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By C. Sala
Posted on October 1, 2024
Illustration by: Julianna Ma
Illustration title: Tasmanian Tiger
Medium: Digital Illustration
Size: 2160 pixels x 1620 pixels
Year: August 2024
[Author's Note]
Please be aware that this is a fictional piece of writing. As of now, the Tasmanian Tiger is extinct.
Extinct animals can’t come back, right? Except they can. That’s what happened with the coelacanth in 1938. Now, almost 90 years later, we have another rediscovery. The Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger.
The Tasmanian tiger (Tassie tiger for short), is the only marsupial apex predator. Others of the family include kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, and koalas.
They were hunted to near extinction after being blamed for livestock loss, but the true culprits were feral dogs. The last known thylacine died in captivity in 1938, causing scientists to announce their supposed extinction.
After a recent uptick in Tassie tiger sightings, scientists were sent to determine if there was any truth to them. Dr. Gemma Summers, a young Canadian biologist, was the one to prove the continued existence of the “extinct” Tasmanian tiger. Surveying the forest one afternoon, she happened to stumble on a Thylacine lair dug out under a fallen log. Although the lair was empty at the time, it had evidence of habitation, including a few small clumps of hair. Dr. Gemma collected a sample of the hair and set up a camera trap, a simple motion-activated camera often used by hunters. She sent the hair samples to a lab to be tested along with hair samples from a taxidermy Tassie tiger in the Australian Museum.
A few days later, she returned to the lair. The cameras had done their jobs, and after uploading the files, Dr. Gemma was amazed to find photographic evidence of the Thylacine almost 90 years after its believed extinction. “I was in awe. I was so amazed that Tassie tigers were still alive. I’d dreamed of a discovery like this since I was a little girl, and to have that dream come true – Just amazing.”
As Dr. Gemma explains, DNA testing was needed before the discovery could go public. “...DNA testing is a more complete proof. With a photograph, you’ll always have someone arguing that it’s fake; that it’s photoshopped. But DNA testing can’t be faked, and if you don’t believe the first test, you can always do it again. And again.”
After getting the positive DNA test back from the lab, Dr. Gemma was ready to make her discovery public. She hopes that “this discovery [will be] a symbol of hope for all of the other animals that have or are going extinct. If the Tassie tiger can live for close to 100 years without our knowledge, anything is possible.”
Even before her discovery, the Tassie tiger had captured the imagination of the world. Every year there are dozens of reported sightings from Tasmanians and from visitors.
According to a local man named Oliver Brown, the marsupials have been roaming around for years. Although he himself has never seen a Tassie tiger, he’s not surprised to hear they’re still around. “We [would] get at least ten [sightings] a year, usually closer to 20. Often it [was] just kids playing a prank, but some of them [were] definitely real.”
Mr. Brown believes that the Thylacine is no longer feared the way it once was. With this new mindset, the Thylacine has a better chance of surviving, and hopefully even thriving
[Writing Editor: Anonymous]
[The End]