This strange looking beast was unlike anything walking the earth today. The Thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian Tiger or the Tasmanian Wolf, was the last extant member of its family, Thylacinidae. The nocturnal Thylacine surreptitiously lurked the island of Tasmania as recently as the 1930’s.

Its closest living relative is thought to be either the Tasmanian devil or the numbat, neither of which is even remotely similar to the Thylacine. The Tasmanian Devil is obviously a cartoon character, and you probably don’t know what a numbat is, and that’s okay because no one does. It’s basically a tiny rat, squirrel, anteater combo. But this isn’t about that weird little rat, this is about the mysterious, enigmatic thylacine.

This nocturnal creature had the proportions of a medium-to-large-size dog. It stood up to 26 inches at the shoulders and weighed up to 70 pounds. Many European settlers drew direct comparisons with the hyena, because of its unusual stance and general demeanor. The thylacine was a marsupial (it had a pouch) and featured a large head with jaws that could open up to 80 degrees. The thylacine was an apex predator and terrorized all of the other little marsupials in the region. The thylacine was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times.

The thylacine once roamed Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, but most recently lived in Tasmania. After becoming extinct from Australia and New Guinea nearly 2000 years ago, it managed to survive on Tasmania into the 1930’s.

So what happened to this surreptitious stalker of the Tasmanian isle? Through the 1800’s, the thylacine was linked to attacks on sheep. A negative marketing campaign was undertaken by local farmers to have this terrorist tiger eradicated from the island. It is unknown if the attacks on livestock were the result of thylacine attacks or those of wild dogs. But the damage was done. Large-scale hunting took place and the mysterious masters of the night were shot on sight. In addition, other factors led to its decline and eventual extinction, including competition with wild dogs, erosion of its habitat, and the concurrent extinction of prey species. The thylacine could have been saved but it was fighting an uphill battle.

This is where we would normally celebrate the beauty of the thylacine that once was, but this historical accounting comes with a twist. “But uncle Pecker,” you ask, “what twist could that be?” Since 1936 (the date of the last reported thylacine death) there have been 3,800 reported sightings of the thylacine on mainland Australia and over 360 reported sightings on the Tasmanian isle. The sightings have generated a large amount of publicity. In 1983, the borderline psychotic Ted Turner offered a $100,000 reward for proof of the existence of the thylacine. As recently as 2005, other rewards (exceeding $1 million) have been offered for the safe capture of the creature. In 2008, a group of thylacines was purportedly captured on video in Victoria, but the veracity of the footage remains unconfirmed. Scientists plan in 2017 to survey large areas of Tasmania for the thylacine using camera traps. Even with the offers of rewards, numerous sightings, and grainy bigfoot-Pattersonesque-photos of the thylacine, there has been no solid evidence of the existence of the creature.

I want to believe, bros. I want to believe our striped friend is still out there. But the evidence is scant. Unfortunately for our unique, marsupial friend, the world is cold and dark. Maybe one day we'll see him again.

Until then, join me in celebrating the beautiful creature that once hunted the Oceanic isles, the thylacine!

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