animal with a population base of less than 1,000 isheaded for extinction within 60 years,” says Rose. “Sixty years ago, there wasonly one thylacine that we know of, and that was in Hobart Zoo,he says.
I
Dr. David Pemberton, curator of zoology atthe Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, whose PhD thesis was on the thylacine,says that despite scientific thinking that 500 animals are required to sustaina population, the Florida panther is down to a dozen or so animals and, whileit does have some inbreeding problems, is still ticking along. Mril take a puntand say that, if we manage to find a thylacine in the scrub, it means thatthere are 50-plus animals out there.
J
After all, animals can be notoriouslyelusive. The strange fish known as the coelacanth, with its"proto-legs", was thought to have died out along with the dinosaurs700 million years ago until a specimen was dragged to the surface in a sharknet off the south-east coast of South Africa in 1938.
K
Wildlife biologist Nick Mooney has theunenviable task of investigating all wsightingsw of llie tiger totalling 4,000since the mid-1930s, and averaging about 150 a year. It was Mooney who wasfirst consulted late last month about the authenticity of digital photographicimages purportedly taken by a German tourist while on a recent bushwalk in thestate. On face value, Mooney says, the account of the sighting, and the twophotographs submitted as proof, amount to one of the most convincing cases forthe species' survival he has seen.
L
And Mooney has seen it all—the mistakes,the hoaxes, the illusions and the plausible accounts of sightings. Hoaxersaside, most people who report sightings end up believing they have seen athylaeine, and are themselves believable to the point they could pass alie-detector test, according to Mooney. Otliers, having tabled a creditablereport, then become utterly obsessed like the Tasmanian who has registered 99thylacine sightings to date. Mooney has seen individuals bankrupted by theobsession, and families destroyed. "It is a blind optimism tliat somethingis, rather than a cynicism that something isn’t,” Mooney says. “If somethingcrosses the road, it’s not a case of ‘I wonder what tliat was?* Rather, it is acase of 'that's a thylacine!' It is a bit like a gold prospector's blind faith,"it has got to be there".
M
However, Mooney treats all reports on facevalue. I never try to embarrass people, or make fools of them. But the factthat I don't pack the car immediately they ring can often be taken as ridicule.Obsessive characters get irate tliat someone in my position is not out therewhen they think the thylacine is there."
M
But Hans Naarding, whose sighting of astriped animal two decades ago was the highlight of Ma life of animalspotting", remains bemused by the time and money people waste on tigersearches. He says resources would be better applied to saving the Tasmanian devil,and helping migratory bird populations that are declining as a result ofshrinking wetlands across Australia.
O
Could the thylacine still be out there?MSure,w Naarding says. But he also says any discovery of surviving thylacineswould be Mrather pointless". MHow do you save a species from extinction?What could you do with it? If there are thylacines out there, they are betteroff right where they are."
问题
Questions 14-17
Complete the summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from thepassage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 14-17 on youranswer sheet.
The Tasmanian tiger, also called thylacine,resembles the look of a dog and has14_________onitsfUrcoat.M£inyfossilshavebeenfound，showingthatthylacines had existed as early as 15______________yearsago. They lived throughout 16________ before disappearing from the mainland.And soon after the 17___________ settlers arrived the size of thylacinepopulation in Tasmania shrunk at a higher speed.
Questions 18-23 Look at the followingstatements
(Questions 18-23) and the list of peoplebelow. Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D, Write thecorrect letter A, B, C or Dt in boxes 18-23 on your answer sheet. NB You mayuse any letter more than once.
18 His report of seeing a live thylacine inthe wild attracted international interest.
19 Many eye-witnesses1 reports are nottrustworthy.
20 It doesnJ t require a certain number ofanimals to ensure the survival of a species.
21 There is no hope of finding a survivingTasmanian tiger.
22 Do not disturb them if there are anyTasmanian tigers still living today.
23 The interpretation of evidence can beaffected by people's beliefs.
List of People
A Hans Naarding
B Randolph Rose
C David Pemberton
D Nick Mooney
答案：
14. black stripesj 15. 12 million 16. Australia 17.European
18. A 19. D 20. C 21. B 22. A
23. D 24. B 25. D 26.A
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