. A circa 1914 photo of a thylacine at the London Zoo's North Mammal House.  This image was included in a guide book to the zoo, published in 1932.

    The usual gait of the thylacine was described by Richard Lydekker as a slow pace.  Ellis Troughton commented "He is not at all as fast as a dog...when pursued, he breaks into a canter".  In regard to locomotion, there is no correlation at all between the thylacine and the wolf.  The placental wolf, with its proportionately longer legs, prefers to support itself on the two legs of the same side of its body (=pace-like).  The thylacine however, most often touches down with the right forelimb and the left hindlimb simultaneously, or with the left forelimb and the right hindlimb together (cross gait).  To keep its balance, an animal with a long body and proportionately short limbs can obviously only support itself in this manner.

   Apart from walking and a short gallop, bipedal hopping has also been mentioned.  It was stated by J. Grant in 1831 that "...though when he moves quickly, he springs like a kangaroo, although not with so much speed".  Another, separate report from E. H. Mattingley would appear to verify this method of locomotion.  However, because the animal's anterior portion is quite large, and its back legs are rather weak with a minimally extended metatarsal area and short calcaneal (heel bone) process, some doubt is placed upon such statements.  Another topic of much debate regarded whether the thylacine walks on its soles (which is suggested by the presence of extended padding on the hindfoot) or whether it walks on its toes.  A film made in 1928 at the Hobart Zoo clearly shows a thylacine resting on its soles when adopting a bipedal posture.  Also, Richard Lydekker depicts a thylacine in his 1896 book that sets its entire plantar surface in contact with the ground.
 

"Sole-walking" is certainly not one of the animal's most often used means of locomotion.  It is more accurate to assume that this type of movement is used in situations such as traversing thick underbrush and broken terrain.  In contrast, "toe-walking" is undoubtedly used preferentially when crossing more open areas.  The thylacine's raised heel definitely enables it to run at higher speed when evading danger or pursuing prey.  Ronald Gunn commented on the incredible agility of a thylacine: In a small half-finished house "he sprang from the floor to top of the walls, and from crossbeam to crossbeam under the roof, like a cat.".  The thylacine's unusual run "with a constant slight crouching at the rear end", can also be seen in the aforementioned film.

. A thylacine photographed at the Hobart Zoo (Beaumaris site) sometime prior to 1921.  This image was one of several taken by Harry Burrell which may have inadvertently perpetuated the unfounded notion that the thylacine posed a significant threat to domestic fowl.  Like the Burrell photo shown here, this image has also been severely cropped in order to make the animal seem as though it is in a wild setting.  Compare it with the original.

    When thylacine numbers were higher, the animal's tracks were seen frequently.  In some instances, the tracks are difficult for the untrained eye to distinguish from those of a dog, especially in situations where the ground is hard and the print is rather faint.  The thylacine's front foot has a slightly raised thumb which usually does not leave an impression except in very soft ground or snow.  A dog's print is narrower than that of a thylacine, and the plantar pad much more triangular.  The tracks of Tasmanian devils are somewhat similar in form to those of a small thylacine, and are sometimes mistaken for such.