Rare though it might have been, a story entitled "A Hungry Tiger", published in the Examiner newspaper of the 4th May 1909 (p. 5), records the return of a thylacine to a carcass:

    "That animal had left traces of its presence in a few slaughtered and half eaten sheep.  Having killed one on Mr. Smith's farm on the night of April 29, he returned on the next day to the carcase".

    It is reasonable to presume that juveniles and older animals are far more likely to scavenge than healthy adults.  When food is abundant, the feeding behaviour changes and becomes wasteful, with the thylacine only consuming select parts of its prey, and often killing more prey than it requires.

    With the colonisation of Tasmania in 1803, and the subsequent introduction of sheep in 1820, the thylacine quickly adapted its skills to hunting these easy to catch prey.  The Adelaide newspaper "Border Watch" of the 30th September 1871 (p. 4) notes:

    "A native tiger was lately captured at Blessington, Tasmania, measuring from the point of the nose to the tip of the tail six feet three inches.  When first startled he was in the act of eating a sheep".

    Predation by thylacines on sheep has recently been questioned with the publication of a paper in the Journal of Zoology entitled "Skull mechanics and implications for feeding behaviour in a large marsupial carnivore guild: the thylacine, Tasmanian devil and spotted-tailed quoll".  The authors (Attard et al. 2011) cast doubt on the thylacine's ability to kill large prey, including sheep, due to an inherent structural weakness of the jaw.

    Three dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) and geometric morphometrics were used in the study to assess various aspects of biomechanical performance in the skull of the thylacine relative to two marsupial carnivores with known diets (Sarcophilus harrisii and Dasyurus maculatus).  FEA consists of a computer model(s), in this instance of the three marsupial skulls; that were stressed and analyzed for specific results.

Attard's findings infer that the thylacine was vulnerable to extinction by virtue of its diet, in that it was poorly adapted to take relatively large prey compared with other marsupials.

    One must stress the need for caution in accepting the results of a retrospective study when those results conflict so dramatically with historical fact.  The skull used in Attard's study was that of a thylacine that died at Moore Park Zoo in Sydney.  This thylacine was fed solely on horsemeat, restricted in its activities through confinement, and relatively aged; being at least 6 years old at its death.  These factors do not appear to have been taken into consideration in the study.

    Attard states: "Given its large body mass and carnivorous diet, any limitations in the capacity of T. cynocephalus to kill large bodied species may have made them particularly vulnerable unless small prey was available in high abundance".

    The thylacine however, is not a specialist feeder and has a broad range of native prey species that make up its natural diet.  Those that have been recorded in the literature include: [mammals] Forester or Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), Bennett's or Red-necked wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus), Rufous wallaby or Tasmanian pademelon (Thylogale billardierii), Long-nosed potoroo (Potorous tridactylus), Tasmanian bettong (Bettongia gaimardi), Common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula fuliginosus), Common wombat (Vombatus ursinus), Southern brown bandicoot (Isodon obesulus), Eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii), Dusky Antechinus (Antechinus swainsonii), Water rat (Hydromys chrysogaster), and a wide variety of birds.