Thylacine was always going to die off

The Sunday Tasmanian ^ | September 16, 2007 | MICHAEL STEDMAN

[presidio9]

THE long-held belief Tasmanian tigers killed livestock is being challenged.

Using advanced computer modelling, an Australian research team has found that, while strong-jawed, the thylacine would have had trouble killing and eating prey any larger than itself.

From about 1830 until 1909 the Tasmanian Government paid a 1-a-head bounty,

[presidio9]

DOOMED: The last tiger in captivity died in 1936.

[presidio9]

ping

[Scotsman will be Free]

Shoot, dogs can kill sheep. Easily. What size was this critter?

[cripplecreek]

Critters have been going extinct since there have been critters.

[SampleMan]

Shoot, dogs can kill sheep. Easily. What size was this critter?

Precisely. This study obviously avoided asking a farmer/rancher any questions.

Even a 20 pound dog can kill a full grown sheep.

Also not noted, is that it is the lamb/calf/piglet that usually gets taken.

[wideawake]

I think 24 inches at the shoulder, on average.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Using advanced computer modeling could still mean GIGO!

[Fire_on_High]

Not to be steppin in the ongoing debate about the worth and character of pit bulls, but aren’t pits also a strong jawed sort of critter? Isn’t the problem that they readily do bring down “prey” much larger than themselves?

I’d like to see some evidence why they think Thylacine couldn’t do it..perhaps something with their legs, or musculature?

[pcottraux]

[presidio9]

There was a study released a few weeks ago that said dingos, while smaller, had much stronger jaws.

[CholeraJoe]

If the Aussie had just imported a few Llamas, predation would have dropped precipitously without killing Thylacines. Guard Llamas

[cripplecreek]

I may be mistaken but it seems that I’ve read that they had an unusual jaw structure. Apparently they could open their mouths much wider than normal. Almost unhinged like a snake.

[presidio9]

Sure, he looks pretty tough, but he's just one man. I don't see how he could have helped. Plus, the last one died before he was even born.

[Tijeras_Slim]

[Artemis Webb]

Full grown males were five feet long. What made them really odd was they were marsupials, they had pouches like kangaroos.

[Hegemony Cricket]

"Thylacine was always going to die off"

he just never got around to it until fairly recently...

[WorkingClassFilth]

Using advanced computer modelling, an Australian research team has found that, while strong-jawed, the thylacine would have had trouble killing and eating prey any larger than itself.

I'll bet using advanced computer modelling, half of these researchers couldn't find their @sses with both hands and the lights on.

If there was a bounty, I have no doubt there was good reason for it.

[bukkdems]

The native humans of Tierra del Fuego were also rendered extinct because of a $1 per scalp bounty, despite the efforts of Jesuit priests to keep the last few alive. They had an uncanny ability to withstand the cold and could not stand to be near the Euopean’s fires on the beach where the sailors had to huddle to stay warm. What a horrible loss of specialized genes.

It is said they dipped each newborn into the fridged waters to see if it had what it takes, or died.

But someone will soon post a picture of this creature’s mouth wide open, and a full grown koala bear could fit in there.

[SunkenCiv]

Using advanced computer modelling, an Australian research team has found that, while strong-jawed, the thylacine would have had trouble killing and eating prey any larger than itself.

...the team was unable to explain the sudden decline of a creature they've never seen or examined while alive... ;') Seems to me that the loss of A) prey species and B) exclusive predation of the prey species, plus the C) bounty on the creatures probably explains their disappearance. :'D I love computers, but I have my doubts that a computer model of a jaw is sufficiently accurate for a living creature which hunts to survive.

[Scotsman will be Free]

24 inches at the shoulder is plenty big enough to take sheep.