Thylacines are still extinct

DavidBrown said:
Reports of recent thylacine sightings have been debunked. Why do people think that they keep seeing thylacines? It might be because of the way our brains are wired to use preconceived ideas to fill in gaps in visual information.

Tasmanian Tigers Are Extinct. Why Do People Keep Seeing Them?
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It's mostly been the same guy claiming to have photographed them lately, and it's always a pademelon :p He really shouldn't be taken seriously any more, even by people who are hopeful.
 
I'd say the primary reason is that very few people have good visual processing skills, especially in regards to nature.

In the case of some of these thylacine hunters, I think thats coupled with a serious lack of critical thinking.

And then of course the animal has been mythologised to a degree and there is probably an element of romanticism in there, especially by non-Australians, who see Tasmania and indeed mainland Australia as a wild and exotic locale. This often evokes a sense of discovery and colonial undertones. Just listen to Forrest Galante talk enthusiastically about the prospect of finding thylacines on the mainland and you know what I mean.
 
toothlessjaws said:
I'd say the primary reason is that very few people have good visual processing skills, especially in regards to nature.

In the case of some of these thylacine hunters, I think thats coupled with a serious lack of critical thinking.

And then of course the animal has been mythologised to a degree and there is probably an element of romanticism in there, especially by non-Australians, who see Tasmania and indeed mainland Australia as a wild and exotic locale. This often evokes a sense of discovery and colonial undertones. Just listen to Forrest Galante talk enthusiastically about the prospect of finding thylacines on the mainland and you know what I mean.
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I think what you mention about romanticism is a key factor in the "hunt for the thylacine".

However, it seems to me that there are a lot of Australians / Tasmanians who feel this keenly too and I wonder if there is some kind of existential guilt / psychological drive to "atone for the environmental sins of the ancestors" kind of thing going on.
 
Zorro said:
I would rate the Hans Naarding sighting in 1982 by a resercher with the Tasmanian parks wildlife service as credible!
There was another good sighting in 1995 by a Parks and wildlife officer in the northeast of Tasmania!
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I'm sympathetic to the view that a few individuals survived / persisted in the wild (though in a state of functional extinction) beyond what is commonly believed to be the total extinction of the species with the death of "Benjamin" in captivity.

I do think that it is very likely that there were probably thylacines walking the earth up until the mid 20th century (1950's and perhaps into the 60's).

However, as much as I would like to believe there are still some left out there roaming the Tasmanian wilds I just feel that the odds of this are very very unlikely.
 
Why do people still believe they exist? Why do people swear that Bigfoot (aka Sasquatch) roams the forests of northwest USA? Who knows, but people like the mysterious.

I would not consider park rangers to be automatically more expert. I saw a report from a park official (posted on ZooChat) claiming he had seen a tiger (extinct) on Java but the video clearly portrayed a leopard. I saw some night security footage of a feral housecat in Ohio and the state game and fish officials said it could be a puma.
 
Arizona Docent said:
Why do people still believe they exist? Why do people swear that Bigfoot (aka Sasquatch) roams the forests of northwest USA? Who knows, but people like the mysterious.

I would not consider park rangers to be automatically more expert. I saw a report from a park official (posted on ZooChat) claiming he had seen a tiger (extinct) on Java but the video clearly portrayed a leopard. I saw some night security footage of a feral housecat in Ohio and the state game and fish officials said it could be a puma.
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I do think though that belief in thylacines still being extant is in some ways far more justifiable than belief in the big foot and many other dubious claims in cryptozoology.

I think that belief in the thylacines continued survival is driven by a lot of psycho-social factors like romanticism / nostalgia, wishful thinking, existential guilt , thrill / adventure seeking, "soldiers of fortune" hoping to get rich from obtaining proof, conspiracy minded narratives that question established narratives and authorities etc.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
I do think though that belief in thylacines still being extant is in some ways far more justifiable than belief in the big foot and many other dubious claims in cryptozoology.

I think that belief in the thylacines continued survival is driven by a lot of psycho-social factors like romanticism / nostalgia, wishful thinking, existential guilt , thrill / adventure seeking, "soldiers of fortune" hoping to get rich from obtaining proof, conspiracy minded narratives that question established narratives and authorities etc.
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When I first became interested in the Thylacine, circa 1973, I doubt many people outside of Australia knew what it even was. Nowadays with increased communication, social media etc, everybody does and can join in. Unfortunately this has given rise to some less than professional searches, and increasingly much false information and many wild theories bandied about as to its continued existence- one of these in particular has recently reached the realms of fantasy and 'cult' status. For the record and despite all claims to the contrary, I believe it is long gone.
 
Pertinax said:
When I first became interested in the Thylacine, circa 1973, I doubt many people outside of Australia knew what it even was. Nowadays with increased communication, social media etc, everybody does and can join in. Unfortunately this has given rise to some less than professional searches, and increasingly much false information and many wild theories bandied about as to its continued existence- one of these in particular has recently reached the realms of fantasy and 'cult' status. For the record and despite all claims to the contrary, I believe it is long gone.
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Yes, I totally agree.

I think that many of the current searches are "tin foil hat" quests and I wish as much energy and passion verging on the obsessional could be galvanized and directed towards extant Australian and Tasmanian species and wider ecosystem conservation.

That said I can quite understand the longing people feel for it to still be extant and roaming the Tasmanian forests.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Yes, I totally agree.

I think that many of the current searches are "tin foil hat" quests and I wish as much energy and passion verging on the obsessional could be galvanized and directed towards extant Australian and Tasmanian species and wider ecosystem conservation.

That said I can quite understand the longing people feel for it to still be extant and roaming the Tasmanian forests.
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Just to get back to the Hans Naarding sighting of 1982, My understanding is he was hired by the Tasmanian National parks service, I believe the story goes that was working in a remote area sleeping in his car and woke up while it was still dark and with heavy rain falling then he switched on his hand held spotlight and scanned around the outside of the car and he saw a full grown male not far from where he was seated in fact he said he counted the stripes, it yawned and then trotted off into the night. I dont believe he was suffering from guilt for something he did not do nor do I believe he was dreaming, Its possible he may of seen one, he was there and we were not!
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
I think the Naarding sighting does stand out as the most credible post mid-century sighting but I am still quite skeptical.
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Sure nothing wrong in being skeptical but when I see some people from the other side of the world say its all tin foil hat stuff when there are lots of remote areas with so few people living there I would not write it off 100% as quick as that!
 
Zorro said:
Sure nothing wrong in being skeptical but when I see some people from the other side of the world say its all tin foil hat stuff when there are lots of remote areas with so few people living there I would not write it off 100% as quick as that!
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Yes, definitely it isn't 100 % certain / ruled out and there will always be the slimmest of chances that some have survived under the radar.

I remain agnostic about it because that is the most sensible stance on what can be neither proven or disproven and to remain open to the possibility.

However, on that spectrum of agnosticism I am strongly swayed by the current absence of credible hard evidence towards skepticism on the continued existence of this species.
 
Zorro said:
Just to get back to the Hans Naarding sighting of 1982, My understanding is he was hired by the Tasmanian National parks service, I believe the story goes that was working in a remote area sleeping in his car and woke up while it was still dark and with heavy rain falling then he switched on his hand held spotlight and scanned around the outside of the car and he saw a full grown male not far from where he was seated in fact he said he counted the stripes, it yawned and then trotted off into the night. I dont believe he was suffering from guilt for something he did not do nor do I believe he was dreaming, Its possible he may of seen one, he was there and we were not!
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He was an ornithologist researching Snipe, but yes, it was the most credible of virtually all sightings and sufficient for the P&WS to take it seriously too as they did a two year search after that, but found nothing. The problem is how does a large animal like that remain unphotographed(clearly) or fail come into human contact either as a dead corpse or a live animal for as long as the Thylacine has.
 
Pertinax said:
He was an ornithologist researching Snipe, but yes, it was the most credible of virtually all sightings and sufficient for the P&WS to take it seriously too as they did a two year search after that, but found nothing. The problem is how does a large animal like that remain unphotographed(clearly) or fail come into human contact either as a dead corpse or a live animal for as long as the Thylacine has.
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Lazarus species are typically small bodied cryptic animals but when you consider that the saola went under the radar for so long (albeit it wasnt a Lazarus species but new to science and was known by the Hmong and rural Laotian people) it does give you pause for thought.

That said they would have to be breeding regularly and for that obviously the thylacine would need to be in high enough population densities (even if this was the case these animals would have began suffering the impacts of inbreeding depression long ago).

This in turn would increase the likelihood of sightings and hard evidence of their existence being discovered (which is conspicuously absent).
 
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