Eyewitness accounts of large, dog-like animals in state’s far north spur scientific hunt for thylacines, thought to have died out in 1936

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

“Plausible” possible sightings of a Tasmanian tiger in northern Queensland have prompted scientists to undertake a search for the species thought to have died out more than 80 years ago. The largest carnivorous marsupial of the modern era, the beautifully striped thylacine once roamed mainland Australia, where it is believed to have become extinct some 2,000 years ago. Professor Bill Laurance from James Cook University says he has “plausible and detailed descriptions” from two people about mystery animals they had seen in Cape York peninsula; the animals could possibly be thylacines. "A similar description at a separate, remote location in Far North Queensland was offered by a former National Parks Service ranger, reported Australian Geographic Over fifty hi-tech cameras baited with lures will now be set secretly across two undisclosed sites in the hope of finding the long-lost thylacine. “We have cross-checked the descriptions we received of eyeshine colour, body size and shape, animal behavior, and other attributes, and these are inconsistent with known attributes of other large-bodied species in north Queensland such as dingoes, wild dogs or feral pigs,” Professor Bill Laurance said in a university news release. The sightings were at two separate locations on Cape York peninsula, but the specifics were being kept confidential, said Laurance. Legends of pockets of thylacine surviving in remote regions of Tasmania and Australia were so pervasive that rewards ranging from $100,000 to as much as $1.75 million were offered for the capture of a live animal. A major scientific search is underway in Queensland, Australia for the Tasmanian tiger,A series of possible 'plausible' sightings have triggered hope a rare species has returned from the brink.Camera traps are being deployed across Cape York Peninsula by James Cook University researchers to survey sites where the creature, also known as the Tasmanian wolf, was reportedly spotted.Native to continental Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, the last of the thylacine species is thought to have died in a zoo in Hobart, Tasmania in 1936.Revived interest in the long-lost creature was sparked after a former tourism operator captured a sighting and contacted local experts.Professor Bill Laurance of James Cook University told ABC News "He was quite detailed in terms of his descriptions of eye shines and aspects of the body pattern and movements. She was in the process of deciding on sites for the more than 50 “camera traps” to be set up on Cape York peninsula, with the survey due to get under way when the dry season begins in April or May. But that hasn’t stopped people from reporting sightings of the long-extinct creature. People who say they’ve actually seen them can describe them in great detail, so it’s hard to say they’ve seen anything else. “I’m not ruling it out at all, but to actually get them on camera will be incredibly lucky.”

Thylacine “truthers” active on Facebook were emboldened by the recent rediscovery of the night parrot in Western Australia, presumed extinct until 2013, and photographed this month.
Accounts of sightings of animals thought to resemble the extinct thylacine, the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times, prompt a search in the Far North of the Australian state of Queensland.