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THE SCIENTIFIC
NAME
Didelphis cynocephala Harris, 1808. Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond.
9: 174.
Thylacinus Temminck, 1824. "Monographies de Mammalogie". Dufour,
Paris. p. 21.
A frequently given translation of the thylacine's scientific name is "pouched
dog with a wolf's head". This apparently originates from Sharland
(1939) and is inaccurate. The genus name is a Latinized adjective
from the Greek
thýlákos, "a pouch or meal-bag", while
the species name derives from the Greek kyön (stem kyno-),
"a dog" and
kephàlè, "a head".
1805 TO 1936
Apparently,
the earliest account of the thylacine was published in the
Sydney Gazette
and New South Wales Advertiser vol. 3. no. 112, 21 April, 1805.
It reads as follows:
"An animal of a truly singular and nouvel description was killed by dogs
the 30th of March on a hill immediately contiguous to the settlement at
Yorkton Port Dalrymple; from the following minute description of which,
by Lieutenant Governor PATERSON, it must be considered of a species perfectly
distinct from any of the animal creation hitherto known, and certainly
the only powerful and terrific of the carniverous and voracious tribe yet
discovered on any part of New Holland or its adjacent Islands.
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It is very evident his species is destructive, and lives entirely on animal
food; as on dissection his stomach was found filled with a quantity of
kangaroo, weighing 5 Ibs. The weight of the whole animal 45 Ibs.
From its interior structure it must be a brute peculiarly quick of digestion;
the dimensions were, from the nose to the eye 4½ inches: length
of the eye, which is remarkably large and black, 1¾ inches; breadth
of the eye ¾ of an inch; from the nose to the extent of the mouth
in the upper jaw, 6 inches; and to the extent of the under jaw, 4 ½
inches; breadth of the forehead, 5¾ inches; from the eye to the
ear, 3¾ inches; the ear round, diameter 3 inches; from the ear to
the shoulder, 1 foot; from the shoulder to the first stripe, 7 inches;
from the first stripe to the extent of the body, 2 feet; length of the
tail, 1 foot 8 |
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| An
1841 illustration of the thylacine by the Scottish engraver, William Home
Lizars, which was included in G. R. Waterhouse's "The Natural History
of Marsupialia or Pouched Animals", 1841. Curiously, although
the form of the thylacine was already familiar to scientific illustrators
at the time, Lizars's depiction is not very accurate anatomically. |
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inches;
length of the fore leg, 11 inches; and of the fore foot, 5 inches; the
fore foot with 5 blunt claws; height of the animal before, 1 foot
10 inches; stripes across the back 20, on the tail 3; 2 of the stripes
extend down each thigh; length of the hind leg from the heel to the thigh,
1 foot; length of the hind foot, 6 inches; the hind foot with 4 blunt claws,
the soles of the feet without hair; on each side the mouth are 19 bristles,
length of each 4 inches; and 6 bristles on each side under the ear, 9 on
the lower jaw upon each side, and 8 under the throat; 8 fore teeth in the
upper jaw, and 6 in the under; 4 grinders of a side, in the upper and lower
jaw; 3 single teeth also in each; 4 tusks, or canine teeth, length of each
1 inch: circumference of the head before the ears, I foot 6 inches, and
behind the ears, 1 foot 5 inches; smallest part of the neck, 1 foot 4 inches;
circumference before the shoulder, 2 feet; the body short hair and smooth,
of a greyish colour, the stripes black; the hair on the neck rather longer
than that on the body; the hair on the ears of a light brown colour, on
the inside rather long. The form of the animal is that of the hyoena,
at the same time strongly reminding the observer of the appearance of a
low wolf dog. The lips do not appear to conceal the tusks".
The fact that this description
was written by a Lieutenant Governor and presented in a newspaper says
much about the general public's rather high level of interest in natural
history at the time. Interestingly, less detailed species descriptions
are to be found in contemporary academic journals.
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Tasmanian surveyor Thomas Scott's 1823 sketch of a primitive "Tyger Trap".
This same basic design was still in use by the 1960s, which suggests that
it was indeed effective (Guiler 1998). |
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Initial wonderment quickly turned into hostility when the thylacine began
to prey upon unconfined livestock. Between the years of 1832-1849,
Surrey Hills Station alone claimed to have had 147 sheep lost to thylacines,
299 by dogs, and 458 by unidentified predators (Guiler 1961b).
Guiler also states that in 1836 the Van Diemen's Land Co. provided a trapper
with a hut and his keep to eradicate thylacines at Woolnorth, while in
1840 the Company placed a bounty of 6/- each for less than 10 scalps and
10/- each for more. |
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