Queensland tiger
History
History
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The earliest documented witness reports of a Queensland marsupial tiger date from 1871, with indigenous traditions of the yarri preceding these.

[Lumholtz](/wiki/Carl_Lumholtz "Carl Lumholtz") writes in 1878
> I learned that on the summit of the Coast Mountains, before mentioned, there lived two varieties of mammals which seemed to me to be unknown to science: but I had much difficulty in acquiring this knowledge. One of the animals \[the local Aborigines] called *yarri*. From their description I conceived it to be a marsupial tiger. It was said to be about the size of a dingo, though its legs were shorter and its tail long, and it was described ... as being very savage. If pursued it climbed up the trees, where the natives did not dare follow it, and by gestures they explained to me how at such times it would growl and bite their hands. Rocky retreats were its most favourite habitat, and its principal food was said to be in a little brown variety of wallaby common in Northern Queensland scrubs. Its flesh was not particularly appreciated ... and if they accidentally killed a yarri they gave it to their old women. In Western Queensland I heard much about an animal which seemed to me to be identical with the yarri here described, and a specimen was once nearly shot by an officer of the black police in the regions I was now visiting \[[Herbert River](/wiki/Herbert_River "Herbert River")].

 Lumholtz goes on to contrast the description of this animal with a leaf\-eating species recognisable as a tree kangaroo, possibly that now known as *[Lumholtz's](/wiki/Lumholtz%27s_tree-kangaroo "Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo")*, after the author's work in scientific appraisal of these and other species of the region.

Reports have come consistently from the [Northeast of Queensland](/wiki/Far_North_Queensland "Far North Queensland"), and indicate a fast and agile creature (Welfare \& Fairley, 1981\).

Though these have diminished in number since the 1950s, they have continued (the Beast of [Buderim](/wiki/Buderim "Buderim") being one recent example of the phenomenon). Such sightings in modern context, when able to be investigated further, have been universally identified as introduced [domestic cats](/wiki/Domestic_cat "Domestic cat") gone [feral](/wiki/Feral_cat "Feral cat") — natural selection tends favour proportions, markings and behaviours more commonly associated with actual wild species, after only a few generations in the wild. The domestic cat was introduced to Australia some hundreds of years ago, and have dispersed (and been dispersed) nationally, with only some islands remaining free from the declared pest.

*Thylacoleo*, an animal of similar size and predatory habits, did live in [Australia](/wiki/Australia "Australia") as recently as the late [Pleistocene](/wiki/Pleistocene "Pleistocene") period, perhaps coexisting with the very first [humans](/wiki/Humans "Humans") that arrived at [Australia](/wiki/Australia "Australia") who were the ancestors of modern [Australian Aboriginals](/wiki/Australian_Aborigine "Australian Aborigine"). However, scientists estimate that *Thylacoleo* became extinct 30,000 years ago. Modern sightings of an animal described as remarkably like *Thylacoleo* have led some researchers to speculate that a small [relict](/wiki/Relict_%28biology%29 "Relict (biology)") population has somehow survived in remote areas. [Cryptozoologists](/wiki/Cryptozoologist "Cryptozoologist") who promote the theory of survival of the [Tasmanian tiger](/wiki/Tasmanian_tiger "Tasmanian tiger") or [thylacine](/wiki/Thylacine "Thylacine") *Thylacinus cynocephalus*, a [Thylacinid](/wiki/Thylacinid "Thylacinid"), and also currently accepted as extinct, favour proposed survival of the Queensland tiger. The fundamental difference between the two cases, however, is that the last Tasmanian tiger in captivity died in 1936, and the species was not officially declared as extinct until 1986\. This makes the prospect of species survival of the thylacine more likely than that of *Thylacoleo*.


Reports have come consistently from which part of Queensland about a fast and agile creature