Thylacines on Mainland Aus

[Simon M]

Quite true, Vic - I did find this article, however, which is interesting.

http://www.wherelightmeetsdark.com/inde ... PAGE_id=44

[VicYowieResearch]

Yes, seen that before. One or two animals escaping from Corranderk (Healseville) sanctuary would not account for the plethora of sightings ARFRA and others have on the books though. I don't believe the thylacine went extinct on the mainland either (it certainly didn't in Tasmania), rather eyewitnesses are/were spread out over considerable distances and word of mouth wasn't what it is today with the Internet and Social Media.

I have held a cast of a thyla footprint taken in Victoria, and have friends who have seen them quite regularly in places...and these are not people prone to flights of fancy.

Imagine opening the door to your new rural property one morning only to see a startled, fully grown thyla looking back at you before giving an irritated 'cough-bark' before loping swiftly away into the scrub, annoyed that a human was now on it's turf!

[Simon M]

I'd tend to agree that with the theory that they never really died out either - not in Tasmania nor here on the mainland. If I can accept that there are bipedal primates, then accepting the presence of Thylacines isn't a huge leap of faith for me, and there are sightings of them going back many years on the mainland.

I also think the reports of unidentified big cats could involve people seeing a native animal, possibly a marsupial, which resembles a feline due to Convergent Evolution.

People have been seeing mystery big cats for a really long time in Australia, and the whole 'escaped U.S. military mascot and/or circus animal' theories always sounded pretty silly to me.

There are also reports of Thylacines - or animals very much like them - in Irian Jaya (called "dobsegna" in the local language) , so it's possible there are several populations scattered around the southern hemisphere. We can but hope.

[Simon M]

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... a63694a5c3

Another interesting link - from September this year. Apologies if this has already been posted.

[VicYowieResearch]

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... a63694a5c3

Another interesting link - from September this year. Apologies if this has already been posted.

Yes, that's Neil's sighting. I've messaged you some details Si.

Cheers.

[Simon M]

Thank you so much!

There have been sightings here in Portland too, I've recently found. Very interesting stuff. Since moving here in 2013, I've noticed the abundance of animals (I'd never seen Echidnas in the wild before 2013, only in the Zoo), so it seems reasonable to me that anything could be living here unnoticed.

http://www.tasmanian-tiger.com/forum/Fo ... 00031.html

[VicYowieResearch]

No worries Simon. Just a point though, it's easy to differentiate between a fox and a thylacine by comparing the hocks, which are the heels on the rear legs.

Thylacine hocks are a lot lower on the leg, while the picture shows a fox with hocks around the midway mark. This is perhaps the easiest method of identification on grainy video footage, just for your info!

[Simon M]

Thank you! I appreciate that - and I hadn't noticed that detail before, so I'll keep an eye out for it.

It's usually the ears that I look for as the Thylacine's ears seem to have been more rounded at the top - although this detail is impossible to spot if the image is low quality.

I'm interested in learning more about these sightings. I've got no doubt that all sorts of animals are present that we just never see.