Hit or Myth, Hunters Stalk the Tasmanian Tiger

[On the Road]

Hit or myth, hunters stalk the Tasmanian tiger
1 hour, 31 minutes ago


For years, Trudy Richards searched the forests of Tasmania for the elusive creature with the head of a wolf, the pouch of a kangaroo and the stripes of a tiger.

---snip

And then, she says, she finally saw one. According to her account, a Tasmanian tiger walked into her campsite one winter evening just before midnight. Richards says her camera was out of reach but insists there was no mistaking the animal's distinctive black stripes.

There's just one problem. The thylacine has been listed as extinct since 1986--50 years after the last known specimen died in captivity at Tasmania's Hobart Zoo. Although some scientists say the animal might have survived into the 1980s, there has been no confirmed sighting in 68 years. Scientists say it vanished from mainland Australia thousands of years ago.

--snip

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&ncid=2027&e=2&u=/chitribts/20041119/ts_chicagotrib/hitormythhuntersstalkthetasmaniantiger

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This would be very cool. I miss the marsupial tiger.

[hatrack]

1. Another Ivory-Billed Woodpecker hunt, I fear . . .

I wish them luck, but I'm not holding my breath.

[On the Road]

5. I'd Like to See the Last Living Dinosaur

emerge from the central Congo, but I'm not holding my breath, either.

The Tasmanian tiger, on the other hand, has a pretty good chance of actually having survived. Not at all pessimistic about this. They were systematically hunted to the point where the only surviving members of the species were probably the ones who avoided humans at all costs.

[indigobusiness]

6. There are many more reports of Tas Tigers

But, I still hold out hope for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker . Cuba has reported the most recent sighting, I believe.

Magnificent creature.

[arabella]

2. So cool...

I have my mother's collection of newspaper clippings from the York, PA area regarding the black cat/panther being spotted. I know some people laugh at those old sightings and relate them to the UFO craze but my dad saw the black cat eating something in a ditch by the road one morning while driving down the mountain.

I grew up loving the sightings of the Tasmanian devil as well. This is so so way cool!

[VermonterInExile]

4. I know lots of people in VT who swear they've seen a catamount...

Including my dad. Basically just a type of mountain lion that was declared extinct long ago (late 1800s/early 1900s, I believe.) From what I've heard the criteria for a 'confirmed sighting' are very tight.

[China_cat]

3. How long was the Coelacanth considered extinct?*

Until somebody caught one. So I would say not to give up on the Tasmanian tiger.


*(It was supposed to have gone extinct 65 MILLION YEARS before)

[Shakespeare]

7. Myth? MYTH??

Yeth? Yeth?

Somebody had to do it.

[GarySeven]

8. Why don't they ask Bugs Bunny?

He can ask his pal the Tasmanian Devil.

[arabella]

9. Tiger--Devil

My bad... all red in the face. The kids have cartoons playing in the background. It was subliminal messaging.