WILD

Tasmanian Tiger Might Have Survived Into the Aughts, Study Claims

The last thylacine was previously thought to have died in 1936.

The Tasmanian tiger, an extinct striped marsupial thought to have gone extinct almost a century ago, may have survived into the 2000s, according to a new study. An analysis of reported sightings of the creature also known as thylacine suggests it may have been around for decades after the last known Tasmanian tiger died in an Australian zoo in 1936. The study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment put the likely true extinction date as falling somewhere between the late 1980s and the early aughts. Professor Barry Brook of the University of Tasmania—who led the study—told The Guardian there was a “natural attrition” of people who had lived long enough to ever see a Tasmanian tiger, explaining a drop-off of credible sightings after the 1960s. “But if you’re talking about people who knew wildlife, then there are still occasional credible sightings in the 1980s,” Brook said.