. Dr. David Fleay's famous photograph of Benjamin, taken in 1933 at the Hobart Zoo (Domain site). This image well illustrates the great extent to which a thylacine can open its mouth.

    "Benjamin" was one of a number of thylacines kept at the Hobart Zoo, which began exhibiting this species circa 1910.  Originally, the zoo was called the Beaumaris Zoo, and had been opened to the public in 1895 by Mrs. Mary Grant Roberts, then aged 54 and an avid enthusiast of wildlife, especially birds.  The zoo was located at her private residence (the name of which was "Beaumaris") between Newcastle Street and Sandy Bay Road, then called Montpelier Road.  After the death of Mrs. Roberts in 1921, operation of the zoo was transferred to the Hobart City Council and the zoo was moved to a new location (the Domain site) where it was expanded to house larger animals such as lions, bears, zebras, an elephant, and other exotic and native species (Guiler 1986).
 

    Benjamin was the very last thylacine known to have been held in captivity.  The name that has been given to this particular individual originates from a Mr. Frank Darby, who in a newspaper article of May 1968, first mentioned "Benjamin" as having been the animal's pet name.  However, no documentation exists to suggest that the Hobart Zoo's last thylacine ever had a pet name.  When interviewed, Alison Reid (the daughter of A. R. Reid, Curator of the Hobart Zoo from February 1922 to January 1936) categorically denied that anyone called Frank Darby had ever worked at the zoo, and also stated that the name Benjamin was never used to address the zoo's last thylacine (Paddle 2000).  This being the case, Darby's comments regarding his employment at the zoo can only be regarded as a total fabrication.

    However, as Benjamin has now entered common usage as the name of the last captive thylacine, there would be little if anything to be gained by trying to change this.  In some respects, it has its use in focusing people's perceptions of the species and when discussing aspects of conservation.  Indeed, whenever referring to this particular individual, it is much simpler to say "Benjamin" rather than "the last thylacine held in captivity".

    There is considerable debate within certain scientific circles pertaining to both the source and sex of the last known captive thylacine, and for that matter, the last known documented example of the species exhibited at the Hobart Zoo, with thoughts generally being polarised into two lines of opinion.
 

. This image of Benjamin may have also been taken by David Fleay in 1933 on his visit to the Hobart Zoo, although I have been unable to confirm this.

On one hand, there is the position that the last thylacine displayed at the Hobart Zoo was part of a family group consisting of a mother and her three cubs which were captured by trapper Walter "Jack" Mullins at Tyenna in the Florentine Valley in February 1924.  First catching the mother in a foot snare, Mullins, along with fellow trapper Elias Churchill, then patiently waited for the three cubs to come in search of her.  The four animals were subsequently transported by train to Hobart, and sold by Mullins to the Hobart Zoo for the sum of £55 (C. Bailey 2006, pers. comm., 21 March).

    With respect to the three cubs, Dr. Eric Guiler notes that one (the sex of which is unknown) died of kidney disease on 14 April 1930, and that its body was sold to the Tasmanian Museum for £5.  Another (a male) died of pneumonia in July 1935.  The remaining cub (and this is where the controversy arises), is said to be the last known captive thylacine that died on the evening of 7 September 1936, after a record twelve years and seven months in captivity (Guiler 1986).

    It is worth mentioning that a life span of this duration is above that which one would normally expect for this species.  Prof. Heinz Moeller has quoted 10 years as the likely maximum longevity for the species in captivity.

    The alternative position within the debate is that Benjamin was acquired by the Hobart Zoo in 1933 from timber cutter and trapper Elias "Buck" Churchill, the animal having been snared in the Florentine Valley.  Unfortunately, the minutes of the Hobart City Council's Reserves Committee for the period of 21 June 1932 through 22 May 1933 that would have confirmed the Churchill purchase have not been preserved.  However, in a 1969 interview with Col Bailey of the Tasmanian Tiger Research & Data Centre, Churchill stated that like the family of four which he helped Mullins to capture in 1924, the 1933 animal "...went through on the train to Hobart Zoo as well" (C. Bailey 2006, pers. comm., 21 March).