62-932: The Sophia River , part of the Pieman River catchment, is a perennial river located in the West Coast region of Tasmania , Australia. The Sophie River rises below Sophie Peak, part of the West Coast Range within the Granite Tor Conservation Area. The river flows generally west by north and reaches its confluence with the Mackintosh River within Lake Mackintosh . The river descends 187 metres (614 ft) over its 20-kilometre (12 mi) course . Lake Mackintosh and several adjoining reservoirs form part of
124-539: A Tyger ". Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne , arriving with the Mascarin in 1772, reported seeing a "tiger cat". The first definitive encounter was by French explorers on 13 May 1792, as noted by the naturalist Jacques Labillardière , in his journal from the expedition led by d'Entrecasteaux . In 1805, William Paterson , the Lieutenant Governor of Tasmania, sent a detailed description for publication in
186-599: A stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Pieman River The Pieman River is a major perennial river located in the west coast region of Tasmania , Australia. Formed by the confluence of the Mackintosh River and Murchison River , the Pieman River rises in what is now known as Lake Rosebury , an artificial lake formed by the Bastyan Dam . The river flows generally west and northwest and then west again, joined by 21 tributaries including
248-690: A degree, with resulting restriction of full tail movement. Fusion may have occurred as the animal reached full maturity. The tail tapered towards the tip. In juveniles, the tip of the tail had a ridge. The female thylacine had a pouch with four teats , but unlike many other marsupials, the pouch opened to the rear of its body. Males had a scrotal pouch, unique amongst the Australian marsupials, into which they could withdraw their scrotal sac for protection. Thylacine footprints could be distinguished from other native or introduced animals; unlike foxes, cats, dogs, wombats , or Tasmanian devils , thylacines had
310-439: A dramatic increase in both the expression of carnivorous dental traits and in size, with the largest species, Thylacinus potens and Thylacinus megiriani , both approaching the size of a wolf. In late Pleistocene and early Holocene times, the modern thylacine was widespread (although never numerous) throughout Australia and New Guinea. A classic example of convergent evolution , the thylacine showed many similarities to
372-583: A genus that superficially resembles the dogs and foxes of the family Canidae , the animal was a predatory marsupial that existed on mainland Australia during the Holocene epoch and was observed by Europeans on the island of Tasmania; the species is known as the Tasmanian tiger for the striped markings of the pelage . Descriptions of the thylacine come from preserved specimens, fossil records, skins and skeletal remains, and black and white photographs and film of
434-482: A live wallaby offered to it, but "ultimately it was persuaded to eat by having the smell of blood from a freshly killed wallaby put before its nose." Australia lost more than 90% of its megafauna around 50–40,000 years ago as part of the Quaternary extinction event , with the notable exceptions of several kangaroo and wombat species, emus, cassowaries, large goannas , and the thylacine. The extinctions included
496-518: A long series of offences in the colony, he was sent to the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station in 1822 but subsequently escaped, and was recaptured near the mouth of the river which now bears his nickname. The river has significant timber, mining and industrial heritage along its shores. Thylacine The thylacine ( / ˈ θ aɪ l ə s iː n / ; binomial name Thylacinus cynocephalus ), also commonly known as
558-424: A long whining cry, probably for identification at distance, and a low snuffling noise used for communication between family members. Some observers described it as having a strong and distinctive smell, others described a faint, clean, animal odour, and some no odour at all. It is possible that the thylacine, like its relative, the Tasmanian devil, gave off an odour when agitated. The thylacine most likely preferred
620-464: A much stronger bite force than a dingo of similar size, though this particular study argued that the thylacine would have hunted smaller prey. A biomechanical analysis of the 3D skull model suggested that the thylacine would have likely consumed smaller prey, with its skull displaying high levels of stress that are not suited to withstand forces, and with its bite forces being estimated at a smaller value than that of Tasmanian devils. A 2014 study compared
682-453: A stiff tail and could open its jaws to an unusual extent. Recent studies and anecdotal evidence on its predatory behaviour suggest that the thylacine was a solitary ambush predator specialised in hunting small- to medium-sized prey. Accounts suggest that, in the wild, it fed on small birds and mammals. It was the only member of the genus Thylacinus and family Thylacinidae to have survived until modern times. Its closest living relatives are
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#1732779549115744-498: A typical home range of between 40 and 80 km (15 and 31 sq mi). It appears to have kept to its home range without being territorial; groups too large to be a family unit were sometimes observed together. There is evidence for at least some year-round breeding (cull records show joeys discovered in the pouch at all times of the year), although the peak breeding season was in winter and spring. They would produce up to four joeys per litter (typically two or three), carrying
806-406: A very large rear pad and four obvious front pads, arranged in almost a straight line. The hindfeet were similar to the forefeet but had four digits rather than five. Their claws were non-retractable. The plantar pad is tri-lobal in that it exhibits three distinctive lobes. It is a single plantar pad divided by three deep grooves. The distinctive plantar pad shape along with the asymmetrical nature of
868-817: Is a basal member of the Dasyuromorphia , along with numbats , dunnarts , wambengers , and quolls. The cladogram follows: Thylacinus ( thylacines ) [REDACTED] Myrmecobius (numbat) [REDACTED] Sminthopsis (dunnarts) [REDACTED] Phascogale (wambengers) [REDACTED] Dasyurus (quolls) [REDACTED] Phylogeny of Thylacinidae after Rovinsky et al. (2019) Badjcinus turnbulli Nimbacinus dicksoni Muribacinus gadiyuli Ngamalacinus timmulvaneyi Tyarrpecinus rothi Wabulacinus ridei Thylacinus macknessi Thylacinus potens Thylacinus megiriani Thylacinus yorkellus Thylacinus cynocephalus The only recorded species of Thylacinus ,
930-399: Is likely to have relied on sight and sound when hunting instead. In 2017, Berns and Ashwell published comparative cortical maps of thylacine and Tasmanian devil brains, showing that the thylacine had a larger, more modularised basal ganglion . The authors associated these differences with the thylacine's more predatory lifestyle. Analysis of the forebrain published in 2023 suggested that it
992-470: The Sydney Gazette . He also sent a description of the thylacine in a letter to Joseph Banks , dated 30 March 1805. The first detailed scientific description was made by Tasmania's Deputy Surveyor-General, George Harris , in 1808, five years after first European settlement of the island. Harris originally placed the thylacine in the genus Didelphis , which had been created by Linnaeus for
1054-739: The Pieman River Power Development scheme and some of the flow of the Sophie River supplies the Mackintosh Power Station for the generation of hydroelectricity . The Sophia Tunnel feeder from Murchison Dam has its outlet near Sophia River. The Sophia Adit, a small tunnel for maintaining the Sophia Tunnel, is located adjacent to the river. This article about a river in Tasmania is
1116-525: The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in 2022. Since extinction there have been numerous searches and reported sightings of live animals, none of which have been confirmed. The thylacine has been used extensively as a symbol of Tasmania. The animal is featured on the official coat of arms of Tasmania . Since 1996, National Threatened Species Day has been commemorated in Australia on 7 September,
1178-668: The Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf , is an extinct carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea . The thylacine died out in New Guinea and mainland Australia around 3,600–3,200 years ago, prior to the arrival of Europeans, possibly because of the introduction of the dingo , whose earliest record dates to around the same time, but which never reached Tasmania. Prior to European settlement, around 5,000 remained in
1240-642: The dry eucalyptus forests, wetlands, and grasslands of mainland Australia . Indigenous Australian rock paintings indicate that the thylacine lived throughout mainland Australia and New Guinea . Proof of the animal's existence in mainland Australia came from a desiccated carcass that was discovered in a cave in the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia in 1990; carbon dating revealed it to be around 3,300 years old. Recently examined fossilised footprints also suggest historical distribution of
1302-464: The 20th century, the thylacine was often characterised as primarily a blood drinker; according to Robert Paddle, the story's popularity seems to have originated from a single second-hand account heard by Geoffrey Smith (1881–1916) in a shepherd's hut. Recent studies suggest that the thylacine was probably not suited for hunting large prey. A 2007 study argued that, while it could open its jaws wide like modern mammalian predators that consume large prey,
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#17327795491151364-456: The American opossums , describing it as Didelphis cynocephala , the "dog-headed opossum". Recognition that the Australian marsupials were fundamentally different from the known mammal genera led to the establishment of the modern classification scheme, and in 1796, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire created the genus Dasyurus , where he placed the thylacine in 1810. To maintain gender agreement with
1426-616: The Dampier Rock Art Precinct, on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia. By the time the first European explorers arrived, the animal was already extinct in mainland Australia and New Guinea and rare in Tasmania. Europeans may have encountered it in Tasmania as far back as 1642, when Abel Tasman first arrived in Tasmania. His shore party reported seeing the footprints of "wild beasts having claws like
1488-670: The Mackintosh, Murchison, Marionoak , Ring , Wilson , Stitt , Huskisson , Stanley , Heemskirk , Paradise , Owen Meredith , Savage , Whyte and Donaldson rivers before emptying into Hardwicke Bay and reaching its mouth in the Southern Ocean . The river descends 191 metres (627 ft) over its 100-kilometre (62 mi) course . The river is impounded at Bastyan by the Bastyan Dam (and adjacent hydroelectric power station) to form Lake Rosebury; and at Reece by
1550-744: The Reece Dam (and adjacent hydroelectric power station ) to form Lake Pieman . Both reservoir and power stations from part of the Hydro Tasmania -operated Pieman River Power Development . The construction of the power development scheme also altered the route of the Emu Bay Railway , and submerged a variety of rail heritage sites in the vicinity of the river, notably parts of the Wee Georgie Wood Railway or North Farrell Tramway line. The Aboriginal Tasmanians knew
1612-399: The adaptation for producing slashing or deep penetrating bites, and its anatomy was not suited for running fast in high speed. However, the trappers reported it as an ambush predator hunting alone or in pairs mainly at night. The elbow joint morphology and the forelimb anatomy of the thylacine also suggest that the animal was most likely an ambush predator. The stomach of a thylacine
1674-414: The animal both in captivity and from the field. The thylacine resembled a large, short-haired dog with a stiff tail which smoothly extended from the body in a way similar to that of a kangaroo . The mature thylacine measured about 60 cm (24 in) in shoulder height and 1–1.3 m (3.3–4.3 ft) in body length, excluding the tail which measured around 50 to 65 cm (20 to 26 in). Because
1736-556: The animal did indeed hunt much smaller prey. The cranial and facial morphology also indicate that the thylacine would have hunted prey less than 45% of its own body mass, consistent with modern carnivores weighing under 21 kg (46 lb) which is about the average size of a thylacine. A 2005 study showed that the thylacine had a high bite force quotient of 166, which was similar to that of most quolls, indicating that it may have been able to hunt larger prey relative to its body size. A 2007 study also suggested that it would have had
1798-635: The biology of the thylacine, including the growth of its limbs and when it developed its 'dog-like' appearance. It was found that two of the thylacine young in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) were misidentified and of another species, reducing the number of known pouch young specimens to 11 worldwide. One of four specimens kept at Museum Victoria has been serially sectioned, allowing an in-depth investigation of its internal tissues and providing some insights into thylacine pouch young development, biology, immunology and ecology. The thylacine
1860-553: The canine of the thylacine was not suited for slashing bites like that of large canids, indicating, based on the assumption that the bite was largely derived by its skull, that it hunted small to medium-sized prey as a solitary hunter. A 2011 study by the University of New South Wales using advanced computer modelling indicated that the thylacine had surprisingly feeble jaws; animals usually take prey close to their own body size, but an adult thylacine of around 30 kg (66 lb)
1922-413: The date on which the last known thylacine died in 1936. Universities, museums and other institutions across the world research the animal. Its whole genome sequence has been mapped, and there are efforts to clone and bring it back to life. Numerous examples of thylacine engravings and rock art have been found, dating back to at least 1000 BC. Petroglyph images of the thylacine can be found at
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1984-416: The even larger carnivore Thylacoleo carnifex (sometimes called the marsupial lion) which was only distantly related to the thylacine. A 2010 paper examining this issue showed that humans were likely to be one of the major factors in the extinction of many species in Australia although the authors of the research warned that one-factor explanations might be over-simplistic. The youngest radiocarbon dates of
2046-603: The family is Badjcinus turnbulli from the Late Oligocene of Riversleigh in Queensland, around 25 million years ago. Early thylacinids were quoll -sized, well under 10 kg (22 lb). It probably ate insects and small reptiles and mammals, although signs of an increasingly-carnivorous diet can be seen as early as the early Miocene in Wabulacinus . Members of the genus Thylacinus are notable for
2108-421: The foot makes it quite different from animals such as dogs or foxes. The thylacine was noted as having a stiff and somewhat awkward gait , making it unable to run at high speed. It could also perform a bipedal hop, in a fashion similar to a kangaroo—demonstrated at various times by captive specimens. Guiler speculates that this was used as an accelerated form of motion when the animal became alarmed. The animal
2170-458: The genus name, the species name was altered to cynocephalus . In 1824, it was separated out into its own genus, Thylacinus , by Temminck . The common name derives directly from the genus name, originally from the Greek θύλακος ( thýlakos ), meaning "pouch" or "sack" and ine meaning "pertaining to". The name is pronounced THY -lə-seen or THY -lə-syne . The earliest records of
2232-568: The island, with a number of accounts reporting the predation of rabbits by thylacines. Some accounts also suggest that the thylacine may have preyed on lizards, frogs and fish. European settlers believed the thylacine to prey regularly upon farmers' sheep and poultry. However, analysis by Robert Paddle suggests that there is little evidence that thylacines were significant predators of sheep or poultry (though some accounts suggest that they may have attacked them on occasion), with many sheep deaths likely caused by feral dog attacks instead. Throughout
2294-556: The lair while their mother hunted. Thylacines only once bred successfully in captivity, in Melbourne Zoo in 1899. Their life expectancy in the wild is estimated to have been 5 to 7 years, although captive specimens survived up to 9 years. In 2018, Newton et al. collected and CT-scanned all known preserved thylacine pouch young specimens to digitally reconstruct their development throughout their entire window of growth in their mother's pouch. This study revealed new information on
2356-545: The mainland prior to the Last Glacial Maximum and that Tasmanian thylacines had a low genetic diversity by the time of European arrival. In Tasmania, they preferred the woodlands of the midlands and coastal heath , which eventually became the primary focus of British settlers seeking grazing land for their livestock. The striped pattern may have provided camouflage in woodland conditions, but it may have also served for identification purposes. The species had
2418-400: The males being larger than females on average. Males weighed on average 19.7 kg (43 lb), and females on average weighed 13.7 kg (30 lb). The skull is noted to be highly convergent on those of canids, most closely resembling that of the red fox . Thylacines, uniquely for marsupials, had largely cartilaginous epipubic bones with a highly reduced osseous element. This
2480-562: The members of the dog family, Canidae , of the Northern Hemisphere: sharp teeth, powerful jaws, raised heels , and the same general body form. Since the thylacine filled the same ecological niche in Australia and New Guinea as canids did elsewhere, it developed many of the same features. Despite this, as a marsupial, it is unrelated to any of the Northern Hemisphere placental mammal predators. The thylacine
2542-867: The modern thylacine are from the Early Pleistocene , with the oldest known fossil record in southeastern Australia from the Calabrian age around 1.77–0.78 million years ago. Specimens from the Pliocene -aged Chinchilla Fauna, described as Thylacinus rostralis by Charles De Vis in 1894, have in the past been suggested to represent Thylacinus cynocephalus , but have been shown to either have been curatorial errors, or ambiguous in their specific attribution. The family Thylacinidae includes at least 12 species in eight genera. Thylacinids are estimated to have split from other members of Dasyuromorphia around 42–36 million years ago. The earliest representative of
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2604-455: The now extinct Tasmanian emu . The most commonly recorded mammalian prey was the red-necked wallaby , with other recorded prey including the Tasmanian pademelon and the short-beaked echidna . Other probable native mammalian prey includes other marsupials like bandicoots and brushtail possums , as well as native rodents like water rats . Following their introduction to Tasmania, European rabbits rapidly multiplied and became abundant across
2666-403: The omnivorous dingo . Their ranges appear to have overlapped because thylacine subfossil remains have been discovered near those of dingoes. Aside from wild dingoes, the adoption of the dingo as a hunting companion by the indigenous peoples would have put the thylacine under increased pressure. A 2013 study suggested that, while dingoes were a contributing factor to the thylacine's demise on
2728-423: The other members of Dasyuromorphia , including the Tasmanian devil , from which it is estimated to have split 42–36 million years ago. Intensive hunting on Tasmania is generally blamed for its extinction, but other contributing factors were disease, the introduction of and competition with dingoes, human encroachment into its habitat and climate change . The remains of the last known thylacine were discovered at
2790-494: The outside of the rear thigh. Its body hair was dense and soft, up to 15 mm (0.59 in) in length. Colouration varied from light fawn to a dark brown; the belly was cream-coloured. Its rounded, erect ears were about 8 cm (3.1 in) long and covered with short fur. The early scientific studies suggested it possessed an acute sense of smell which enabled it to track prey, but analysis of its brain structure revealed that its olfactory bulbs were not well developed. It
2852-636: The presence of humans and generally avoiding contact, although it occasionally showed inquisitive traits. At the time, much stigma existed in regard to its "fierce" nature; this is likely to be due to its perceived threat to agriculture. Historical accounts suggest that in the wild, the thylacine preyed on small mammals and birds, with waterbirds being the most commonly recorded bird prey, with historical accounts of thylacines predating on black ducks and teals with coots , Tasmanian nativehens , swamphens , herons ( Ardea ) and black swans also being likely items of prey. The thylacine may also have preyed upon
2914-434: The recorded body mass estimates are scant, it has been suggested that they may have weighed anywhere from 15 to 35 kg (33 to 77 lb), but a 2020 study that examined 93 adult specimens, with 40 of the specimens' sexes being known, argued that their average body mass would be 16.7 kg (37 lb) with a range of 9.8–28.1 kg (22–62 lb) based on volumetric analysis. There was slight sexual dimorphism , with
2976-474: The river as Corinna , which is the Peerapper word for the thylacine . The once-common suggestion that the river's English name comes from a convict "The Pieman" Alexander Pearce who was responsible for one of the few recorded instances of cannibalism in Australia, is not correct. "The Pieman" was in fact Thomas Kent of Southampton, a pastry-cook who was transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1816. After
3038-472: The skull of a thylacine with that of modern dasyurids and an earlier thylacinid taxon Nimbacinus based on biomechanical analysis of their 3D skull models; the authors suggested that while Nimbacinus was suited to hunt large prey with a maximum muscle force of 651 N (146 lb f ) which are similar to that of large Tasmanian devils, the thylacine skull displayed a much higher stress in all areas compared to its relatives due to its longer snout. If
3100-595: The species on Kangaroo Island . The northernmost record of the species is from the Kiowa rock shelter in Chimbu Province in the highlands of Papua New Guinea , dating to the Early Holocene, around 10,000–8,500 years Before Present . In 2017, White, Mitchell and Austin published a large-scale analysis of thylacine mitochondrial genomes, showing that they had split into eastern and western populations on
3162-413: The thylacine in mainland Australia are around 3,500 years old, with an estimated extinction date around 3,200 years ago, synchronous with that of Tasmanian devil, and closely co-inciding with the earliest records of the dingo , as well as an intensification of human activity. A study proposes that the dingo may have led to the extinction of the thylacine in mainland Australia because the dingo outcompeted
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#17327795491153224-410: The thylacine in preying on the Tasmanian nativehen . The dingo is also more likely to hunt in packs than the more solitary thylacine. Examinations of dingo and thylacine skulls show that although the dingo had a weaker bite, its skull could resist greater stresses, allowing it to pull down larger prey than the thylacine. Because it was a hypercarnivore , the thylacine was less versatile in its diet than
3286-474: The thylacine were indeed specialised for small prey, this specialisation likely made it susceptible to small disturbances to the ecosystem. It has been suggested on the basis of the canine teeth and limb bones that the thylacine was a solitary pounce-pursuit predator that hunted smaller prey with trophic niches similar to relatively smaller canids like the coyote , and that it was not as specialised as large canids, hyaenids and felids of today: its canine lacked
3348-423: The top of its back, and it was called the Tasmanian wolf because it resembled a medium- to large-sized canid . The name thylacine is derived from thýlakos meaning "pouch" and ine meaning "pertaining to", and refers to the marsupial pouch . Both sexes had a pouch. The females used theirs for rearing young, and the males used theirs as a protective sheath, covering the external reproductive organs . The animal had
3410-420: The wild on Tasmania. Beginning in the nineteenth century, they were perceived as a threat to the livestock of farmers and bounty hunting was introduced. The last known of its species died in 1936 at Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. The thylacine is widespread in popular culture and is a cultural icon in Australia. The thylacine was known as the Tasmanian tiger because of the dark transverse stripes that radiated from
3472-427: The young in a pouch for up to three months and protecting them until they were at least half adult size. Early pouch young were hairless and blind, but they had their eyes open and were fully furred by the time they left the pouch. The young also had their own pouches that were not visible until they were 9.5 weeks old. After leaving the pouch, and until they were developed enough to assist, the juveniles would remain in
3534-431: Was also able to balance on its hind legs and stand upright for brief periods. Observers of the animal in the wild and in captivity noted that it would growl and hiss when agitated, often accompanied by a threat-yawn. During hunting, it would emit a series of rapidly repeated guttural cough-like barks (described as "yip-yap", "cay-yip" or "hop-hop-hop"), probably for communication between the family pack members. It also had
3596-442: Was an apex predator , though exactly how large its prey animals could be is disputed. It was a nocturnal and crepuscular hunter, spending the daylight hours in small caves or hollow tree trunks in a nest of twigs, bark, or fern fronds. It tended to retreat to the hills and forest for shelter during the day and hunted in the open heath at night. Early observers noted that the animal was typically shy and secretive, with awareness of
3658-461: Was found to be incapable of handling prey much larger than 5 kg (11 lb), suggesting that the thylacine only ate smaller animals such as bandicoots, pademelons and possums, and that it may have directly competed with the Tasmanian devil and the tiger quoll . Another study in 2020 produced similar results, after estimating the average body mass of thylacine as about 16.7 kg (37 lb) rather than 30 kg (66 lb), suggesting that
3720-421: Was once considered a synapomorphy with sparassodonts , though it is now thought that both groups reduced their epipubics independently. Its yellow-brown coat featured 15 to 20 distinctive dark stripes across its back, rump and the base of its tail, which earned the animal the nickname "tiger". The stripes were more pronounced in younger specimens, fading as the animal got older. One of the stripes extended down
3782-501: Was similar in morphology to other dasyuromorph marsupials and dissimilar to that of canids. The thylacine was able to open its jaws to an unusual extent: up to 80 degrees. This capability can be seen in part in David Fleay 's short black-and-white film sequence of a captive thylacine from 1933. The jaws were muscular, and had 46 teeth, but studies show the thylacine jaw was too weak to kill sheep. The tail vertebrae were fused to
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#17327795491153844-459: Was very muscular, capable of distending to allow the animal to eat large amounts of food at one time, probably an adaptation to compensate for long periods when hunting was unsuccessful and food scarce. In captivity, thylacines were fed a wide variety of foods, including dead rabbits and wallabies as well as beef, mutton, horse and, occasionally, poultry. There is a report of a captive thylacine that refused to eat dead wallaby flesh or to kill and eat
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