Knowra Thylacine Thylacine The thylacine was a carnivorous marsupial native to Australia and New Guinea, later surviving only in Tasmania. The last known individual died in captivity in 1936.
Sahul : The prehistoric landmass joining Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania during periods of lower sea levels. The thylacine’s native range spanned regions connected across this ancient landmass.
Marsupial : A mammal whose young are born at an early developmental stage, usually completing development attached to a teat. The thylacine’s reproductive biology placed it among Australia’s marsupial mammals.
George Harris : A colonial-era naturalist who described the thylacine scientifically in 1808. His description brought the animal into formal European scientific literature.
Extinction : The permanent loss of a species when its last individual dies. The thylacine is a documented modern extinction with a known final captive animal.
Thylacine specimens : Preserved thylacine bodies, bones, skins, and other remains held in collections. Specimens provide anatomical and genetic evidence unavailable from living populations.
Pleistocene : The geological epoch from about 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, marked by repeated ice ages. Fossils trace thylacines across changing Pleistocene environments in Australia and New Guinea.
Convergent evolution : The independent evolution of similar traits in different lineages facing similar environmental pressures. Its doglike form resembles that of placental canids despite distant ancestry.
John Gould : An English ornithologist and illustrator who published a notable nineteenth-century account of the thylacine. His illustrated work helped make the species familiar to audiences beyond Tasmania.
Thylacine extinction : The disappearance of the thylacine, culminating in the death of the last known individual in 1936. Its extinction resulted from multiple pressures, including hunting and habitat change.
Thylacine film footage : Surviving motion-picture recordings showing captive thylacines, including footage from the 1930s. The brief films document the animal’s movement shortly before its extinction.
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