Thylacine
The thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) is an extinct species of marsupial, and the largest carnivorous mammal which lived in Australia into modern times. Once common on the Australian mainland, it disappeared there some 2,000 years ago, leaving the island of Tasmania as a last stand where severe persecution reduced its numbers to a last known survivor dying in a zoo in 1936[2]. Since then the thylacine has become a subject of cryptozoology as well as scientific attempts to clone the animal with the possibility of bringing it back from extinction.
| Thylacine | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom Information | |
| Domain | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Subkingdom | Bilateria |
| Branch | Deuterostomia |
| Phylum Information | |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Sub-phylum | Vertebrata |
| Infraphylum | Gnathostomata |
| Class Information | |
| Superclass | Tetrapoda |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Sub-class | Theria |
| Infra-class | Marsupialia |
| Order Information | |
| Superorder | Eometatheria |
| Order | Dasyuromorphia |
| Family Information | |
| Family | Thylacinidae |
| Genus Information | |
| Genus | Thylacinus |
| Species Information | |
| Species | T. cynocephalus |
| Population statistics | |
| Conservation status | Extinct[1] |
Etymology
European settlers arriving on Tasmania in the early 19th century gave the animal its two most familiar names: Tasmanian wolf, in reference to its wolf-like appearance, and Tasmanian tiger for the tiger-like stripes on the body; it is still commonly referred to as the tiger on the island today. "Ka-nunnah", "laoonana", "langunta", "cab-berr-Âone-Ânen", and "corinna" were just several of many names given to the thylacine by Tasmanian aborigines[3]. The binomial name comes from from the Greek θÏÎ»Î±ÎºÎ¿Ï (thýlakos; "sack") and the Latin Âcynocephalus ("dog-head")[4].
Description
The thylacine had a body length of 39 to 51 inches, a tail length of 20 to 26 inches, and a weight of 40 to 70 pounds. The shoulder height was about 24 inches. The fur was short and rough, tan to yellow-brown in color, and from just behind the shoulder blades to the base of the tail it bore 13 to 19 black-brown transverse stripes, resulting in the "tiger" name. He had white drawings around his eyes and ears. The thylacine showed amazing similarities with some carnivores from the Canidae family, with a somewhat wider skull bearing 46 teeth. Similar to dogs, the canines were long and the jaws sharp. It is remarkable that the animals could expand their lower jaw very far, according to some data up to 80 degrees. The limbs were rather short, the legs each ended in five toes. The animals were not very fast runners, reaching a speed of up to 24 mph, far less than comparably-sized dogs.
Range and habitat
At the time of the arrival of the Europeans in Australia, the thylacine was found only in Tasmania. Its existence on the mainland has been proven by rock art by aboriginal peoples; fossil evidence[5]; footprints found in a cave[6], and a mummy found in western Australia's Nullarbor plain; based on this evidence it had an extensive range on the Australian mainland and New Guinea. Its original habitat was open forest areas and grasslands, but in the last decades of its existence it was pushed by man into dense forests.
References
- â http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/21866/0
- â "Back from the Dead", Thursday May 30, 2002, Guardian
- â http://tmag.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/128568/KANUNNAH4.pdf
- â http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/tasmanian-tiger
- â http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/palaeontology/prehistoric/prehistoric_range_2.htm
- â http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/palaeontology/prehistoric/prehistoric_range_3.htm