Posted on 04/02/2005 5:47:25 PM PST by blam
'Sighting' of Tasmanian tiger sparks £1.2m bounty hunt
By Anna Gizowska in Sydney
(Filed: 03/04/2005)
Officially, the last of their kind died out more than half a century ago, their downfall brought about because white settlers believed they had a voracious appetite for sheep. Now the Tasmanian tiger is once again the subject of a manhunt - this time to prove that the species still exists.
The Tasmanian tiger was officially declared extinct in 1986
After dramatic claims by a German tourist to have seen one of the mysterious, meat-eating marsupials lurking deep in the Tasmanian wilderness, Australian magazines and travel companies are offering a combined bounty of $A3 million (£1.2 million) to anybody who can capture what was long supposed to be an extinct creature.
The two blurry digital images produced by the visitor to the island in February were offered for sale to an Australian newspaper group, but rejected because of what the Sydney Morning Herald described as the "high price" - thought to be a five-figure sum - being demanded for their publication. The paper was unable to verify that the striped animal in the pictures was genuinely a Tasmanian tiger, despite assistance from zoologists and photographic specialists.
The unidentified German and his girlfriend, who did not herself see the animal, have since returned home, but their claim - even unproven - has revived extraordinary interest in the elusive creature, said to have been shy and secretive and to move awkwardly when pursued.
A magazine has offered $A 1.25 million (£500,000) for the capture of a live animal, and an adventure travel company topped that with an offer of a further $A1.75 million (£700,000).
Stewart Malcolm, of Thylacine Expeditions, said: "We've had huge interest from overseas, particularly from the United States. It's gone crazy since the reports of the photos."
The Tasmanian tiger, or Thylacinus cynocephalus, was an elongated dog - measuring six foot from nose to tail tip - with brown-black stripes, a heavy, stiff tail and a big head, which led to it also being known as the Tasmanian wolf. It was officially declared extinct in 1986 - 50 years after the last known tiger died in captivity at Hobart Zoo, in the island's capital.
It was targeted for hunting because settlers believed it was inflicting damage on their sheep, and at one point the state government offered a bounty for each tiger killed.
There are regular claims of sightings - some 4,000 over the past seven decades - and the mystery of its existence has taken on the mythical proportions of England's Beast of Bodmin Moor and Scotland's Loch Ness Monster.
"If the tiger has somehow managed to cling to survival, proving its existence would be one of the greatest scientific stories of the century," said Garry Linnell, the editor of Bulletin magazine, which has offered the reward - and been inundated with responses from bounty hunters. "It's unlikely that it exists, but I want to believe that it does."
The strict conditions imposed by Bulletin require that the tiger be captured uninjured and in accordance with government regulations, a potentially insurmountable obstacle since the state's environment minister, Judy Jackson, is refusing to grant trapping permits to potential bounty hunters.
Nick Mooney, a wildlife biologist whose job with Tasmania's environment department requires him to investigate all reports of sightings, said he has seen families destroyed and individuals bankrupted by their obsession with finding the tiger alive. "I never try to embarrass people or make fools of them," he said. "But the fact that I don't pack the car immediately they ring, can be taken as ridicule."
Bounty hunters have only until June 30 to catch a tiger if they want to claim the magazine's reward. Mr Linnell said: "It's a pretty safe bet that if the tiger is not found by then, we'll know the truth is just a myth."
Well, if there was one alive, it will be dead by June 30th.
Not true. Marsupials, placentals and monotremes broke off long before the canine and feline lines branched off from placentals. What we're talking about is a case of parallel evolution.
The thylacine is a marsupial and a relative of the Tasmanian devil -- and has no connection with either canines or felines. If it's not extinct, it's a nasty creature with a foul personality. Treat it with respect.
Will be cool if they really find a live one.
Where does the fox fit in. I've read that the fox is genetically closer to cats than it is to dogs.
Forgive me, but however rare, that's not much of a tiger.
And aren't the interior of the bones or rather the internal bone structures (marrow, density etc) of the fox closer to humans than canines?
That is pretty stupid. It can't be harmed if it doesn't exist. I'm sure trapping permits aren't free.
Wow!
There was a thread earlier about the extinct mega tiger, a prehistoric thylacine species.
I've read quite a few reports about people who have sighted them, most are questionable, but a few are from trained zoologists who are very familiar with the local biology.
I'm betting they still exist, there are large areas of really back country there. But I tend to think they are not in NZ, it would seem the sheep farmers would be about the first to know if they were there.
In terms of evolution, mustelids (weasels) begat civets, which begat felines, which begat the hyena line.
Canines, ursines (bears) and the raccoon line separated quite recently in terms of paleontology.
One real surprise. Mustelids begat pinnipeds (seals) with one significant exception. The Wedell seal of Antarctica has an ursine ancestor, not a mustelid ancestor, which means it's not a true pinniped.
Ah yes of course...parallel evolution.... (theory)
LOL
Most people are quite surprised when I tell them the closest relative to the hound is the bear.
Then they think about it, and see the similarities.
Heck, when I take my mutt out, if the berries are on the vine, he will sit and munch blackberries for a while!
He also loves peas and carrots.
Won't touch rhubarb or onions.
My Chocolate Lab loves my tomatoes when they are green (1-2 a day); the day he quits getting my birds, no more tomatoes for him. My sister used to have a Dachshund that would crack and eat pecans on our patio by the bushel.
Never tried giving him green tomatoes, I usually save ALL the tomatoes for me!
Heck, maybe he'll eat them. I'll try it.
No, no, no, it's the first picture not the second. That pic is of our former Vice President and true, he's not much of a tiger. ;^)
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Three from William Corliss:
The Return Of The Tasmanian Tiger
http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf043/sf043p08.htm
Tigers in western australia?
http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf046/sf046p10.htm
Extinction Discounted
http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf069/sf069b06.htm
I clicked on this story to see was currency was denoted by "L." Turns out it was supposed to be "£."
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