Extinct animals in photographs

[Tim May]

The discussion on thylacines has been fascinating but returning to the contents of Fuller's book:-

I’d certainly recommend this book (as I’d also recommend some of Errol Fuller’s other books such as “Extinct Birds”; “The Lost Birds of Paradise”; “The Great Auk”).

The chapter on bubal hartebeest depicts a photograph of one at London Zoo with the comment that several were kept in zoos but this individual appears to have been the only one that was photographed.

This last statement is erroneous; I have an old postcard featuring a photograph of bubal hartebeest in the Jardin des Plantes Menagerie (Paris).

I must emphasise that this is a minor quibble only and in no way alters my earlier comment that this is a book I recommend.

 

[Tomek]

The discussion on thylacines has been fascinating but returning to the contents of Fuller's book:-



The chapter on bubal hartebeest depicts a photograph of one at London Zoo with the comment that several were kept in zoos but this individual appears to have been the only one that was photographed.

This last statement is erroneous; I have an old postcard featuring a photograph of bubal hartebeest in the Jardin des Plantes Menagerie (Paris).

I must emphasise that this is a minor quibble only and in no way alters my earler comment that this is a book I recommend.

Another photograph of this extinct antelope taken in Berlin Zoo can be seen in the German book describing and illustrating all the species of mammals of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East: "Atlas der Säugetiere Europas, Nordafrika und Vorderasiens" by E. Grimmberger, K. Rudloff and Ch. Kern from 2009 (p. 414).

 

[oldrover]

Certainly. There was and still is plenty of conflicting evidence around about the number of Thylacine captures, where they came from and where they went to. There has also been considerable debate about the source of the last one at Hobart Zoo though nowadays its widely accepted it was the male snared by Elias Churchill in the Florentine Valley in 1933, and not one of the earlier 'Mullins cubs' which were caught(as pouch young?)in 1925 with their mother, and grew to maturity in the Zoo.

Even as recently as 1980 it was widely accepted that the last one in the Zoo died in 1933. While I was there Stephen Smith told me they had only just discovered from the old records that it was in fact three years later, in 1936, on what is now the accepted date.

That is very interesting I didn't know that. As I remember we've got a rare record from the zoo that says the animal died in 1936. Also there's an article in 'The Mercury' from February 1937 saying that it had died recently.

Interestingly that article says the animal had been there for eight years, eliminating Elias Churchill's* 1933 capture as a possible candidate.

Personally I don't read too much into that, but I sometimes imagine that the 1933 Florentine animal was the one that Will Cramp says he remembers passing through the zoo at about that time. Although not terribly seriously.

*This article came to light recently about Elias Churchill's life as a notorious bootlegger. Another Al Capone by the sounds of it. ;

06 Jun 1930 - SLYGROG AT ADAMSFIELD Two Offenders Fined £25 Each.

 

[Pertinax]

. As I remember we've got a rare record from the zoo that says the animal died in 1936. Also there's an article in 'The Mercury' from February 1937 saying that it had died recently.

Interestingly that article says the animal had been there for eight years, eliminating Elias Churchill's* 1933 capture as a possible candidate.

Maybe those records did not come to light until the 1980's, though the Hobart Mercury one would always have been on record. Perhaps no one ever checked before? I certainly remember that in pre-1980's articles on the Thylacine the 'extinction' date was always given as 1933 and the first I heard of a change to '1936' was when I met Stephen Smith- they had literally only just discovered this date change a few weeks previously.

Re the last Hobart animal (usually referred to as 'Benjamin')- the online 'Thylacine Museum' has a very interesting section on this, in which the record of it having lived in the Zoo for eight years is discussed and disputed as being false for various reasons. Principally the important evidence in the photos taken in 1933 of the fresh snare mark on its right hind leg. This provides evidence of recent capture from the wild as an adult animal and for which Churchill's specimen fits the bill, captured 1933, filmed, photographed and described (including its recent capture, the snare mark and its male sex) by David Fleay on his visit in December that year, died 1936.

 

[oldrover]

But how do we know the animal David Fleay filmed in 1933 was the same animal that died in 1936?

I’m not being serious.

While I’m personally convinced that Churchill’s animal is the one that died in Hobart in September 1936, as your info about the 1933/36 death date illustrates so well, it isn't really possible to take anything as absolute.

 

[Pertinax]

But how do we know the animal David Fleay filmed in 1933 was the same animal that died in 1936?

We can only presume so and will never know for sure. But in the absence of any other reports of another Thylacine being acquired by the Zoo between 1933-1936, it seems very likely.

 

[oldrover]

I'd agree with that.

 

[Chlidonias]

I've finally seen this book in person (I got it out of the library), and it is excellent. As Tim May said earlier, many of the photos are well-known to Zoochatter-types, but also there are many photos I have never seen before, even of NZ species like the bush wren where I had previously only seen a couple of the ones Fuller uses. The chapters are short and the font is large, so the book doesn't take long to read. Fuller only includes mammals and birds - so no Cape Verde Giant Skink (for example).

There is something incredibly sad about looking at photos of extinct species, much more so than looking at paintings or even museum specimens. These animals survived well into the photographic era, just a snap of the fingers before right now - and now they are gone and I will never see them in life. It is even more terrible when you see some of the species in very recent colour photos, like the Guam Flycatcher, the Po'ouli, or the Yangtze Dolphin.

The chapter on bubal hartebeest depicts a photograph of one at London Zoo with the comment that several were kept in zoos but this individual appears to have been the only one that was photographed.

This last statement is erroneous; I have an old postcard featuring a photograph of bubal hartebeest in the Jardin des Plantes Menagerie (Paris).

it's interesting that he specifically mentioned the Paris animal as well, without knowing about the photo. "...it appears that it did not have its portrait taken. Nor, it seems, did one that was at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, and this animal may well have been the last of its kind. It died on November 9th, 1923"

 

[Pertinax]

The chapters are short and the font is large, so the book doesn't take long to read.

That is the man drawback of this book. But its a pretty essential addition to any 'extinction buff's' library, even so.