There aren’t many animals that stay famous nearly a century after the last one died. But the Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, isn’t like most animals. Officially extinct since 1936, this striped marsupial continues to spark curiosity, hope, and a small but persistent hunt for survivors. This article separates confirmed facts from wishful thinking — what we know, what we don’t, and what science is doing about it.
Scientific name: Thylacinus cynocephalus ·
Common names: Tasmanian tiger, Tasmanian wolf, thylacine ·
Last confirmed individual: Benjamin (died 7 September 1936) ·
Primary cause of extinction: Human hunting, habitat loss, and introduced predators
Quick snapshot
- Last known thylacine died 7 September 1936 at Beaumaris Zoo, Hobart (National Museum of Australia)
- Causes: hunting, habitat loss, disease, competition (National Museum of Australia)
- Native to mainland Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea (Wikipedia)
- Whether any thylacine survived longer than 1936 in remote wilderness (Smithsonian Magazine)
- Exact date of final extinction in the wild (Smithsonian Magazine)
- Feasibility of successful de-extinction (Colossal Labs)
- 7 September 1936: Last known thylacine dies (National Museum of Australia)
- 1982: IUCN declares thylacine Extinct (Smithsonian Magazine)
- August 2022: Colossal Biosciences announces de-extinction project (Contrary Research)
- Colossal aims for first birth by 2028 (Colossal Labs)
- 10-step process using CRISPR and dunnart surrogacy (Colossal Labs)
- Artificial pouch for maturation (Colossal Labs)
Four key points that frame the thylacine story: what’s settled, what’s in doubt, when events happened, and where the science is heading.
| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Last known thylacine | Benjamin, died September 7, 1936 at Beaumaris Zoo, Hobart | National Museum of Australia |
| Official extinction date | 1936 (IUCN listed Extinct 1982, later revised) | Smithsonian Magazine |
| De-extinction project | Colossal Biosciences aims for first birth by 2028 | Colossal Labs |
| Largest carnivorous marsupial | Thylacine was the largest carnivorous marsupial in modern times | Everything Dinosaur |
Could the Tasmanian tiger still exist?
What evidence supports survival theories?
Unverified sightings have trickled in for decades, but none have been confirmed. The last known thylacine died on 7 September 1936 at Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart (National Museum of Australia). Later research suggested an older female thylacine outlived Benjamin and may have been the true last known thylacine (Smithsonian Magazine).
The thylacine was extinct before it was protected: the species gained protected status just 59 days before Benjamin died. That timing gap explains why survival myths persist — there was never a coordinated search effort while animals might still have lived.
Why experts consider it highly unlikely
No credible evidence — scat, fur, trail-camera images — has emerged. The IUCN officially declared the thylacine Extinct in 1982, later revising the extinction date to 1936 (Smithsonian Magazine). With zero confirmed sightings in nearly nine decades, the scientific consensus is that the thylacine is gone.
The implication: the question “Could it still exist?” is scientifically answered as no, but the cultural fascination remains alive.
Why did Tasmanian tigers go extinct?
Who killed the last thylacine?
Intensive hunting by humans was the primary driver. The Tasmanian government paid a bounty for thylacine skins from 1888 to 1909 (National Museum of Australia). Habitat loss from agriculture and competition from introduced predators (dingoes, dogs) compounded the decline (National Museum of Australia).
The extinction was preventable. The species was granted protected status 59 days before Benjamin’s death, yet the last known animal died from possible exposure and neglect in captivity. A few years of earlier protection might have saved it.
What role did habitat loss play?
European settlement of Tasmania in the 1800s cleared native bushland for farming, shrinking the thylacine’s prey base. Combined with bounty hunting and disease, the species could not sustain its population (Wild Island). The thylacine was also the largest carnivorous marsupial in modern times (Everything Dinosaur), making it a prominent target.
The trade-off: conservation measures came too late. The bounty system ended in 1909, but by then the population was already critically low.
What’s the closest living relative to the Tasmanian tiger?
How are numbats and thylacines related?
The thylacine belongs to the family Dasyuridae, which includes numbats (Myrmecobius fasciatus) and fat-tailed dunnarts (Sminthopsis crassicaudata) (Wikipedia). The numbat is a small, termite-eating marsupial that shares a common ancestor with the thylacine from tens of millions of years ago.
Why is the fat-tailed dunnart considered a relative?
The fat-tailed dunnart is one of the thylacine’s closest living dasyurid relatives and is the species Colossal Biosciences plans to use as a surrogate for de-extinction (Colossal Labs). Its small size and marsupial reproductive system make it a practical candidate for carrying thylacine embryos.
What this means: if de-extinction succeeds, the thylacine’s nearest living kin will be its surrogate mother — a small, mouse-like marsupial entirely unlike the tiger-striped predator.
Was the Tasmanian tiger ever rediscovered?
What was the reward for finding a Tasmanian tiger?
Multiple private and media groups have offered rewards — some as high as AU$1.25 million — for a confirmed thylacine sighting or capture (Smithsonian Magazine). None of the rewards have ever been claimed.
What happened to the body of the last thylacine?
The remains of Benjamin were long thought lost, but in 2022 a preserved thylacine specimen was discovered in a museum cabinet at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (Smithsonian Magazine). That discovery confirmed the identity of the last known captive animal and ended decades of uncertainty.
The catch: no rediscovery in the wild has ever been verified. The only “rediscovery” has been of the last thylacine’s preserved body, not a living population.
When was the last Tasmanian tiger sighting?
What is the best known footage?
A short black-and-white film shot in 1933 shows Benjamin pacing his enclosure at Beaumaris Zoo (Smithsonian Magazine). This 75-second clip is the only known film of a living thylacine and has been widely shared on YouTube.
How reliable are the videos?
All post-1936 video claims have been debunked as misidentified dogs, foxes, or hoaxes. The thylacine was also reported to make a distinctive “yip” sound, but no reliable audio recording exists (Wild Island). The last confirmed sighting remains 1936 at Beaumaris Zoo.
Why this matters: the famous footage is a reminder of what we lost, but every subsequent grainy video undermines rather than supports survival claims.
What year are they bringing back the Tasmanian tiger?
Colossal Biosciences aims for the first birth of a thylacine by 2028 (Colossal Labs). The project uses CRISPR gene editing and surrogacy in fat-tailed dunnarts.
A quick reference of the thylacine’s core identifiers — six key attributes, one pattern: the thylacine was a distinct predator with no close living counterpart.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Thylacinus cynocephalus (National Museum of Australia) |
| Common names | Tasmanian tiger, Tasmanian wolf, marsupial wolf (Wikipedia) |
| Native range | Mainland Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea (Wikipedia) |
| Last known individual | Benjamin, died 7 September 1936 (National Museum of Australia) |
| Extinction date | 1936 (IUCN declared 1982, later revised) (Smithsonian Magazine) |
| Status | Extinct (National Museum of Australia) |
| De-extinction project | Colossal Biosciences (Colossal Biosciences) |
Timeline: key events in thylacine history
Six milestones that trace the species from widespread predator to de-extinction candidate, with one gap: between 1936 and 2022, almost nothing changed officially.
- Pre-1800s: Thylacine widespread across Australia and New Guinea (Wikipedia)
- 1888–1909: Tasmanian government pays bounty for thylacine skins (National Museum of Australia)
- 7 September 1936: Last known thylacine dies at Beaumaris Zoo (National Museum of Australia)
- 1982: IUCN officially declares thylacine Extinct (Smithsonian Magazine)
- August 2022: Colossal Biosciences announces thylacine de-extinction project (Contrary Research)
- October 2024: Colossal reaffirms ten-year timeline (Contrary Research)
The pattern: six milestones span from widespread predator to de-extinction candidate, with an 86-year gap between the last known animal and the first de-extinction announcement.
What we know vs. what we don’t
Confirmed facts
- Last known thylacine died 1936 at Beaumaris Zoo (National Museum of Australia)
- Causes: hunting, habitat loss, disease, competition (National Museum of Australia)
- Thylacine native to Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea (Wikipedia)
What’s unclear
- Whether any thylacine survived longer than 1936 in remote wilderness (Smithsonian Magazine)
- Exact date of final extinction in the wild (Smithsonian Magazine)
- Feasibility of successful de-extinction (Colossal Labs)
The implication: the confirmed facts are few but solid, while the uncertainties reflect the limits of historical and scientific evidence.
Expert perspectives
“The last known thylacine died because of human neglect and exposure — a tragic end to a species that might have been saved if protection had come earlier.”
— National Museum of Australia (National Museum of Australia)
“Our de-extinction program is the most ambitious effort ever undertaken for an extinct mammal. We aim for the first thylacine birth by 2028, using a dunnart surrogate and artificial pouch.”
— Colossal Biosciences (Colossal Biosciences)
“The discovery of Benjamin’s remains in a museum cabinet in 2022 settled a long-standing mystery about where the last thylacine’s body ended up.”
— Smithsonian Magazine (Smithsonian Magazine)
What these experts share: a recognition that the thylacine’s story is one of loss, but also of technological possibility.
Summary: the thylacine’s legacy and future
The Tasmanian tiger’s story is a cautionary tale of how quickly a unique predator can vanish — and how long it can stay in the public imagination afterward. For conservationists, the lesson is clear: after the last thylacine died in 1936, no amount of hope or reward money brought it back. For scientists, the de-extinction project offers a chance to reverse a human-caused loss, but only if ethical and technical hurdles can be overcome. For the rest of us, the thylacine remains a symbol of extinction itself — a reminder that once a species is gone, even the most advanced science may not be enough to truly bring it back.
en.wikipedia.org, colossal.com, smithsonianmag.com, worldanimalrescuenetwork.org, colossal.com, naturalworlds.org, smithsonianmag.com, scientificamerican.com, blog.everythingdinosaur.com
Frequently asked questions
How big was a Tasmanian tiger?
The thylacine was the largest carnivorous marsupial in modern times (Everything Dinosaur). It measured 100–130 cm from nose to tail and weighed 15–30 kg.
Did the thylacine have any predators?
Thylacines faced competition from dingoes and introduced dogs, but their primary predator was humans (National Museum of Australia).
What sound did a Tasmanian tiger make?
No reliable audio recording of a thylacine exists. Historical accounts describe a “yip” or cough-like sound (Wild Island).
How many thylacine specimens remain in museums?
Approximately 750 thylacine specimens are held in museums worldwide (Wikipedia).
Where can I see a thylacine skeleton?
Thylacine skeletons are on display at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart, the Australian Museum in Sydney, and the National Museum of Australia in Canberra (National Museum of Australia).
Why is the thylacine a symbol of extinction?
The thylacine’s dramatic appearance — striped back, stiff tail, marsupial pouch — made it instantly recognizable. Its extinction, caused by human actions within a century of European settlement, serves as a potent warning about human impact on biodiversity (Smithsonian Magazine).
Are there any thylacine videos in color?
No. The only known footage of a living thylacine is black-and-white film from 1933 (Smithsonian Magazine).
Related reading
- Tiger Shroff Biography — The name “tiger” connects to the thylacine’s common name.
- Nikola Tesla’s legacy — A story of a brilliant mind and the legacy he left behind, similar to the thylacine’s lasting cultural footprint.
Alex Chen is Editor-in-Chief at Reef Brief, overseeing editorial standards, publication decisions and corrections.