“TASMANIAN TIGER”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 32, 8 February 1939, Page 3

“TASMANIAN TIGER”

N expedition will leave Hobart shortly to search for a marsupial wolf, or, as it is more generally called, a “Tasmanian Tiger.” The species is believed to be still in existence in the mountainous country on the west coast of Tasmania. It is proposed to find the few remaining haunts of this animal, and take a census of the number still alive, with the ultimate object of preserving it from extinction. The animal has become so rare that, despite substantial rewards offered for its capture, zzoological gardens have for many years been unable to procure a specimen for exhibition.

The Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, wheih has taken a keen interest in the animal’s preservation, has selected Mr. M. S. R. Sharland, a Sydney journalist-naturalist, to represent the society on the expedition. Last year the society offered the expenses of preserving the Tasmanian ; wolf, particularly in regard to its ] propagation in captivity, and it now expresses the belief that it can obtain support from allied bodies for a preservation scheme. Because of several dark vertical stripes on it' body, the Tasmanian marsupial woif is generally termed the “tiger,” although it is in no way re-

lated to the Indian tiger, nor, in fact, does it possess any close relatives in any part of the world. Its wolf-like head and mouth are like those of true wolves, but after that all resemblance ceases. It is considered to be an extremely primitive type of animal. It possesses a marsupial “jouch” in which the young are carried, and, unlike most marsupials, this pouch has its opening facing backwards. Fossil remains found ni the caves at Wellington, New South Wales, show that the “tiger” once inhabited this State, and it probably lived in other parts of Australia. Its disappearance from the Australian mainland seems to have been contemporary with the arrival of the dingo.