"New" Thylacine Footage

[Recusant]

I thought there was an existing Tasmanian tiger/thylacine thread but had no joy with the search function. Perhaps it disappeared in the Lacuna event.

A clip from a travelogue made in the mid-30s shows the last known living thylacine. Not cheerful footage, but then really none of the footage we have of thylacines is. The only YouTube version I found is from Guardian News, who plastered their obnoxious large captions onto it. Not recommended. A better version is available at ABC, linked below.

"Newly discovered footage of last-known Tasmanian tiger released" | ABC

New vision of Tasmania's last-known thylacine has been unearthed by tiger enthusiasts digging through the National Film and Sound Archives (NFSA).

The 21-second clip, which shows the male thylacine, sometimes referred to as Benjamin, in its enclosure in Hobart's Beaumaris Zoo, is believed to be the last footage of the animal.

"This is the only one in captivity in the world," the film's narrator says, as onlookers are seen to rattle the marsupial's cage.

"The Tasmanian tiger is now very rare, being forced out of its natural habitat by the march of civilisation."

According to the NFSA, fewer than 10 films of the thylacine have survived, with just minutes of footage in total.

[Continues . . .]

[billy rubin]

that is absolutely cool. but sad, you know.

[Bluenose]

There are occasional reports of Thylacine sightings in parts of Tasmania and even on the mainland at times.  I doubt the mainland sightings are legit, but there is a slight possibility for the Tasmanian ones, as much of that state is remote and a fair bit is pretty much heavily wooded.  Nevertheless, that is really a bit of a forlorn hope in my opinion.  Much more likely is the possible resurrection of the species from DNA in some of the preserved samples, but I don't think the state of the art is quite there yet.