Tasmanian Tiger

Tasmanian Tiger
タスマニアタイガー
Character Data
AKA		Thylacine
Romaji		Tasumania Taigā
Debut		Kemono Friends 3
Animal Data
Scientific Name		Thylacinus cynocephalus
Distribution		Australia
Diet		Carnivore
Avg. Lifespan		5-7 years
Read More		Thylacine
Conservation

Tasmanian Tiger

KF3

Gallery

Tasmanian Tiger is a type of extinct marsupial Friend based on the last confirmed living thylacine.

Appearance

Tasmanian Tiger has fair skin and deep blue eyes. Those eyes lack the distinct eyeshine of extant friends, indicating her extinct status. Her hair is short and choppy, with a soft tan hue. The left bangs are a light gray and the right bangs are the same tan as the rest of her hair. There is a small dark brown tip at the end of the right bang. Two rectangular-shaped ears sit on top oh her head.

Her clothes consist of a sleeveless white button-down shirt and a puffy collar. The collar has a bow with red on one side and blue-and-white stripes on the other. She has long opera-length gloves that go to her biceps, both of which have alternating ribbons that match the colors of her bow tie. Around her waist is a tight, ruffled half apron that is light brown, adorned with dark brown stripes like the real life animal. The shorts are big and puffy, and are also light brown with dark brown stripes like her apron. Lastly, she has white shoes and long white socks that have a single black half-stripe at the top.

Series Appearances

Appearances In Kemono Friends Media

Media		Role

In Real Life

A female thylacine (foreground) and her juvenile male offspring (background) in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Photo taken circa 1903/1904 by Unknown photographer. Via the Smithsonian Institution archives.

The Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) is a type of extinct carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. They were near extinction throughout most of the range (specifically mainland Australia) by about 2,000 years ago. The introduction of dingoes is the most likely reason, though others include extensive hunting, human encroachment on territory, and climate change.

Descriptions of the Tasmanian tiger come from preserved specimens, fossil records, skins and skeletal remains, and black and white photographs of the animal, both in captivity and in the wild. It resembled a large, short-haired dog with a stiff tail (similar to a kangaroo's tail). An adult could reach about 100 to 130 cm (39 to 51 in.) long, in addition to a tail of around 50 to 65 cm (20 to 26 in.) and stood at a height of around 60 cm (24 in.) There was slight sexual dimorphism, with the males being larger than females: males weighed on average 19.7 kilograms (43 lbs.) and females on average weighed 13.7 kilograms (30 lbs.). Its coat was made up of dense but soft fur, featuring 15 to 20 distinctive dark stripes across its back, rump and the base of its tail (hence the nickname "tiger"). Coloration varied from light fawn to a dark brown, but all had a cream-colored belly.

They most likely preferred dry eucalyptus forests, wetlands, and grasslands of mainland Australia. Physical proof of the tiger's existence in the mainland came from a body that was discovered in a cave in the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia in 1990. Carbon dating of the body revealed it to be around 3,000 years old. Meanwhile in Tasmania, it preferred the woodlands of the midlands and coastal regions. The stripes on the body helped with camouflage in the wooded areas. A typical territory range was between 40 and 80 km² (15 and 31 sq mi). However they were not aggressive with boundaries; groups far too large to be a family unit were sometimes observed together.

Thylacine mother with her three cubs at Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, circa 1909. Photo by unknown photographer.

The same family in 1910. Photo by unknown photographer.

There is evidence for at least some year-round breeding, though the prime breeding season was winter and spring. Litters of two to four joeys would be carried in the mother's pouch for about three months. Once they left the pouch, the young would remain in the den until they were old enough to hunt. There has only been one successful captive breeding: in the Melbourne Zoo in 1899. The life expectancy in the wild was 5-7 years, however they could live up to 9 years in human care.

An apex predator in its homeland, the Tasmanian Tiger was at the top of the food chain. It was a nocturnal (nighttime) and crepuscular (twilight hours) hunter, and would spend the daytime hours resting in nests inside small caves and hollowed-out tree trunks. Those who observed the animals in the wild noted they were rather shy and avoided humans, preferring to postpone the hunt and hide until the human presence was gone. It was exclusively carnivorous, with its primary prey thought to be ground-dwelling birds such as the Tasmanian Nativehen. Other prey might have been Giant malleefowl, emus, and possibly dromornithids.

Despite being fearsome carnivores, there is some controversy and speculation over the preferred prey size of the Thylacine/Tasmanian Tiger. In 2011, the University of New South Wales performed a study using advanced computer modelling. The results concluded the tiger had surprisingly weak and feeble jaws. Another study in 2020 produced similar results. Animals are usually capable of taking on prey close to their own body size, but the studies suggest a 30 kilograms (66 lb.) Tasmanian Tiger would only be able to take on an animal of 5 kilograms (11 lb.). Scientists now believe they ate primarily small animals, such as possums and bandicoots. This would put them in direct competition with the Tasmanian Devil and Tiger Quoll.

The last captive Tasmanian Tiger (known as a Thylacine in this case) was a female, and she lived as an endling (the known last of a species) at the Hobart Zoo until her passing in the night of 7 September 1936. She had been captured by one Elias Churchill with a snare trap and was sold to the zoo in May 1936. The sale was not publicly announced because the use of snare traps was illegal. After her passing, the remains were transferred to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Due to the illegal nature of her capture, the ordeal was not properly recorded and almost forgotten about until circa 2022. A taxidermist record dated from 1936 or 1937 was discovered and had a mention the animal. This led to a full audit of all thylacine remains at the museum and the endling's successful identification.

The Tasmanian Tiger/Thylacine held the status of endangered species until the 1980s. International standards at the time stated that "an animal can not be declared extinct until 50 years have passed without a confirmed record". Since no definitive proof of existence had been obtained for more than 50 years, the official criteria had been met and the Tasmanian Tiger was declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1982 and by the Tasmanian government in 1986. The species was removed from Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2013.

Trivia

The Coat of Arms of Tasmania, featuring Tasmanian tigers/thylacines. The Latin phrase Ubertas et Fidelitas means "Fertility and Faithfulness".

• While the Tasmanian Tiger is another name for the Thylacine, they are two similar but separate friends in the Kemono Friends franchise.
• The name "thylacine" is derived from the Greek words thýlakos meaning "pouch" and ine meaning "pertaining to", referring to the underbelly pouch marsupials are known for. Interestingly, both males and females had the pouch.
• The closest living relative is the Tasmanian Devil.
• The thylacine/Tasmanian tiger is a basal member of the Dasyuromorphia order.
• They had an unusual talent of being able to open their jaws up to 80 degrees.
• Captive Thylacines/Tasmanian Tigers had a clear preference for birds, particularly Chickens.
• It is featured on the Coat of Arms of Tasmania.
• Thanks to preserved specimens in private collections and museums, its whole genome sequence has been mapped and there are efforts to clone them and bring them back to life.

References

• Wikipedia Page
• Threatened Species: Thylacine – Tasmanian tiger, Thylacinus cynocephalus" (PDF). Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania. December 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 October 2006. Retrieved 22 November 2006.
• Jones, Menna (1997). "Character displacement in Australian dasyurid carnivores: size relationships and prey size patterns". Ecology. 78 (8): 2569–2587. doi:10.1890/0012-9658(1997)078[2569:CDIADC]2.0.CO;2.
• "Shrinking Tasmanian tigers: Resizing an Australian icon". phys.org. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
• Rovinsky, Douglass S.; Evans, Alistair R.; Martin, Damir G.; Adams, Justin W. (2020). "Did the thylacine violate the costs of carnivory? Body mass and sexual dimorphism of an iconic Australian marsupial". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 287 (20201537). doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.1537. PMC 7482282. PMID 32811303.
• Dixon, Joan. "Fauna of Australia chap.20 vol.1b" (PDF). Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2006.
• Paddle (2000), pp. 228–231
• "Shrinking Tasmanian tigers: Resizing an Australian icon". phys.org. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
• "Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Thylacine mystery solved in TMAG collections".
• "Tasmanian tiger: remains of the last-known thylacine unearthed in museum". the Guardian. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
• "Amendments to Appendices I and II of the Convention" (PDF). Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. 19 April 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2014.

Looking for the Friend of the general Thylacine species? See Thylacine.