.
R. Gunn made regular observations of a pair of thylacines which lived in
a cage next to his home for half a year, and notes that the female became
"sufficiently tame to allow herself to be scratched on the head or otherwise
touched through the bars of her cage without showing any aversion or annoyance".
So that the pair could become accustomed to people (these were the first
two sent to London) Gunn placed their cage where some of his servants passed
by each day and where children played, though the animals "did not seem
to be disturbed in the least".
.
| This
thylacine photograph is said to have been taken by a Mr. Sargent at the
private zoo in Wynyard, Tasmania, operated by animal dealer James Harrison
between 1890 and 1920 (Bailey 2001). |
|
E. Guiler wrote "In its appearance, the Tasmanian wolf is a docile creature
that does not attack anybody, even if challenged". There are a few
reports of minor injuries caused by thylacines in captivity, but such occurrences
were quite unusual. The most often cited case was that of Dr. David
Fleay, who was bitten by the last captive thylacine while taking photos
at the Hobart Zoo. Dr. Fleay's daughter, R. F. Thomson, comments
that her father regarded the bite as "...the highlight of his natural history
career and a compliment paid to him by an animal who must have been bored
with poor food and open, draughty, uninspiring housing...". |
|
The dismal distinction of having made the last documented killing of a
thylacine belongs to a Mr. Wilf Batty, who, in the stance of a triumphant
great hunter, had himself photographed with its corpse
propped against a fence. It is believed by some that after Elias
Churchill's 1933 live capture of an individual in the Florentine Valley,
no one ever saw a thylacine again in the wild. However, David Fleay
apparently discovered
tracks in 1946 on the Collingwood River in western Tasmania, and a
tuft of marsupial hair on a trap. R. F. Thomson states that in the
opinion of Dr. Pearson at the Tasmanian Museum, the hair was indeed that
of a thylacine. Fifteen years later (1961) a young male is said to
have been accidentally killed by two fishermen, Bill Morrison and Laurie
Thompson, though this was never positively verified, and discrepancies
exist in the account. |
.
| A
photograph taken in 1909 of a mother thylacine and her three young at the
Hobart Zoo (Beaumaris site). The young were approximately eight months
old at the time this photo was taken. A photo taken of this same
group when somewhat older can be seen here. |
|
.
| The
Tasmanian State Coat of Arms. |
|
The thylacine is unfortunately now considered to be extinct by many within
the zoological community. However, reports of alleged sightings continue
to come in regularly to this day. Preserved relics including a small
number of taxidermied specimens, skulls and skeletons, as well as
old photographs and several brief film clips are all that most people today
ever see of this magnificent species. Two thylacines are prominently
featured in the Tasmanian State Coat of Arms, designated in 1917 by King
George. It is tragically ironic that the Tasmanians chose as
their state symbol the very animal which they sought to exterminate. |
|
. |
