The Thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian Tiger, went extinct in 1936, due to human hunting and disease. There’s a truly sad video of the very last thylacine pacing around a zoo, that we’ve included below.
A predatory marsupial, the Thylacine has been a symbol in Australia, one that represents human destruction. This unique animal, distantly related to the Tasmanian Devil, helped keep the ecosystem in balance, before farming and agriculture imposed on its territory.
Now, however, there’s a real effort to bring the Thylacine back to life, in a process Colossal calls de-extinction. Sounding very much like the process used in the fictional films Jurassic Park, using frozen and preserved embryos to bring the extinct animal back to life.
“Thylacine. Tasmanian wolf or Tasmanian tiger. Whatever you call it, this mythically-beautiful carnivorous marsupial was a true masterpiece of biological advancement. Yet, the story of its extinction is a tragedy of human interference and aggression.
Colossal is determined to give the thylacine a second chance at life.”
Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences has plans in the works to bring the thylacine back to life, with hopes that the first of these strange and beautiful marsupials would be roaming their original territory in the next decade.
Take a look at their informative and beautiful website to learn more about the effort.
“While the last living thylacine died in 1936 in captivity at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania, many embryos and young specimens have been preserved in alcohol and other stabilizing fluids.”
And oh yeah, Colossal aims to bring the Woolly Mammoth and Dodo Bird back to life, which will be equally fascinating.
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