Based on a report at Fox news, the Tasmanian Tiger may not be extinct, as previously thought. Scientist in Australia are now looking for the Tasmania Tiger once again. The Tasmania Tiger looks like a striped coyote and was last seen over 70 years ago. It was thought that this animal was extinct.
Experts still think that it is a small possibility, that the creature still exists. However, it is possible the Tasmanian Tiger still walks around the area in Tasmania, which is a large island south of Australia.
Why does this possibility exist right now? A Zoologist has researched droppings that were discovered in Tasmania. Jeremy Austin, who works for the Australian Center for Ancient DNA, are researching animal droppings that were discovered in Tasmania. These droppings that are being researched, were found in the 1950's or the 1960's.
These experts think that the droppings are probably from the Tasmanian Tiger. According to the Fox news report, Jeremy Austin said “If we find thylacine DNA from the 1950's scats it will be significant. This would prove that either the thylacine produced the scat or a Tasmanian devil ate the thylacine and dropped the scat. Either way, that is proof that the thylacine was there at the time.”
According to Wikipedia, the Tasmanian Tiger is also known as a Thylacine. First discoveries of the Tasmanian Tiger was made by indigenous people in Australia, at approximately 1000 BC. There has been rock art discovered, showing the engraving of the Tasmanian Tiger. This rock art has been dated to approximately 1000 BC.
This animal is thought to have become extinct in Australia about 2,000 years ago. The extinction was brought on by humans who were settling in the area. Rock art that is in the Kakadu National Park, show that the Tasmanian Tiger was hunted by humans. Even though the tiger became extinct on the mainland of Australia, the Tasmania Tiger survived through the 1930's, on the island of Tasmania.
If the Tasmanian Tiger is found to have still been alive during the 1950's or 1960's, this means that the tiger stayed hidden from humans for as long as 30 years. The very last tiger that was known to be alive, was killed by a farmer in 1930. The last tiger in captive died in 1936. Five years after this happened, the Tasmanian Tiger was officially called extinct.
If it is discovered that the tiger survived all this time without no physical proof, then it is certainly possible that it is still alive today. According to the Fox news report, Austin told Livescience “This chance is of course not great, but the glimmer of hope is ever so slightly brighter.”
