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The female thylacine's well-developed marsupium
(pouch) opens to the rear, and has four teats arranged in two rows.
The two on each side are close together and well separated from those opposite
(Pocock 1926). The surrounding hair is arranged towards the pouch.
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A pouch containing three young, each 30 cm (11.8 in.) long including the
tail, was measured by Owen (1868). The depth of the pouch was 20
cm (7.9 in.), with the width of its aperture 9 cm (3.5 in.), extending
forward to a maximum width of 15 cm (5.9 in.). Each of the teats
measured 10 cm (3.9 in.) long.
The three young that were observed by Gunn (1863) were so large that they
could barely fit into the pouch, which hung so low that it "seemed almost
a deformity". When suckling her young, the female would lie on her
side like a dog. The aperture of the pouch would relax so that the
young, lying outside, could easily access the teats. They would crawl
in upside down upon being disturbed, and the mother would lower her hindquarters
and push them against the side of the cage to give the young some leverage
with their hind feet. |
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| A
section from a painting by artist Joseph M. Gleeson which depicts a mother
thylacine with a juvenile of between 4-5 months old, held within the pouch.
Only its hindquarters and tail are visible. This is the only known
painting which portrays a female thylacine with an offspring being held
in her pouch. These individuals arrived at the US National Zoo in
Washington, DC as part of a family unit consisting of a mother and three
young on 3 September 1902. Gleeson made the preparatory drawings
for this painting within just a few days of the group's arrival.
You can see the full image, along with additional information about it,
here. |
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| The
two photographs shown above are unique in that they may be the only ones
known which depict a female thylacine with a distended pouch bearing young.
The first photo (in which two other adults are visible in the background)
was taken at the Adelaide Zoo in 1898. After consulting with Dr.
Stephen Sleightholme (ITSD Project), I agree with his analysis that the
female shown in the second photo is quite possibly the same one depicted
in the first, and that the photo was therefore taken at the same location
at about the same time. |
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They would have been kept in a nest at this stage, one of which was reported
by a Mr. Flinty, who found two young "in a dry fern bed under the drooping
and still attached dead fronds of a tree-fern. These reached the
ground all around the butt, thus forming a natural tent-like shelter and
a perfect camouflage for the youngsters" (Le Souef and Burrell 1926).
Guiler (1961a) was able to ascertain the breeding season through examination
of scalp bounty records. Included in the records were 55 "half-grown"
animals, 52 young that were out of the pouch when captured, and 43 other
young of unspecified age. Although young were taken in all months,
the number of post-pouch young peaked in May and July-August, followed
by peaks of "half-growns" by September. |
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An infant female thylacine
which has been preserved in alcohol at the Australian Museum (Sydney) since
1866.
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Consequently, the original breeding season either lasted four months or,
less probably, there were two breeding seasons separated by a gap of two
months. Possibly, a female would begin breeding in Autumn and have
a second group of young after the first had been weaned. Whatever
the case may be, it appears that reproduction does occur outside of the
regular breeding season to some extent.
A number of
pouch young preserved in museums were studied by Boardman (1945).
One litter consisted of two females and two males with a head-body length
of 75 mm (approx. 3 in.). They were hairless except for a very small
amount on the head. They had no stripes, but a greyish pigment was
present in the skin. The lips were still sealed at the sides, and
the eyes were unopened, although eyelashes were present. Each of
the females had a small, V-shaped pouch with two nipples. An older
female with a head-body measurement of 288 mm (11.3 in.) and a tail of
119 mm (4.7 in.) had short, coarse hair covering her body, although it
was longest on the head. Stripes had appeared. The hair flowed
in all directions from the pouch, and there was a somewhat higher number
of facial vibrissae. The lips had become fully formed and the eyes
were open. This individual was probably old enough to have ventured
outside of the pouch. |
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