Hyderabad: The recent import of cheetahs, which became extinct in India 70 years ago, from Namibia has brought the focus back to the 'Tasmanian tiger' which became extinct way back in 1936. The world's last Tasmanian tiger is believed to have died at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. Tasmanian tigers were good hunters and like to hunt kangaroos, sheep, and goats. The special species of wolf could open their mouth up to a 90-degree angle. They used to be silent most of the time but used to make sounds like a dog during hunting.
The carnivore 'Tasmanian Tiger' is a wolf whose zoological name is Thylasis. The name Tasmanian Tiger is because of the tiger-like stripes on its back. An adult Tasmanian wolf weighed from 15 to 30 kg. Since 1999, scientists tried to bring the Tasmanian tiger back to life artificially in the laboratory through the cloning process. However they gave up the project after it was concluded in 2005 that the experiment was not possible due to the poor quality of the DNA.
Also read: Have to be realistic about losses; not easy to bring back animal from extinction: Cheetah expert
With this, Tasmanian tigers are considered to have joined the list of extinct species forever. Some argue that 'these are still alive...not extinct'. But there is no evidence to support their claims. The Tasmanian tigers were innocuous to humans but became extinct due indiscriminate hunting by man.
