Mysterious Tasmanian tiger sightings revealed to be another strange-moving creature
Tall tales and myths have continued to shape our understanding of the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine. Our experts reveal why.
The last captive Tasmanian tiger died in 1936. But even in modern times enthusiasts claim to have spotted one, either in Tasmania or on the mainland, and sometimes they even produce grainy evidence or footprints as “proof”.
However, experts say most videos from the mainland purporting to show the animals are “ridiculous” and simply depict sick and strange moving feral animals.
“They’re not tigers. Ninety-nine per cent of the time people are filming mangy foxes, but sometimes dogs or cats,” tiger researcher Mike Williams told Yahoo News. He runs the Tasmanian Tiger Archives which collates images of the species.
“At distances foxes with mange will move with a strange gait, and the tail will hang out at an angle. And because mange is a disease of the immune system, their fur falls off.
“So you’ll have an animal that looks striped, with an unusual gait, its tail sticking out and a funny head and they’ll think it’s a tiger.”
Related: Jaw-dropping colour footage of 'iconic' Tasmanian tiger released
Debate rages over real Tasmanian tiger images
Others will try and fake images of tigers, but they frequently make errors when it comes to depicting them in colour.
That’s because all known images of the animals are black and white, and most of the pelts held in museum collections have faded, making their stripes seem less vibrant than they once were.
While there is no denying there are at least 119 real black-and-white photographs of tigers, there is some conjecture over what they depict.
For instance, there aren’t any known pictures of the species in the wild. But there is a photo of the last one to be shot and killed. And it’s unclear whether the animal in three of those images is alive or dead. You can read more about those tiger images here.
Another series of images taken by naturalist Harry J Burrell that show a tiger in captivity became the centre of debate in the mid 2000s when two researchers said they thought the animal depicted was stuffed and the scenes had been staged.
Related: Unseen photos of Tasmanian tigers spark 'wonderful' hope more could be discovered
The remarkable photographs show a tiger appearing to raid a chook shed. And while they’ve been retouched, and the animal is captive, most taxidermists believe it’s clearly alive.
Video and images of colourised black-and-white film also frequently cause confusion among some fans of the animal.
Beers around campfire spark Tasmanian tiger myths
Biologist Nick Mooney agrees so-called sightings of tigers are mainly bogus, particularly those on the mainland where they have been extinct for thousands of years.
He believes our interest in Tasmanian tigers stems from a human fascination with the “bizarre”.
Even before the species was wiped out the mysterious creature became the target of tall tales and folklore.
“There’s a mythology built up from a couple of crude observations that they only drank the blood of the animals they killed. And would maybe open them up and eat the heart and liver,” Mooney said.
“But that was about all they could eat. They could only stomach around 5kg. And normally they’d be followed around by [Tasmanian] devils who would clean everything up.”
Mooney doesn’t think there was “much sobriety” in a lot of the historical accounts.
“It's people having a beer around the campfire, competing with each other for silly stories. And the less familiar people become with the animal the bigger it becomes. They’re a perfectly normal animal. There’s nothing extraordinary about it that we know about.”
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Tasmanian tiger myths adjust to new reality
Recently, Mooney has observed new myths growing in popularity that have shifted to meet the reality of people not being able to find them.
“They believe they’ve become incredibly stealthy, and that’s why we can’t photograph one,” he said.
“Instead of saying there’s probably none there, people make them into something they’re not. People love to have a worthy opponent and that’s something that’s incredibly cunning.
“There's another myth that they hop on two legs and can jump really high. But most dogs in long grass can jump on two legs when they’re chasing a wallaby. They’ll hop along for a few steps and lose balance — most animals can.”
Why fascination with rare animals is a problem
Sadly Mooney believes people only become fascinated with animals after they become rare or endangered.
In Tasmania he believes devils were until recently treated with disdain, but now that they’re rare people think they’re fascinating.
“I understand that people are like that — they get bored quickly. But what it means is, you can’t get money or resources to study common animals. And its common animals that actually drive the ecology.
“We wait until something is endangered and before it’s funded. And by that time it’s incredibly hard to save it from extinction.”
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