Tasmanian tigers become extinct 50 years later than previously thought

According to biologists, science has done very well with the thylacine (the official name of the Tasmanian tiger).

unceremoniously.After the last representative of the species known to society died at the zoo in 1936, scientists had no reliable information about the extinction of the species. However, reports of alleged sightings of the creature continued to come in continuously, including into 2021.

The new study collected reports onobservations over several decades (from 1910 to 2019) in the same database in an attempt to better estimate the timeline for the disappearance of thylacine. Based on an analysis of these reports, the team places the most likely timeline for the extinction of thylacin somewhere between 1990 and the turn of the millennium - a far cry from the time when these animals were already considered extinct, said Barry Brook, an ecologist and biologist at the University of Tasmania.

Additionally, people tend to confuse thylacines withother types, so most of these messages may be fakes. The study therefore divides witnesses into experienced observers (a group that includes hunters, modern park rangers and field biologists) and non-experts (such as the couple who spotted the canine creature while driving in Tasmania in 2018 or 2004).

“When you look at the abundance of sightings and their geographic aggregation, your assessment of when the species of thylacins disappeared may change,” added Brooke.

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