Mammals · Dasyuromorphia · Thylacinidae

Thylacine

Thylacinus cynocephalus

Extinct

No living individual remains anywhere in the world. See full glossary

The thylacine was the largest carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It looked like a medium-sized dog with some fifteen dark bands across its back, a stiff tail and a jaw that could open almost 90 degrees. It disappeared from mainland Australia some 3,000 years ago, probably through competition with the dingo, and was left confined to Tasmania. There it was exterminated by stock farmers with the help of official bounties per head. The last known individual died in Hobart zoo in 1936.

Weight

15 kg – 30 kg

Size

1 m – 1.3 m

Lifespan

7 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Impossible (extinct)

Temperate forestGrasslandIslandsCarnivore Nocturnal Solitary Temperate forest Grassland Islands Mammal

3countries

Fun facts

GeneralA striped carnivorous marsupial; the last known animal died in Hobart Zoo in 1936.
historia naturalIt was officially declared extinct in 1936 with the death of the last captive animal; it was a marsupial that had evolved, by convergence, a body shape very like a dog's.
Its resemblance to a dog is resemblance and nothing more: it was a marsupial, and its likeness to the canids is one of the most frequently cited examples of evolutionary convergence in biology.
Both female and male had a pouch: hers opened backwards to carry the young and his served to protect the genitals while running through the scrub.
The government of Tasmania paid bounties on more than 2,000 thylacines killed between 1888 and 1909, and declared the species protected in July 1936, fifty-nine days before the last captive animal died.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat & environment: Open forest, grassland and scrub of Tasmania; formerly mainland Australia and New Guinea too
Gestation / incubation: 30 days
Litter / clutch size: 3

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacinus_cynocephalus