While scientists are working on the de-extinction of the Tasmanian tiger in the lab, one bush walker in the Adelaide Hills has spotted a creature which she says shared a striking resemblance.
Key points:
- Bushwalkers spotted a creature they say looked like a thylacine
- One expert says it is unlikely as Tasmanian tigers were extinct on the mainland at least 2,000 years ago
- He has encouraged people to not give up in the search for the animal
This month, Jessie Milde was walking in Belair National Park in the Adelaide Hills with her son and sister when they sighted a mysterious creature.
“We saw this thing starting to move across the road, and to start with, it’s a bit strange, you sort of go through a bit of a thought process in your head, and it’s like, oh, that’s a bit of a weird looking kangaroo,” she said.
“Then I thought it’s a really scraggy looking dog. But then it got a bit closer to us and I thought, no, it’s not a dog either.
“It had a really weird gait to it, a sort of lolloping almost movement.”
Her sister was convinced it was a Tasmanian tiger.
“That’s the closest thing that we could compare it to, and she then she went on to say that there had been reports on the Blackwood community Facebook page of people seeing some strange things in the national park,” Ms Milde said.
“It was bigger than a fox, but not as big as a massive dog, but it definitely didn’t look like a fox. The tail was completely different, its back was really sloped down and its head was a completely different shape.”
It’s not the first time there have been reported sightings of unusual animals at Belair National Park, but animal experts have been quick to pour cold water on the claims the creatures could be thylacines.
Tasmanian wildlife biologist and honorary curator of vertebrate zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Nick Mooney said he was almost certain the footage depicts a fox.
“It’s got all the hallmarks of a fox with mange; it’s lost a lot of hair off its tail I think [and] it’s got very large ears like a fox,” he said.
“The movement when scooting to the left is a quick walk breaking immediately into a trot exactly like small canids and cats do. It’s very unlike any marsupial I know, including the walking thylacine in the old movie.
“I’ve seen a number of these sorts of videos and they’re usually [filmed] with a phone, so they’re not the definition not excellent.
“It’s a pity there’s not more detail but that’s what makes these interesting, isn’t it? The lack of detail.”
Mr Mooney said it’s ‘virtually impossible’ for there to be thylacines persisting in the wild.
“As far as we can tell thylacines were extinct on the mainland 2,000-4,000 years ago, a long time ago.”
He’s no stranger to debunking sightings like this one.
In 2021, he concluded that three animals captured on video in Tasmania were most likely to be Tasmanian pademelons.
Mr Mooney said another video from 2016 of a purported Tasmanian tiger was much more likely to be a spotted quoll.
“There is no irrefutable evidence. All of the bits and pieces of videos in the world doesn’t make one bit of irrefutable evidence,” he said.
Expert encourages people to keep looking for thylacine
Despite that, he doesn’t want to stop people in their search of the Tasmanian tiger.
“Just because I have an opinion that it’s not a thylacine, I would tell people don’t let that hold you back. Go and try and get some better pictures,” he said.
While the quest to find a thylacine, or indeed, to bring them back from extinction remains a priority for some, Mr Mooney hopes people will also draw their attention to the conservation of the many endangered and vulnerable species that remain.
“While people are distracted with this apparent silver bullet for bringing back animals after they’re extinct, we’ll lose hundreds, hundreds of species to extinction,” he said.
“I think that talent and intellect and the money will be much better off spent conserving species that look like they’re going to go extinct.”
