New research refutes the status of the Tasmanian tiger as a livestock predator

About 200 years ago, European settlers arrived in Tasmania and decided that thylacines were dangerous to their livestock. Due to fears for sheep and cattle, authorities introduced government bounties, and the animals were hunted to the extinction of the species.

However, the results of a new study on Tasmanian tiger skulls, published on August 31 in the journal Nature Communications, refute the perception of them as ferocious livestock predators. Lead author Vera Weisbecker from Flinders University notes that the extinction of the species resulted from a misunderstanding of Australia's wildlife.

The scientists compared the size and shape of museum thylacine skulls with other predators. With an average mass of about 37 pounds, the skulls of these animals were roughly the same size as those of wolves, but had long and thin muzzles. Such a jaw structure indicates that they hunted more like crocodiles or predatory fish, quickly seizing small or medium-sized prey like bandicoots, rather than delivering a powerful bite to large animals like wolves.

Despite their external resemblance to wolves and dogs, thylacines are genetically closer to kangaroos and originate from an ancient marsupial lineage. Although the researchers do not rule out that in rare cases hungry animals could attack unattended livestock young, thylacines did not pose the threat claimed by the colonists.