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INTRODUCING THE THYLACINE:
- WHAT IS A THYLACINE? -
(page 3)
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male thylacines - Beaumaris Zoo (SB) (1911)
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A photo taken on 27th September 1911 of two male thylacines (an adult in the background, and a juvenile in the foreground) at the Beaumaris Zoo (SB) in Hobart, Tasmania.  This photograph is often wrongly cited as being that of a male and female.
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    The life span of a thylacine in the wild is unknown, but has been estimated as being between five and seven years.  In captivity, life expectancy could exceed eight years.
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    The thylacine is a pursuit predator; its natural habitat being a mixed mosaic of dry eucalypt forests, wetlands and grasslands.  The thylacine is not a specialist feeder, and has a broad range of native prey species that make up its natural diet.  From historical accounts, it appears that various hunting strategies are employed by the thylacine, the choice of technique being dependent upon the
Tasmanian State Coat of Arms
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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.
type of prey being hunted, and whether the thylacine is hunting alone or as a member of a larger family unit.  Thylacines do not hunt in packs, as is the case with wolves, but they do hunt as family units.

    Following the introduction of commercial sheep farming into Tasmania in the 1820s, the thylacine was unfairly perceived as a vicious sheep killer and relentlessly persecuted through a series of government and private bounty schemes.  The government bounty scheme ran from 1888-1908/9, and that of the Van Diemen's Land Company (VDLC) from 1830-1914.  Numerous local bounty schemes ran in concert with the government bounty.

Over the 21-year period that the government bounty was in force, some 2,184 thylacines were killed.  Over the same period, 81 thylacines were killed at the VDLC property at Woolnorth in the far northwest of Tasmania.  Totals for the various local bounty schemes do not exist, but a conservative estimate of around 200+ thylacines killed would be a reasonable estimate.
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thylacine - London Zoo (1914)
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An adult male thylacine at the London Zoo photographed by D. Seth-Smith (1914).  This thylacine was purchased from Mrs. Roberts at the Beaumaris Zoo (SB) and was resident at the London zoo from 21st November 1910 until its death on the 25th December 1914.  Other photos of this individual: 1, 2.  Courtesy: Zool. Soc. London.
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    Historical evidence confirms that a male / female pair bond exists between thylacines of breeding age, and that the bond functions within a fixed home range.  Little detail of the reproductive behaviour of the thylacine is known.  Most of what we do know is based on the fortuitous observations of a small number of naturalists, the detailed dissections of the reproductive organs by anatomists, and the historical field observations of bushmen.  Comparisons can also be made from the reproductive behaviour of the thylacine's nearest living relatives, the quolls (Dasyurus spp.), and the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii).

    It is now believed that female thylacines reach sexual maturity at around 2 - 3 years of age, and males somewhat later at around 3+ years.  With the advent of Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD), in Tasmanian devils, the females are coming into oestrous earlier.  Like the devil, it is arguable that the illness described as being mange or distemper-like that blighted thylacine populations at the beginning of the 20th century would have increased pressure on young female thylacines to come into oestrous earlier.

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    Sleightholme & Campbell (2014), in their retrospective study on the breeding season of the thylacine, found that mating (historically) occurred in the antipodean autumn and winter (April through to September), with a seasonal maximum positively skewed in favour of the winter months (June through to August).  They found little evidence to support significant out-of-phase breeding. 

    The gestation period for the thylacine is unknown; only educated comparisons can be made with the thylacine's smaller cousins, such as the Tiger Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) and the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), with estimates varying from 21 to 35 days.

    Historically, females with pouch-dependent young would normally be found from May through to December, the antipodean winter and spring, with young at various stages of their development throughout the year.

    The female thylacine possesses a backwards-opening pouch (marsupium) with four teats.  It is highly unlikely that a female thylacine in her first breeding season would carry the maximum of four pups (more accurately called "joeys").  It is far more reasonable to assume that two pups would be the norm, with the litter size increasing in the peak breeding years and then diminishing as the animal ages.

Tiger quoll (Dasyurus maculatus)
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The Tiger quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), one of the thylacine's closest living relatives.
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References
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back to: What is a Thylacine? (page 2) return to the section's introduction forward to: What is a Thylacine? (page 4)


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