As a rule, no one is able to establish a specific date for the extinction of this or that species of animals. What to do, people in most cases are busy with their own problems and do not pay attention to the troubles of their neighbors on the planet. Nevertheless, in rare cases, a specific date of extinction can still be established.
On September 6, 1936, a female marsupial wolf died at the Hobart Zoo. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death of this animal was heart failure caused by old age. Perhaps, then no one even suspected that on that day another amazing and unique species of animals disappeared on Earth. Although, in fairness, it should be noted that there is still no direct fault of man in his extermination. However, there is no doubt an indirect one.
The famous English zoologist and writer Gerald Durrell in one of his books says that: "… settling new lands, people exterminate animals, not even having time to really explore them." These words spoken by the great defender of wildlife can be attributed to the marsupial wolf, or, as scientists call it, thylacin (Thylacinus cynocephalus). He existed in close proximity to man for about 3,000 years, but there is very little reliable information about him.
Once upon a time (about 30 million years ago), marsupial wolves were common not only in Tasmania, but also in Australia, South America and possibly Antarctica. Their number, apparently, was high. However, in South America this predator disappeared about 7-8 million years ago, from Australia it was "asked" about 2-1.5 thousand years ago. The reason, apparently, was the same everywhere - the penetration of representatives of placental predatory mammals to these continents.
Let me remind you that one of the features of marsupial mammals is that they give birth to "premature" babies that look more like embryos. That is why their mothers need a special organ - a bag, where the baby crawls after birth and where his "additional development" takes place. With this method of birth, as you understand, fertility cannot be very high (many cubs simply will not fit in the bag), and infant mortality, on the contrary, is extremely high - until the cub gets to the mother's "pocket", anything that can happen to him anything from colds to injuries.
That is why the number of marsupials, in comparison with true placental mammals (ie, those whose young are born "full-term"), is increasing slowly. So if a representative of placentals begins to compete with a similar species from the group of marsupials, then, without any doubt, it will quickly displace it (it will take it not by skill, but by number). Therefore, it is believed that foxes and coyotes that penetrated there “drove out” the thylacins from South America, and dingo dogs brought in by the aborigines and quickly feralized from Australia.
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True, in the latter case, there are some doubts. Scientists have repeatedly observed that even a young thylacin could easily cope with a pack of dogs that were several times larger than him. The marsupial wolf was rescued by its fantastic maneuverability and the ability to deliver fatal blows while jumping.
Competitive displacement, despite the fact that dingoes and thylacins fed on the same prey, also hardly took place, since dingoes are active during daylight hours, and the marsupial wolf was exclusively a nocturnal hunter. In addition, marsupial wolves preferred to live in mountain forests, and dingoes - in the vastness of the Australian savannah.
The only video of thylacin
However, by the time the naturalist Harrison described in detail the appearance and anatomy of the "unseen animal" in 1808, the thylacins survived only on the island of Tasmania. Actually, it was Harrison who coined the term "marsupial wolf", which is based solely on the external similarity of thylacin and the common wolf. But in the way of life, this predator was a cross between a marten and a cat.
The thylacins were not very large - about 60 cm at the withers and 1.5 m in length. Their magnificent sand-colored hide was adorned with 12 black stripes, which gave him a resemblance to a tiger. The thylacin spent the day in a shelter, and sometimes these animals were found sleeping in the hollows of trees located at a height of 4-5 meters above the ground, and at night he went hunting.
Thylacin ate exclusively on live prey, and was so squeamish that he never returned to the corpse of an animal he had killed a second time (in zoos, many marsupial wolves refused to eat even thawed meat). It is believed that this predator rushed at the victim from an ambush and killed it by biting the base of the skull (this is how cats hunt, but not dogs).
Thylacins were striking in their ability to open their mouths 120 ° wider than any modern mammal. Only thanks to this feature, the marsupial wolf, without long fangs, could inflict a fatal blow on the victim.
There have been cases when the thylacins chased prey, but the runners of them were bad. But the marsupial wolf swam and climbed trees much better than dogs and cats. In addition, sometimes, in pursuit of prey, he rode like a kangaroo on his hind legs. At the same time, its long and powerful tail served as a kind of balance organ for the marsupial wolf.
The serene life of Tasmanian thylacins was disrupted by the arrival of immigrants from European countries to Tasmania in 1788. Although at first, when the majority of the colonists were convicts, no one touched this animal. But when cattle farmers joined them, the marsupial wolf had a hard time.
It is not known why the herders decided that this animal poses a danger to their dearly beloved sheep. At the same time, there were no reliable cases of thylacin attacks on lambs (the marsupial wolf simply could not cope with an adult sheep). Indeed, why would a night ambush (and, mind you, very timid) predator climb into a sheep's nursery, making his way through the ranks of guard dogs? It's easier to eat someone in the forest. Although the thylacin poultry was still occasionally stolen (there is documentary evidence of this).
However, farmers who did not understand the biology of thylacin soon declared a merciless war on it. Throughout the 19th century, the marsupial wolf was mercilessly exterminated, for its skin they gave a premium of 5 pounds sterling! But even such active hunting did not particularly reduce its number, as evidenced by the fact that in the 80s of the XIX century, dozens of these animals were hunted for zoos.
At the end of the 19th century, an epidemic of canine plague broke out in Tasmania. And, surprisingly, it turned out that many marsupials are also susceptible to this disease. And since the entire population of thylacins by that time was localized in one mountainous region of Central Tasmania, it is not surprising that by the beginning of the 20th century this predator was on the verge of extinction (by the way, perhaps the dingo drove thylacin out of Australia in the same way, infecting it with the plague).
The case of the last murder of thylacine by a person while hunting dates back to 1930. And six years later, the last individual in captivity died. Since then, few have seen thylacin. Although reports that people met a marsupial wolf, heard its dull coughing barking or found traces, appeared later (the last of them dates back to 1978, by the way, it was then seen by a forester, that is, a person who is well versed in animals).
In March 2005, Australian magazine The Bulletin offered an AU $ 1.25 million reward to anyone catching live thylacin. The award, alas, has not yet been received by anyone. Three years later, Australian scientists tried to create a clone of the marsupial wolf, using genetic material from the alcoholic embryos of this predator, but most of the DNA was not viable, although several thylacin genes still “live and work” in the cells of laboratory mice. Every year, expeditions are sent to the center of Tasmania, but so far it has not been completely possible to explore the region of the last refuge of the marsupial wolf.
Many scientists believe that the thylacins have survived. Perhaps that is why the IUCN Red List is in no hurry to transfer it from the section “on the brink of extinction” to the section “extinct”. However, there are fewer and fewer optimists every year. True, recently a version has been expressed that the marsupial wolf could have survived on small islands near New Guinea (in this region, the remains of thylacins, whose age is about 3000 years, are often found), and many of them have not yet been studied by scientists.
So, we can say with confidence that the marsupial wolf was destroyed by human ignorance. If farmers knew that this predator poses no danger to sheep, if they vaccinated their dogs against the plague, then perhaps thylacin would not only survive, but also help Australians cope with the rabbit invasion.
I would like to hope that the sad story of the marsupial wolf will serve humanity as a good lesson, the essence of which is that the wildlife world is extremely fragile and vulnerable, so you cannot invade it without considering the consequences of such a step. And if we do not learn this lesson in the near future, then it is highly likely that very soon the human race will share the fate of the marsupial wolf. And over his burial mound, the last song will be sung by the miraculous surviving tilacins …