marsupial.”
“Looks like it's part mongoose,” Alexis added.
When Alexis had finished probing and critiquing the tiger remains, Sandy led us back to the extinction cabinet. None of the other animals insidewere as well-known as the thylacine, but each had its own long history and expiration date.
The Eastern hare wallaby was a small kangaroo with a face like a rabbit and reputedly could jump over a horse—last confirmed sighting 1890.
The Toolache was a plump, four-foot-tall wallaby with a black stripe on its muzzle—last seen 1937.
The crescent nailtail wallaby was a golden brown hopper with enormous ears—last seen early 1960s.
The broad-faced potoroo was a tiny hunchbacked kangaroo that dined primarily on truffles—last seen 1875.
The lesser bilby was a needle-nosed burrower, with rabbit ears and a bottlebrush tail—last confirmed sighting 1931.
The pig-footed bandicoot was a small, plump creature with a narrow snout, long skinny legs, and delicate hooflike feet—last confirmed sighting 1907.
Most of these extinct animals had never been photographed. Their likenesses survived only in artists' watercolors. This cabinet contained all that was left of them—and sometimes all that remained was a skull. If the cloning of extinct species ever became a reality, there would be plenty to rectify.
Ever since Europeans arrived in Australia, mammals have been disappearing at an astonishing rate. “Australia has the unfortunate distinction of being the continent in which the most mammal species have become extinct over the last two hundred years,” said Sandy. Nearly half of all the modern-day mammal extinctions worldwide have been from Australia— totaling nineteen species.
What caused all these extinctions? Sandy said certain factors came into play repeatedly in Australia. For starters, Europeans didn't arrive on the continent alone. They brought pets and other hangers-on with them and introduced them into the wild. The fox, rabbit, and cat arrived with British settlers in the nineteenth century, and all have made trouble for native creatures—eating them, taking over their habitats, and outcompetingthem for food. The settlers also disastrously altered the habitats of native animals, chopping down forests, planting nonnative crops, using up precious water resources, and suppressing fires that aboriginal people set to maintain grassy areas and increase game.
The thylacine's story was a little bit different. By the time Europeans arrived in Australia, thylacines survived only in Tasmania. In this last oasis, there was only one reason the tiger began to vanish. Sandy pointed to a ragged hole in the top of a taxidermy specimen's head. “I suspect that's a bullet hole,” she said. “They probably caught the animal in a trap and then shot it at close range.”
Most of Australia's mammal extinctions had resulted from “collateral damage.” They had not been intentional, but the result of poor land use and a thoughtless grab for resources. But thylacines were purposely exterminated. From a twenty-first-century perspective, it was hard to believe people had been so foolish, so wasteful, so disregarding of the thylacine's biological uniqueness, its beauty. It was also hard to accept that such an ancient species could be snuffed out so quickly. Wasn't it possible thylacines had resources the hunters knew nothing about: places to hide, strategies of cunning and avoidance? It was these niggling doubts that kept the tiger's status unresolved. So many people believed—or hoped— it would still be found one day that it was trapped in a state of limbo. We conjured up an image of the thylacine ferrying forever between life and death in the River Styx, but never quite reaching either shore.
We asked Sandy why she thought the extinction of the thylacine was so hard to accept.
“It's such a tragic story,” she said. “And it's so recent, isn't it?”
Was there any chance that a few Tasmanian tigers had eluded the traps
“Looks like it's part mongoose,” Alexis added.
When Alexis had finished probing and critiquing the tiger remains, Sandy led us back to the extinction cabinet. None of the other animals insidewere as well-known as the thylacine, but each had its own long history and expiration date.
The Eastern hare wallaby was a small kangaroo with a face like a rabbit and reputedly could jump over a horse—last confirmed sighting 1890.
The Toolache was a plump, four-foot-tall wallaby with a black stripe on its muzzle—last seen 1937.
The crescent nailtail wallaby was a golden brown hopper with enormous ears—last seen early 1960s.
The broad-faced potoroo was a tiny hunchbacked kangaroo that dined primarily on truffles—last seen 1875.
The lesser bilby was a needle-nosed burrower, with rabbit ears and a bottlebrush tail—last confirmed sighting 1931.
The pig-footed bandicoot was a small, plump creature with a narrow snout, long skinny legs, and delicate hooflike feet—last confirmed sighting 1907.
Most of these extinct animals had never been photographed. Their likenesses survived only in artists' watercolors. This cabinet contained all that was left of them—and sometimes all that remained was a skull. If the cloning of extinct species ever became a reality, there would be plenty to rectify.
Ever since Europeans arrived in Australia, mammals have been disappearing at an astonishing rate. “Australia has the unfortunate distinction of being the continent in which the most mammal species have become extinct over the last two hundred years,” said Sandy. Nearly half of all the modern-day mammal extinctions worldwide have been from Australia— totaling nineteen species.
What caused all these extinctions? Sandy said certain factors came into play repeatedly in Australia. For starters, Europeans didn't arrive on the continent alone. They brought pets and other hangers-on with them and introduced them into the wild. The fox, rabbit, and cat arrived with British settlers in the nineteenth century, and all have made trouble for native creatures—eating them, taking over their habitats, and outcompetingthem for food. The settlers also disastrously altered the habitats of native animals, chopping down forests, planting nonnative crops, using up precious water resources, and suppressing fires that aboriginal people set to maintain grassy areas and increase game.
The thylacine's story was a little bit different. By the time Europeans arrived in Australia, thylacines survived only in Tasmania. In this last oasis, there was only one reason the tiger began to vanish. Sandy pointed to a ragged hole in the top of a taxidermy specimen's head. “I suspect that's a bullet hole,” she said. “They probably caught the animal in a trap and then shot it at close range.”
Most of Australia's mammal extinctions had resulted from “collateral damage.” They had not been intentional, but the result of poor land use and a thoughtless grab for resources. But thylacines were purposely exterminated. From a twenty-first-century perspective, it was hard to believe people had been so foolish, so wasteful, so disregarding of the thylacine's biological uniqueness, its beauty. It was also hard to accept that such an ancient species could be snuffed out so quickly. Wasn't it possible thylacines had resources the hunters knew nothing about: places to hide, strategies of cunning and avoidance? It was these niggling doubts that kept the tiger's status unresolved. So many people believed—or hoped— it would still be found one day that it was trapped in a state of limbo. We conjured up an image of the thylacine ferrying forever between life and death in the River Styx, but never quite reaching either shore.
We asked Sandy why she thought the extinction of the thylacine was so hard to accept.
“It's such a tragic story,” she said. “And it's so recent, isn't it?”
Was there any chance that a few Tasmanian tigers had eluded the traps
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