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A
Althoughit was called tiger, it looked like a clog with black stripes on its hack andit was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modem times. Yet, despite itsfame for being one of the most fabled animals in the world, it is one of theleast understood of Tasmania's native animals. The scientific name for theTasmanian tiger is Thylacine and it is believed that they have become extinctin the 20th century.
B
Fossilsof Thylacines dating from about almost 12 million years ago have been dug up atvarious places in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. They werewidespread in Australia 7, 000 years ago, hut have probably been extinct on thecontinent for 2, 000 years. This is believed to be because of the introductionof dingoes around 8, 000 years ago. Because of disease, Thylacine numbers mayhave been declining in Tasmania at the time of European settlement 200 yearsago, but the decline was certainly accelerated by the new arrivals. The lastknown Titsmanijin Tiger died in I lobar! Zoo in 193fi and the animal isofficially classified as extinct. Technically, this means that it has not beenofficially sighted in the wild or captivity for
50years. However, there are still unsubstantiated sightings.
C
HansNaarding, whose study of animals had taken him around the world, was conductinga survey of a species of endangered migratory bird. What he saw that night isnow regarded as the most credible sighting recorded of Thylacine that manybelieve has been extinct for more than 70 years.
D
"I had to work at night." Naardingtakes up the story. "I was in the habit of intermittently shining aspotlight around. The beam fell on an animal in front of the vehicle, less than10m away. Instead of risking movement by grabbing for a camera, I decided toregister very carefully what I was seeing. The animal was about the size of asmall shepherd dog, a very healthy male in prime condition. What set it apartfrom a dog, though, was a slightly sloping hindquarter, with a fairly thicktail being a straight continuation of the backline of the animal. It had 12distinct stripes on its back, continuing onto its butt. I knew perfectly wellwhat I was seeing. As soon as I reached for the camera, it disappeared into thetea-tree undergrowth and scrub."
E
Thedirector of Tasmani’ s National Parks at thetime, Peter Morrow, decided in his wisdom to keep Naarding's sighting of theThylacine secret for two years. When the news finally broke, it was accompaniedby pandemonium. "I was besieged by television crews, including four tofive from Japan, and others from the United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand andSouth America," said Naarding.
F
Government and private search parties combedthe region, but no further sightings were made. The tiger, as always, hadescaped to its lair, a place many insist exists only in our imagination. Butsince then, the Thylacine has staged something of a comeback, becoming part ofAustralian mythology.
G
Therehave been more than 4, 000 claimed sightings of the beast since it supposedlydied out, and the average claims each year reported to authorities now number150. Associate professor of
zoologyat the University of Tasmania, Randolph Rose, has said he dreams of seeing a Thylacine.But Rose, who in his 35 years in Tasmanian academia has fielded countlessreports of Thylacine
sightings,is now convinced that his dream will go unfulfilled.
H
Theconsensus among conservationists is that, usually; any animal with a populationbase of less than 1, 000 is headed for extinction within 60 years," saysRose. "Sixty years ago, there was only one Thylacine that we know of, andthat was in Hobart Zoo," he says.
I
Dr.David Pemberton, curator of zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery,whose PhD thesis was on the Thylacine, says that despite scientific thinkingthat 500 animals are required to sustain a population, the Florida panther isdown to a dozen or so animals and, while it does have some inbreeding problems,is still ticking along. "I'll take a punt and say that, if we manage tofind a Thylacine in the scrub, it means that there are 50-plus animals outthere. "
J
Afterall, animals can be notoriously elusive. The strange fish known as thecoelacanth' with its "proto-legs", was thought to have died out alongwith the dinosaurs 700 million years ago until a specimen was dragged to thesurface in a shark net off the south-east coast of South Africa in1938.KWildlife biologist Nick Mooney has the unenviable task of investigating all"sightings" of the tiger totaling 4, 000 since the mid-1980s, andaveraging about 150 a year. It was Mooney who was first consulted late lastmonth about the authenticity of digital photographic images purportedly takenby a German tourist while on a recent bushwalk in the state. On face value,Mooney says, the account of the sighting, and the two photographs submitted asproof, amount to one of the most convincing cases for the species' survival hehas seen.
K
AndMooney has seen it all—the mistakes, the hoaxes, theillusions and the plausible accounts of sightings. Hoaxers aside, most peoplewho report sightings end up believing they have seen a Thylacine, and arethemselves believable to the point they could pass a lie-detector test,according to Mooney. Others, having tabled a creditable report, then becomeutterly obsessed like the Tasmanian who has registered 99 Thylacine sightingsto date. Mooney has seen individuals bankrupted by the obsession, and familiesdestroyed. "It is a blind optimism that something is, rather than acynicism that something isn't," Mooney says. "If something crossesthe road, it's not
a caseof ‘I wonder what that was?’ Rather, it is a case of 'that's a Thylacine!' It is a bit like a goldprospector's blind faith, 'it has got to be there'. "
L
However,Mooney treats all reports on face value. "I never try to embarrass people,or make fools of them. But the fact that I don’t pack the car immedi ately theyring can often be taken as ridicule. Obsessive characters get irate thatsomeone in my position is not out there when they think the Thylacine is there.”
M
But HansNaarding, whose sighting of a striped animal two decades ago was the highlightof "a life of animal spotting", remains bemused by the time and moneypeople waste on tiger searches. He says resources would be better applied tosaving the Tasmanian devil, and helping migratory bird populations that aredeclining as a result of shrinking wetlands across Australia.
N Couldthe Thylacine still be out there? "Sure," Naarding says. But he alsosays any discovery of surviving Thylacines would be "ratherpointless". "How do you save a species from extinction? What couldyou do with it? If there are Thylacines out there, they are better off rightwhere they are."
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