Preserved Adult Thylacines

some more thylacines from the london zoo

Baby baby boy

benjamin, my love

Illustrated Sketches of Natural History: Consisting of Descriptions and Engravings of Animals. Second Series. 1864.

Internet Archive

Something that could have been

Happy First Anniversary to @extinctionstories! When I set up this blog last May, I was mostly hoping for a way to organize my conservation-related work; if people happened to enjoy it, then that would just be a bonus. Instead, I've been blown away by the enthusiasm and interest that you guys have for my art and writing, and the love that we all share for these precious creatures. Thank you so much for listening to their stories; I have plenty more to come

As a birthday treat, here are a couple of quick thylacine studies that I haven't posted before. They are fountain pen and watercolor, on 18x24" paper.

Colourised footage of Benjamin, the last know Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine).

Benjamin died on September 7th, 1936 in Hobart zoo. It is believed that he died out of neglect, as he was locked out of his shelter and was exposed to the searing hot sun and freezing cold night of Tasmania.

The Thylacine was one of the last large marsupials left on Australia (the other being the Kangaroo) after a great extinction event occurred around 40 thousand years ago. This extinction event, caused mainly by the arrival of humans, wiped out 90% of Australia’s terrestrial vertebrates, including the famous Megafauna.

The Thylacine was around 15-30kg (33-66lbs), were carnivorous, and had numerous similarities to other species like dogs, despite not being related and purely by chance, in a phenomenon known as convergent evolution (just like the ability to fly of bats and birds, despite following different evolutionary paths). Not only that, they could open their jaws up to 120 degrees, could hop around on two legs like a kangaroo, and both males and females had pouches.

Lastly in a cruel twist, the Tasmanian government decided to protect the Thylacine - just 59 days before the last one died, in a very notable case case of “Too little too late”. To date, many biologists believe that there are still Thylacine roaming the wild plains of Australia. 

Thylacine at the Berlin Zoo By: Unknown photographer Ca. 1905

Thylacine studies from the colorized footage.

just some thylacines

Newly rediscovered footage of the last captive thylacine (“Benjamin”) as a juvenile at the Beaumaris Zoo has just been released!

The film is 7 seconds long and was taken by Reverend Harold Doyle in 1930 using a hand-cranked camera and nitrate film.

Though it is not as clear as other films, it is still valuable because it gives us more information about the timeline of the last captive and possibly his origin, which have long been disputed.

A looping version of the film can be seen here: https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/newly-discovered-footage-of-the-thylacine/video/9739dac68568a2d9d758c857a1417ae1