Thylacine in a zoo in 1930's. I stopped the video and created several "still" photos of this AZAZING animal. WHEN we do find small populations are still with US >>> we had better protect them to no end. Why would anyone, even a hunter, want to kill such a unique animal? Sigh...
Look at that face!! Look, how gentle and amazing this animal is... How could she have been allowed to die in a zoo in the 1930's?? HOW could humans have been so ignorant and >>> STUPID??? As Forrest Gump stated, "Stupid is as stupid does..." SIGH... Is there any wonder the small remaining groups of Thylacine in the wilds hide? These animals are intelligent enough to know being elusive and hidden IS their survival. I told, my husband this morning >> "You never know, there could have been some imported to America way back then, and are living and thriving here!!" He laughed and replied to me >> "YOU see and find MORE animals (and strange animals) than any person I've ever seen or heard of...!!!!!!!!!" (HE means in real life!!) I laughed back and said, "They are MY TRIBE ~~> I can't help it ~~> so do not fuss at me when I find a Momma Thylacine with 4 babies in her pouch and BRING HER HOME !!!!!!!!!!
I have felt strongly that, as with other animals, the Thylacine had to have variations of colors... darker brown, lighter golden, and "black"... Well I've search old photos from all over the World Wide Web and found photos to back up my theory... AND finally after weeks of search found photos of a "BLACK" Thylacine. Yes, the photo is in black and white BUT there's no mistaking this is a black or very dark gray/black animal!! ~~ >>> Melanistic refers to an organism having an increased amount of black or dark pigmentation. This is due to the presence of more melanin, the pigment responsible for dark coloration in skin, fur, and hair. While often associated with black animals, melanism can also result in other dark shades like brown or gray. Melanistic animals are gorgeous!! It's basically the opposite of Albino or Blue eyed White animals.
I listened to a YouTube Video (which I will place a link to below this section) of a man that just on May 19th and 20th of 2024 saw a mother Thylacine and her two babies on a secluded back road two days in a row!! The first encounter was of the mother the first day. ON the second day, May 20th, 2024, he saw the Mother Thylacine with two dark (what he called black) babies that looked like the Mother animal!! The mother had grayish stripes on her back. Here's the YouTube Interview with the Man, named FRANK, (Neil Waters interviews him by phone) that saw the black Thyacine Mother and her two babies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbTsHMDYcPk
This is an absolutely wonderful reproduction of a taxidermy baby Thylacine made by this online artist. Please read the print by the photo to see this artist Instagram Account. This is such an amazing reproduction of a Thylacine Pup, Baby, Joey... whatever you want to call their darling babies!! I wanted to add this in this new section because I'm really quite AMAZED by it!! I wanted to add this next to the announcement of the "Black" Thylacine so everyone could see what a very young, not very long out of the pouch a baby Thylacine looks like. I also have real Thylacine young photos but they are either dried specimens or in a jar ... sigh. I thought this one was better...
This is a Thylacine in captivity in the 1930's. How the last of these animals were held in cages in zoos breaks my heart... Like the Passenger pigeon they were hunted to extinction. (I do believe there are a few left in the wild and manage to stay well hidden.) Blamed for killing sheep, when it's proven sheep were lost to wild dogs and BAD land management NOT Thylacine sheep kills.
Many of these photos are the same Tasmanian Tiger in a zoo. FOR THE RECORD >> NOT ALL THYLACINE HAD back stripes... most did but there has been proved colors and stripes varied in these animals and perhaps there were also larger and also smaller subspecies... ALSO, many had did not have TAIL stripes at all....
These animals are amazing... I WANT to breed some in a huge habitat, with a creek, forest, hills, caves (specialty dens) where they could be happy and safe.. LOVED, and NEVER KNOW FEAR, or be hunted again!! HOW can people have been this totally callous and hateful? WELL< this is my world here, on my site, and we will thing on GOOD THINGS... Such as there are still wild populations, hiding and being safe until the right people are trusted to see them.
These animals could be saved by private breeding in captivity in HABITATES not cages.
Amazingly Tasmanian Tigers / Thylacines could open their jaws 80 % ... At times they did this if nervous, not just when they were tired.
This is photos of Thylacine preserved pouched young specimens. The babies were born premature and had to climb and get into the pouch like Sugar gliders, and our American Opossum babies must do. Kangaroo babies are born this way also. Here's a link: http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/biology/reproduction/reproduction_2.htm#:~:text=With%20a%20gestation%20period%20estimated,family%20unit%20the%20following%20year.
4-29-2025 Thursday morning / 12:11 AM ~~>>> ALL of the Thylaine Vocalizations listed on the left in the chart (You may have to enlarge it to read it clearly) I HAVE HEARD IN OUR AMERICAN OPOSSUMS (VIRGINA OPOSSUMS) BEFORE. I KNOW No other Person on Earth has REALIZED THIS BEFORE now !!! I have been working on my Thylacine page here, for weeks now. (I've studied Tasmanian Tigers for YEARS as a hobby... I have studied animals since I was old enough to know what they are!! I was born and raised with animals around me... I ran wild in the woods as a child... among them, both wild and tame!) I'm amazed really... I have felt over the last weeks now, that "something" simple has been missed in studying Thylacines... I felt like I was on the verge of a discovery and it would be something wonderful to know... Well, Opossums are OUR ONLY Marsupial here in America ~~ Sigh...
I've always felt there were some similarities to Thylacine even though they are not related, and they are still very, very different. Opossums are a great love of mine... I've had 9 different ones as pets through the years. I have always been amazed by our Opossums, as they are such UNIQUE ANIMALS...like the Thylacine. There is not really any other animal quite like them (Opossums). Also, Opossums are SO dismissed my many people... JUST as Thylacines were... and being dumb, slow, and useless... WHEN REALLY these little animals are amazingly intelligent, clean, affectionate and gentle... (JUST as olden accounts of Thylacine being kept as pets... proved by their owners they were gentle, affectionate and playful and intelligent. It was stated Thylacine also made great "watch dogs". There are some old statements where farmers kept them tied as they did watch dogs way back then (1890's --- 1930's) and that these animals would alert their owners to intruders long before dogs knew they were there!! )
I've worked for years to enlighten people I meet over how wonderful Opossums are... They are so crucial to our environment, they are Nature's Little Cleaners... and they eat bones of dead animals (Thylacines eat bones also)... Opossums need calcium, and this is provided by nature in the bones of road kill and dead decaying animals for Opossums... I can go on and on about these marvelous little creatures BUT BACK TO MY POINT!!!
Another thing also... the "YAWNS".... BIG WIDE OPEN MOUTH Yawns the Thylacine are famous for, is another American Opossum trait... They (Opossums) do this out of sleepiness, and relaxion, but they also do this out of nervousness, or stress... because it's at least a movement they can do if stressed... (Some animals (even Opossums) will also yawn to take in more oxygen and /or to regulate body temperature.) However, I feel like the Thylacines kept in zoos that did this often, did it out of stress and freight as Opossums will do, just to have some action to do when they can't do other physical actions to alleviate their stress .
ALL THE THYLACINE VOCALIZATIONS IN THE CHART (credit the Thylacine Museum site and see the link to the page below) I HAVE HEARD MANY TIMES IN AMERICAN OPOSSUMS!!
1) ~~ THE COUGHING BARK ~~ OPOSSUMS DO THIS "BARK"... as stated with the Thylacine, it is a non threatening sound also with Opossums!! It's a way they communicate with people when kept as pets, and also with other Opossums!!
2) ~~ SNUFFLE (FORCED ASPERATION) ~~ I've always called this "SNEEZING" in Opossums... and it is a social sound as stated with Thylacines, and in Opossums they can do it at will (it's not like people and a natural reflex action). My pet Opossums "Sneezed" at me all the time... it was like an affectionate sound, and a sound they used when they wanted attention and/ or a treat. (I had a little rescued dog I adopted years ago, Indy, a half Yorkie and half mini Schnauzer, and one of my darling little Opossums I raised from a pouch baby, taught her to "Sneeze" for attention also... LOL (This baby's mother opossum was hit by a car and she was the only tiny survivor from a litter of 7 babies in the pouch...sigh.)
3) ~~ HISSING (Closed Mouth) ~~ THIS is a very FARMILAR sound in pet Opossums and also in Wild Opossums... and as in the Thylacine it's a low grade threat... or more so, accurately, a "bluff"... sound to ward off something they are afraid of or annoyed with. With pet Opossums... it was a "bluff" sound toward my dog, or cats or even me... LOL >>> my "baby" girl that barely had her little eyes opened that was a pouch baby when we rescued her off the road, used this many times when she was a tad impatient with me... wanting her treats, or if my dog was agitating her, or if she didn't want my husband to take her from me!!
4) ~~ HISSING OPENED MOUTH ~~ As with Thylacines, Opossums do this. Both, pets (when kept as pets) and also when Wild Opossums are confronted (usually suddenly) by people or other animals they deem as a threat. With Tame/ Pet Opossums it's still a "bluff" reaction, but a more serious one, to not move them, or as with my baby girl, for my husband NOT to take her from "Mommy" (ME), or to just let them nap and not disturb them, etc... It's basically a LEAVE ME ALONE reaction. (In some wild Opossums, in very rare instances, when they are very afraid, if this doesn't work it will be followed by a bite. (Yes, Opossums can, and will, in rare instances, bite. Their bite can be very bad also, to a human finger!! One of my rescues bit me badly on one of my fingers. However, I could not blame her, as the night before she was mauled in near freezing temperatures my a large dog, and rolled in the cold mud!!)
5) ~~ ULDULATING CRY (VARYING INTENSITY) ~~ YES <<< I have heard American Opossums make this UNUSUAL VOCALIZATON !! THIS SOUND is like none other you have ever heard... it's like a sound that is both beautiful, almost sad, and chilling... unworldly almost. I had a little male I raised from a very young Opossum found on the road one night. (He literally just let me walk up to him and pick him up. The little fellow was skinny, cold and just curled up in my hand.) If he would get out at night (which I let them roam the house at night for a while, but at times he would get out when he knew he should be sleeping... WHEN he did he would WAKE me, to put him back in his bed by coming to my beside and making THIS VOLCALIZATION!! The first night he did this, I heard him the first time as I was waking... I was stunned, trying frantically in my mind to recognize WHAT this sound WAS and WHERE it was coming from???? I thought at first, it was coming from outside my bedroom window... I had a couple of seconds of FRIGHT...lol. Then I looked down beside my bed as he did it as second, and third, time. By the third time, I realized it was HIM!! SO THIS VOCALIZATION, they stated with the Thylacine was a "higher grade threat" or "territorial" sound... I however, know that with the Opossums, it is more of a lonely, destress sound, like looking for their family member (in his case ME) or another of their kind... It's kinda like a "I don't want to be alone sound... Where are you??" It has a melancholy ring to it... sigh.
6) ~~ GROWL ~~ (said to be threatening or surprise in Thylacine and / or precursor to aggression) ~~ I have heard American Opossums GROWL... and it's a warning... before biting, or attempting to bite, or if they are caught and stressed, and trying to get away. It's different from a dog, growl, kinda more like a really mad cat growl... not really shrill, but not as deep as a dog growl. It is a precursor to aggression and an Opossum would much rather YOU LEAVE it alone and allow it to go on it's way, than to bite you!! (From all I've read, watched, and studied about Thylacine so would they!!)
I am uncertain who should have credit for the Reels/ Videos I did My Screen shots from as some were not credited online. However, I feel certain that some of the videos were from NFSA Films so in the search to give credit where it's due... I will write here, that I think their videos were used even if they were not named online...sigh.