The Tasmanian Tigers better known as the Thylacines have been
declared extinct since 1936 but even today people believe that there are
few left in the prehistoric forests of Tasmania. The last Tasmanian
Tiger - Benjamin was seen in the captivity of the Hobart Zoo where it
died of ignorance and unawareness in 1936 and since then, there had been
no proven trace of this creature. These animals looked like Hyenas and
had stripes on their backs, which gave it the name Tiger. They were
mainly found in the Australian mainland, Tasmania and New Guinea. They
were excellent predators feeding on wallabies, birds and other mammals
and mainly preferred fresh killed meat.
Evidence of the existence of Tasmanian Tigers nearly 2000 years back and
have been found in the ancient Aboriginal Rock Art and fossils. The
transformation in the environmental condition, competition of food with
other predators and most importantly merciless hunting led to the end of
the life cycle of the Tasmanian Tigers. The researchers even thought to
make a clone out of this species but failed in the process, as the DNA
that was extracted was not sufficient to carry the experiment. However,
similar efforts are being continued to recreate the Tasmanian Tigers
from the past.
