. Another of David Fleay's excellent photographs of Benjamin taken in 1933.

    In 1925, less than a year after Mullins's capture of a female thylacine and her three young, Churchill had snared another family group (again consisting of a female and three cubs) in the Florentine Valley, and there appears to have been some cross-over between the two accounts with the natural passage of time.  However, Churchill's 1925 capture was put to a very different fate than that of Mullins.  The four thylacines were exhibited around Tasmania at fairs and shows for sixpence per view before being sold to interstate interests.

    Irrespective of which side of the source debate that the reader tends to favour, the historic picture is then further complicated by the argument over the sex of Benjamin, with scientific opinion once again divided between those authorities supporting the male line and others the female.  Alison Reid gave no indication of the animal's gender in any of her recorded interviews.

    Both I and my colleague Dr. Stephen Sleightholme of the International Thylacine Specimen Database Project have closely examined Dr. David Fleay's historic film footage as well as the surviving photographs that were taken of Benjamin, but have been unable to find any definite evidence that would enable the animal's sex to be confirmed.
 

. The mother thylacine and her three cubs that were captured by Elias Churchill in the Florentine Valley in 1925.  They were subsequently displayed in this cart at country fairs around Tasmania for sixpence per view.  They were later sold to interstate interests, but what happened to them afterward is unknown.

As is the case with most marsupials, the scrotum of the male thylacine is pendulous and normally quite evident when the animal is relaxed.  One could assume that the absence of such an obvious sign of maleness implies that Benjamin was a female.  However, it is highly likely that the animal was stressed during photography, and that the scrotum was withdrawn into the pouch-like structure that surrounds it.  This may explain why it was not evident on the film and photographs.  It should be noted that Dr. Fleay did specifically mention that this individual was male in both his diary and in an article entitled "Strange Animals of Australia", published in the September 1963 issue of National Geographic Magazine (Fleay 1963).

    Both parties in the source debate are however in full agreement over the date of death of the last thylacine held at the Hobart Zoo.  The minutes of the Hobart City Council's Reserves Committee for the period have fortunately been preserved, and note on 16 September 1936:

    "Beaumaris Zoo - 

   The Superintendent of Reserves reported that the Tasmanian tiger died on Monday evening last, 7th instant, and the body has been forwarded to the Museum.

    Noted: Efforts to be made by Superintendent to obtain another tiger up to the value of £30 each".

    That year, Tasmania's winter was particularly severe.  The last known captive thylacine, Benjamin, died on the night of 7 September 1936 from exposure to the cold; the animal having been left out of its shelter overnight.  Ironically, as 1936 was the very year in which thylacines finally became protected by law, Benjamin was the first member of the species to have ever received full legal protection.

    No attempt was made by the Tasmanian Museum to preserve the body; the reason cited was that the skin was in poor condition.  It can only be assumed that the Tasmanian Museum authorities thought that the Hobart Zoo would in time obtain far better quality specimens.
 

    Late in 1937, the City Council decided to discontinue operation of the zoo, stating "its maintenance was no longer in the best interest of the City".  The Great Depression of the 1930s saw attendance at the zoo steadily falling, and it was finally closed to the public on 25 November 1937.  Today, at both the Beaumaris and Domain sites that it once occupied, only a few stark reminders of the zoo remain.  Most of Hobart's current residents are not even aware that their city ever had a zoo (Guiler 1986).

    I often wonder what life must have been like for captives such as Benjamin and the many other thylacines that were held at zoos in Australia and other countries, including England, Germany, and the United States.  Even in the modern era, captive conditions quite rarely if ever provide situations in which an animal can live in a manner typical of that which it would have in the wild.  Most thylacines did not survive for much longer than just a few years after being placed in captivity.  Undoubtedly, many that were shipped out of Australia did not arrive alive at their destinations, having died during their long transit across the ocean.

    In Australia, September 7th is designated as National Threatened Species Day.  Among advocates of the thylacine, it has also come to be known as National Thylacine Day.
 

While National Threatened Species Day is observed primarily in Australia, it should most definitely be a global event.  It was on 7 September 1936 that Benjamin, the last thylacine in captivity, died at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.  Here at The Thylacine Museum, a special memorial book is maintained in honor of Benjamin and the rest of his species.  It is available for signing and reading year-round.  Click on the image at right to access the book:

. sign/read The Thylacine Memorial Book