The Wizard of Oz ~ Dorothy and Toto, 1939
Port Vieux, Biarritz, octobre 1891
Lieu de création : Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques)
Date de création : 1891
Photos ranging from 1880s-1930s.
Thylacines are Australia’s most notorious extinct animals; they were wiped out in just over 100 years of European settlement in Tasmania. While some people believe they are still alive in the wild, there is no firm evidence that this is true. The last known Thylacine died in the Hobart Zoo in 1936.
Because of the pattern of brown stripes over their bodies they were often called Tasmanian Tigers. But Thylacines were shy, fragile animals that sometimes died suddenly in captivity from stress. Thylacines had long, slender, dog-like bodies with stiff tails, large heads and incredibly powerful jaws.
There are large gaps in our knowledge of Thylacine biology. They made a husky barking sound, but there is no recording of it. Breeding probably occurred in winter and spring. Young Thylacines were born hairless and helpless like all marsupials, and lived in their mother’s pouch until they were too big to be carried. Males also had a pouch although it was not used to rear young. Adults probably lived to about seven years of age.
Historic accounts of their hunting behaviour describe it as stamina hunting, not stealth or ambush. With a stiff, relatively slow gait, they chased their prey until it was exhausted.
