Saturday 14 December 2013

The Thylacine Lives?

The Centre for Fortean Zoology, see links column on the main HPANWO site, have made a startling announcement: The thylacine of Tasmania is still alive, see: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/11/zoologists-on-the-hunt-for-tasmanian-tiger-declare-no-doubt-species-still-alive. The thylacine, also called the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, is thought to be extinct. The last ever confirmed specimen, kept in Hobart zoo, died in 1936; here is some film taken of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odswge5onwY. It looks like a kind of dog, but in fact it's a marsupial, closely related to the kangaroo. It's unique for its very wide and powerful jaws as well as the striped fur on its hindquarters, earning it the nickname of tiger. However, in the years since the announcement of its extinction, sightings of the animal have continued from remote regions of Tasmania, an island almost the size of Scotland, but with a population of only half a million. Richard Freeman of the CFZ is so confident that the thylacine never died out that he has gone there to try and find it along with other members of the CFZ team; although I think Jonathan Downes tends to stay at home these days. The thylacine is depicted in the logo of the organization. So far they have collected very credible eyewitness reports and droppings which will be sent off for DNA analysis. I wish them luck and I know how dedicated and determined the CFZ is; see here for background: http://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/programme-51-podcast-cryptozoology.html. The thylacine was hunted ruthlessly by farmers through the 19th century to stop it ravaging their sheep. If it turns out that the thylacine is still alive, it will be a great gift from nature, and a reprieve. We'll have a second chance that we never thought we'd get to live together peacefully with these creatures.

4 comments:

Ben Emlyn-Jones said...
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Anonymous said...

Good evening Sir, is there any feedback on the samples they collected for further scientific analysis - I'm a keen follower of CFZ and I've been looking for updates from the samples they took. Here is hoping they have struck the jackpot.

Ben Emlyn-Jones said...

Yes, indeed, Anon. Fingers crossed :-)

Anonymous said...

Still no news on those samples?