Tasmanian Tiger
Tasmanian Tiger
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| タスマニアタイガー | |||
| Character Data | |||
| AKA | Thylacine
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| Romaji | Tasumania Taigā
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| Debut | Kemono Friends 3 | ||
| Animal Data | |||
| Scientific Name | Thylacinus cynocephalus
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| Distribution | Australia
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| Diet | Carnivore
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| Avg. Lifespan | 5-7 years
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| Read More | Thylacine
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| Conservation | 
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| Tasmanian Tiger | KF3 | Gallery |
Looking for the Friend of the general Thylacine species? See Thylacine.
Tasmanian Tiger is a type of extinct marsupial Friend based on the last confirmed living thylacine.
Appearance
Tasmanian Tiger has fair skin and deep blue eyes. Those eyes lack the distinct eyeshine of extant friends, indicating her extinct status. Her hair is short and choppy, with a soft tan hue. The left bangs are a light gray and the right bangs are the same tan as the rest of her hair. There is a small dark brown tip at the end of the right bang. Two rectangular-shaped ears sit on top oh her head.
Her clothes consist of a sleeveless white button-down shirt and a puffy collar. The collar has a bow with red on one side and blue-and-white stripes on the other. She has long opera-length gloves that go to her biceps, both of which have alternating ribbons that match the colors of her bow tie. Around her waist is a tight, ruffled half apron that is light brown, adorned with dark brown stripes like the real life animal. The shorts are big and puffy, and are also light brown with dark brown stripes like her apron. Lastly, she has white shoes and long white socks that have a single black half-stripe at the top.
Series Appearances
| Media | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 3 | ↪ Minor character, playable |
In Real Life
The Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) was a species of carnivorous marsupial, now extinct, native to the Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. It resembled a large, short-haired dog with a stiff tail, similar to that of a kangaroo. Adults could reach a body length of 100 to 130 cm (39 to 51 in.)—their tails could be around 50 to 65 cm (20 to 26 in.), bringing the total length of the animal to 150 to 195 cm (59 to 77 in.) and stood around 60 cm (24 in.) tall. The species exhibited slight sexual dimorphism: males averaged weights of 19.7 kilograms (43 lbs.), while 13.7 kilograms (30 lbs.) was more typical of a female. Its coat was made up of dense but soft fur, featuring 15 to 20 distinctive dark stripes across its back, rump and the base of its tail; it is from these stripes that its moniker of "tiger" originates, despite no close relation to tigers of the genus Panthera. Coloration varied from light fawn to a dark brown, but a cream-colored belly was most always present. Such descriptions of the Tasmanian tiger as aforementioned come from preserved specimens, fossil records, skins and skeletal remains, and black and white photographs depicting specimens both in captivity and in the wild.
Though named for the island of Tasmania, the Tasmanian tiger is believed to have inhabited wetlands, grasslands, and dry eucalyptus forests throughout mainland Australia. The 1990 discovery of a preserved specimen within a cave in Western Australia's Nullarbor Plain supports this idea; carbon dating of the cadaver revealed it to be around 3,000 years old. In the aforementioned Tasmania, the species may have preferred the forests of the midlands and coastal regions. Its stripes would have allowed it to blend in well with these wooded areas, utilizing a form of camouflage similar to that of the tigers for which they are named. A typical territory was between 40 and 80 km² (15 and 31 sq mi) and was not documented to be aggressively defended; groups of Tasmanian tigers far too large to be family units were sometimes observed.
There is evidence for at least some year-round breeding, though the prime breeding season was winter and spring. Litters of two to four joeys would be carried in the mother's pouch for about three months. Once they left the pouch, the young would remain in the den until they were old enough to hunt. There has only been one successful captive breeding: in the Melbourne Zoo in 1899. The life expectancy in the wild was 5-7 years, however they could live up to 9 years in human care.
An apex predator in its homeland, the Tasmanian tiger was at the top of the food chain. It was a nocturnal (nighttime) and crepuscular (twilight hours) hunter, and would spend the daytime hours resting in nests inside small caves and hollowed-out tree trunks. Those who observed the animals in the wild noted they were rather shy and avoided humans, preferring to postpone the hunt and hide until the human presence was gone. It was exclusively carnivorous, with its primary prey thought to be ground-dwelling birds such as the Tasmanian nativehen. Other prey might have been giant malleefowl, emus, and possibly dromornithids.
Despite being fearsome carnivores, there is some controversy and speculation over the preferred prey size of the thylacine/Tasmanian tiger. In 2011, the University of New South Wales performed a study using advanced computer modelling. The results concluded the tiger had surprisingly weak and feeble jaws. Another study in 2020 produced similar results. Animals are usually capable of taking on prey close to their own body size, but the studies suggest a 30 kilograms (66 lb.) Tasmanian tiger would only be able to take on an animal of 5 kilograms (11 lb.). Scientists now believe they ate primarily small animals, such as possums and bandicoots. This would put them in direct competition with the Tasmanian devil and tiger quoll.
The last captive Tasmanian tiger (known as a thylacine in this case) was a female, and she lived as an endling (the last known individual of a species) at the Hobart Zoo until her passing in the night of 7 September 1936. She had been captured by Elias Churchill with a snare trap and was sold to the zoo in May 1936. The sale was not publicly announced because the use of snare traps was illegal. After her passing, the remains were transferred to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Due to the illegal nature of her capture, the ordeal was not properly recorded and almost forgotten about until circa 2022. A taxidermist record dated from 1936 or 1937 was discovered and had a mention of the animal. This led to a full audit of all thylacine remains at the museum and the endling's successful identification.
The Tasmanian tiger/thylacine held the status of endangered species until the 1980s. International standards at the time stated that "an animal can not be declared extinct until 50 years have passed without a confirmed record". Since no definitive proof of existence had been obtained for more than 50 years, the official criteria had been met and the Tasmanian tiger was declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1982 and by the Tasmanian government in 1986. The species was removed from Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2013.
Trivia
- While the Tasmanian tiger is another name for the thylacine, they are two similar but separate friends in the Kemono Friends franchise.
- The name "thylacine" is derived from the Greek words thýlakos meaning "pouch" and ine meaning "pertaining to", referring to the underbelly pouch marsupials are known for. Interestingly, both males and females had the pouch.
- Their closest living relative is the Tasmanian devil.
- The thylacine/Tasmanian tiger is a basal member of the Dasyuromorphia order.
- They had an unusual talent of being able to open their jaws up to 80 degrees.
- Captive thylacines/Tasmanian tigers had a clear preference for birds, particularly chickens.
- It is featured on the Coat of Arms of Tasmania.
- Thanks to preserved specimens in private collections and museums, its whole genome sequence has been mapped; this makes the Tasmanian tiger a prime candidate for cloning.
References
- Wikipedia Page
- Threatened Species: Thylacine – Tasmanian tiger, Thylacinus cynocephalus" (PDF). Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania. December 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 October 2006. Retrieved 22 November 2006.
- Jones, Menna (1997). "Character displacement in Australian dasyurid carnivores: size relationships and prey size patterns". Ecology. 78 (8): 2569–2587. doi:10.1890/0012-9658(1997)078[2569:CDIADC]2.0.CO;2.
- "Shrinking Tasmanian tigers: Resizing an Australian icon". phys.org. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
- Rovinsky, Douglass S.; Evans, Alistair R.; Martin, Damir G.; Adams, Justin W. (2020). "Did the thylacine violate the costs of carnivory? Body mass and sexual dimorphism of an iconic Australian marsupial". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 287 (20201537). doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.1537. PMC 7482282. PMID 32811303.
- Dixon, Joan. "Fauna of Australia chap.20 vol.1b" (PDF). Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2006.
- Paddle (2000), pp. 228–231
- "Shrinking Tasmanian tigers: Resizing an Australian icon". phys.org. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
- "Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Thylacine mystery solved in TMAG collections".
- "Tasmanian tiger: remains of the last-known thylacine unearthed in museum". the Guardian. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
- "Amendments to Appendices I and II of the Convention" (PDF). Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. 19 April 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2014.