The Tasmanian Tiger was the largest carnivorous marsupial before it became extinct. It belonged to the same family as the Tasmanian devil and was known for its stripes and dog-like appearance. One of the most interesting differences between it and a dog was the pouch that it had; similar to a kangaroo to carry its young. The animal weighed about 25kg and was around 6 feet long when fully grown. The Tasmanian Tiger became extinct in 1936 as the last known Tasmanian Tiger in captivity died.
It is a sad thought to consider that an animal goes extinct and will never return. The Tasmanian tiger has given people some hope of its continued existence as it is the most widely reported cited animal that is extinct. This means that to this day people still report seeing them in the wild even though they are technically extinct. However, their likeness to dogs and particularly the wild dogs of Australia means that most of these reports are likely mistaken. Still, there could be a chance that the species lives on.
The last known Tasmanian tiger died in 1936 while under the care of Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania. His name was Benjamin and he passed away from accidentally being locked out of his cage. This meant that he had to experience the cold night without any protection and died as a result of the exposure. Recently a video has emerged which captures Benjamin on film. This video therefore may be the only video of the last remaining Tasmanian tiger before he died.
The video is 21 seconds long and shows Benjamin walking around his enclosure. The video captures the zookeeper ratting the cage seeking a reaction from the animal. The Tasmanian tiger has been extinct on the Australian mainland for thousands of years but became extinct on Tasmania as it started to be viewed as a pest. At the time of European settlement, it is believed the population was healthy with 5,000 animals on the island. As the European settlers developed farmland in Tasmania the tiger became increasingly viewed as a nuisance for killing livestock and ruining crops. Farmers started to kill the animals on sight and the damage to the population was done before it could be corrected.
Sadly the Tasmanian tiger is likely lost forever. There have been 7,000 sightings of the extinct animal on mainland Australia alone. Yet as this animal has not been confirmed present on the island for 2,000 years and there is no solid proof it is far more likely that these sightings are dingoes or dogs. Yet a myth now grows around the tiger and despite its extinct status, many people enter the wild in the hopes of being able to capture footage of one of the animals in the wild. There is very little known about the animal apart from its appearance.
Records were poorly kept so no one even knows what noise the Tasmanian tiger makes. This is why when the new footage from the now-closed Hobart zoo emerged many people were excited. Perhaps it could provide more information about the mysterious animal and who knows it could even provide a missing clue that would allow it to be spotted in the wild once more.
The Tasmanian tiger does appear to be extinct despite a large number of sightings. This means that it is gone forever. While the newly released video shows a rare glimpse of footage of the animal we will likely never see the animal itself again. There are many animals that face extinction today and unless we act to help them they will face the same fate as the Tasmanian tiger.
