Illustrated Sketches Of Natural History: Consisting Of Descriptions And Engravings Of Animals. Second

The body of Wilf Batty’s thylacine, stiff with rigor mortis, tied to a fence on the man’s farm. Mr. Batty shot the animal, believed to be a male, in May of 1930, after it had reportedly been going after his chickens. It’s commonly believed that this represents the last thylacine to be killed in the wild. The photo itself, one of just five known to exist of the individual, was uncovered and shared by the great grandson of the original photographer. [ x ]

From 50 Facts About Animals by Ron B. Taylor, published in 1983.

Model of thylacine with mouth agape, displayed at the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History in Fukuoka, Japan.

Via @hakubutu on Twitter.

A taxidermy mount of a male thylacine, donated by the Macleay Family and currently part of the Chau Chak Wing Museum‘s collection. Going by its display card, it’s possible the animal was shot by a William Petterd (1849-1910) in Tasmania in 1875. [ x ]

This is an adult male thylacine taxidermy from the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. The most striking aspect of this mount is the little fangs - they may not be anatomically correct, but they’re pretty cute and give him a unique look :)

Unfortunately there is no information about where this specimen came from, the date it was collected or who donated it to the museum.

The mount is in fair to poor condition, with significant damage on the ears, belly, medial aspects of the legs, and near the base of the tail. The white band was placed around the belly in an effort to prevent the skin from cracking further. I did my best to show only his good side, but he’s in need of some serious restorative work. It’s a shame because his facial expression, pose and color are all quite good.

Eternal thanks to @diplotomodon for alerting me to the existence of this specimen!

(My main blog, @sixth-extinction is listed on the images.)

Rare 200-year-old clay pipe depicting thylacine dubbed the 'holy grail' of Tasmanian archaeology - ABC News

A clay pipe depicting a Tasmanian tiger has the archaeology community in a buzz.

The pipe’s finder was an amateur bottle digger who found it sandwiched between two larger bottles at the base of a pit on a private property near Launceston in 2016.

The collector then sold the pipe as an unwanted item.

Stephen Sleightholme, from the International Thylacine Specimen Database, snapped up the pipe at auction.

do you remember how we used to run

Vanished Species, written by David Day, published in 1989. Illustration by Maurice Wilson.

Dobsegna: in some parts of Papua New Guinea

I've also heard moonlight wolf (hence the blog name lol) that's uncommonly used.

What’s in a name?

Just for fun, I thought I’d compile a list of names for the thylacine in various languages.

Scientific: Thylacinus cynocephalus (lit. ‘dog-headed pouched one’); formerly Didelphis cynocephala (lit. ‘dog-headed opossum’) [x]

English: Thylacine, Tasmanian tiger, Tasmanian wolf, zebra wolf, marsupial wolf - Uncommon/old names: Zebra opossum, dog-faced dasyurus, native hyena, native tyger

Aboriginal: Coorinna, loarinna, laoonana, lagunta [x]

Spanish: Tilacino

German: Beutelwolf (lit. ‘bag wolf’)

French: Loup marsupial (lit. ‘marsupial wolf’)

Japanese: フクロオオカミ (fukuro-ookami, lit. ‘bag wolf’)

Swedish: Pungvarg [thanks bigfishboss]

Finnish: Pussihukka

Do you know any others?

Preserved adult thylacines