Editing Thylacine (section)

===Last of the species===
{{Contradicts other|Endlings|here|section=y|Conflict with Endlings|date=March 2024}} 
[[File:ThylacineHobart1933.jpg|left|thumb|A thylacine photographed at [[Hobart Zoo]] in 1933]]
[[File:Last known footage of a Thylacine.webm|left|thumb|Footage of a thylacine from 1935]] 
The last captive thylacine, lived as an [[endling]] (the known last of its species) at [[Hobart Zoo]] until its death on the night of 7 September 1936.<ref name="tmag.tas.gov.au">{{cite web |title=Thylacine mystery solved in TMAG collections |url=https://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/whats_on/newsselect/2022articles/thylacine_mystery_solved_in_tmag_collections |website=Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery}}</ref> The animal, a female,<ref name="auto">{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-06/benjamin-thylacine-tasmanian-tiger-naming-myth-persists/101734442|title=Stop calling the last thylacine Benjamin, Tasmanian tiger researcher says |newspaper=ABC News |date=5 December 2022 |first1=James |last1=Dunlevie |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231216074150/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-06/benjamin-thylacine-tasmanian-tiger-naming-myth-persists/101734442 |archive-date= Dec 16, 2023 }}</ref> was captured by Elias Churchill with a [[snare trap]] and was sold to the zoo in May 1936. The sale was not publicly announced because the use of traps was illegal and Churchill could have been fined.<ref name="tmag.tas.gov.au"/> After its death, the remains of the endling were transferred to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The remains were not properly recorded by the museum because the animal had been caught illegally. It lay undiscovered for decades until a taxidermist record dated from 1936 or 1937 mentioning the animal was noticed. This led to a full audit of all thylacine remains at the museum and the endling's successful identification at the end of 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=5 December 2022 |title=Tasmanian tiger: remains of the last-known thylacine unearthed in museum |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/05/tasmanian-tiger-remains-of-the-last-known-thylacine-unearthed-in-museum |access-date=6 December 2022 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

In 1968, Frank Darby{{elucidate|date=September 2024}} invented a myth that the endling was called Benjamin. The myth was widely circulated in the media, with Wikipedia itself repeating the invention.<ref name="auto"/> The thylacine that Darby was referring to was a female at Hobart Zoo.<ref name="auto"/> This animal is believed to have died as the result of neglect—locked out of its sheltered sleeping quarters, it was exposed to a rare occurrence of extreme Tasmanian weather: extreme heat during the day and freezing temperatures at night.<ref name=" P195">[[#Paddle|Paddle (2000)]], p. 195.</ref> This thylacine features in the last known motion picture footage of a living specimen: 45 seconds of black-and-white footage showing the thylacine in its enclosure in a clip taken in 1933, by naturalist [[David Fleay]].<ref name="NS">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17022915.100 |title=Rough Justice |magazine=[[New Scientist]] |date=19 May 2001 |author=Dayton, Leigh |access-date=15 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913060648/http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17022915.100 |archive-date=13 September 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the film footage, the thylacine is seen seated, walking around the perimeter of its enclosure, yawning, sniffing the air, scratching itself (in the same manner as a dog), and lying down. Fleay was bitten on the buttock whilst shooting the film.<ref name="NS" /> In 2021, a digitally colourised 80-second clip of Fleay's footage of the thylacine was released by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, to mark National Threatened Species Day. The digital colourisation process was based on historic primary and secondary descriptions to ensure an accurate colour match.<ref>[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-07/tasmanian-tiger-footage-digitised-and-colourised/100439870 Footage of last-known surviving Tasmanian tiger remastered and released in 4K colour] ''ABC News'', 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Extinct Tasmanian tiger brought to life in colour footage |url=https://news.yahoo.com/extinct-tasmanian-tiger-brought-life-081207211.html|access-date=11 September 2021|website=news.yahoo.com}}</ref>

Although there had been a [[conservation movement]] pressing for the thylacine's protection since 1901, driven in part by the increasing difficulty in obtaining specimens for overseas collections, political difficulties prevented any form of protection coming into force until 1936. Official protection of the species by the Tasmanian government came all too late; it was introduced on 10 July 1936, 59 days before the last known specimen died in captivity.<ref name="P184">[[#Paddle|Paddle (2000)]], p. 184.</ref>