Thylacinus

Thylacinus is a genus of carnivorous marsupials in the family Thylacinidae. The best-known member is Thylacinus cynocephalus, the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf. The species disappeared from the Australian mainland before extensive European settlement and survived on the island of Tasmania until 1936, when the last known specimen died in Hobart Zoo. The IUCN lists Thylacinus cynocephalus as extinct. The genus also includes several extinct fossil species described from Australia.

Thylacines resembled medium to large carnivorous mammals with a dog-like head, a pouch, and a long stiff tail. Their fur was typically sandy to yellow-brown with distinctive dark stripes on the back and hindquarters, which gave rise to the name Tasmanian tiger. They were believed to be mainly nocturnal and solitary, hunting small to medium-sized vertebrates such as wallabies and birds, and they relied on a combination of pursuit and ambush in open forest and grassland habitats.

Historically widespread on the Australian mainland and Tasmania, thylacines inhabited a variety of open and edge habitats, including woodlands and grasslands. They were thought to occupy a top-predator role in some ecosystems, but populations declined due to hunting by humans, bounties, habitat modification, and competition with introduced species, leading to their eventual extinction on the mainland and continued decline in Tasmania before the 20th century.

Genetics and research: The Tasmanian tiger genome has been sequenced from a preserved specimen, enabling studies of marsupial evolution and traits related to dentition and digestion. While discussions of de-extinction continue, no live Thylacinus has been revived.