TASMANIAN WOLF

also called Tasmanian Tiger, or Thylacine (species Thylacinus cynocephalus), largest marsupial carnivore of recent times, placed by some authorities in the family Dasyuridae and by others separated as Thylacinidae. A slender, fox-faced animal, the Tasmanian wolf was 100 to 130 cm (40 to 50 inches) long, including its 50- to 65-centimetre (20- to 26-inch) tail. The Tasmanian wolf was yellowish brown, with about 16 to 18 dark bars on the back and rump. It hunted at night for wallabies and birds. In a shallow pouch, opening rearward, the female carried two to four young at a time. The Tasmanian wolf, which had also been found on the Australian mainland and New Guinea, was confined to Tasmania in historic times. Competition with the imported dingo led to its disappearance on the mainland. It was widely hunted in Tasmania by incoming Europeans because it was considered a threat to domestic sheep. Rare by 1914, the Tasmanian wolf is now thought to be extinct.