Catch that 'Tiger'

This image is one familiar to many Australians. It's also one of the most haunting to us as well. It's from a grainy black and white film shot of the last remaining Tasmanian tiger, or Thylacine, in Hobart Zoo in 1933. The film runs only nine seconds – but it's one of the few glimpses any of us will have of the now supposedly extinct mammal – remarkable for reportedly being able to open its jaws wider than any other mammal (a range of 120 degrees) and for being the world's largest marsupial carnivore. And – for embedding itself into 'Australian mythology' as a mysterious and intangible, almost supernatural creature.

I'd propose that while Abraham Zapruder's footage of JFK being shot in Dallas has an eerie resonance with many Americans, for me this simple, nine second film connects on an almost spiritual level for many Australians. It certainly haunts me every time I see it.

Considered extinct for almost seventy years, the Thylacine (certainly not a member of the cat family and nothing to do with tigers) has been supposedly sighted or glimpsed every now and then over the years – but apart from this film footage, and a few photographs, little evidence exists that effectively records what this unusual animal was like.

Why am I writing about an animal? Well, many people do presume that nature is perhaps the 'greatest designer of all'. In the Thylacine's case, (and in the case of many Australian animals and marsupials), nature certainly was experimenting with some wild and wonderful lifeform designs. Some being:
– a large hopping animal with exceedingly powerful legs and tail (kangaroo)
– an egg-laying beaver or otter-like animal with a duck's bill and a hidden toxic spike (platypus)
– an egg-laying, ant and termite eating animal covered in thorny spikes (echidna)
– a small, growling, seemingly hot-tempered creature with, purportedly, some of the strongest jaws, pound-for-pound of any animal (Tasmanian devil).

The Thylacine was a striking dog-like animal with tiger-like stripes across its back. It could be almost three metres in length (from nose to tip of tail) and could, if you believe Tasmanian folklore, balance on its tail and even leap like a kangaroo.

But we'll never know for sure. The zookeeper in charge of the last remaining Thylacine at Hobart Zoo forgot to put it back into its sheltered enclosure one night, and the poor thing died of exposure.

The closest many of us come to a Thylacine nowadays is by consuming Tasmania's Cascade beer (a Thylacine is on the label) and lately, Kerry Packer's The Bulletin magazine have offered a $1.25 million dollar reward for the capture of one.

One very odd aspect of the culture that surrounds the myth of the Thylacine is that the Tasmanian Government have also used a visual/brand identity of a Tasmanian tiger for many years now. Which is unusual, considering the perhaps less than exemplary environmental record of that State's administration. Apart from the historical case of the 'tiger', the continuing policy of allowing the widespread clearing of forests on 'The Apple Isle' is a contentious environmental issue both in Tasmania and on the mainland.

The tallest hardwood forests on Earth exist in Tasmania (these trees can reach almost 100 metres in height) and Tasmania is also the only Australian state that logs pure rainforests. For the most part, these extraordinary forests are reduced to woodchips. (Some Tasmanian old-growth trees may in fact be the amongst the oldest living organisms on the planet). For the Tasmanian Government to use as a badge an animal whose extinction was brought about by us willfully destroying it is a curious move (I'm sure some would say an irresponsible and perverse one at that).

But on the other hand I can understand why it has been used: the eerie attraction and captivating story of this great myth and the iconic nature of the Thylacine will go on capturing our attention for many, many years. Even if Kerry Packer does manage to catch one. 

The last Thylacine died from natural exposure. I'm sure 'media exposure' may be even worse.

Notes
Learn more about the Thylacine and the Australian Museum's idea of cloning one here.

Comments

[reg]

any links to old growth rainforest woodchips? i'm sure i'm not the only one who wants to know.

[Pete]

http://weblog.greenpeace.org/tasmania/

[Chris]

Well we've now ticked over that 70 year mark, but there is still a glimmer of hope - the two photos taken by German tourist Klaus Emmerichs in February 2005.

As for the devil - if I recall the zookeeper correctly at Trowunna, the devil *is* the strongest biter, pound for pound, and third outright, which, for a creature as relatively small as that is quite impressive! Must be all the bone-crunching it has to do as a carrion clearer.