Editing Thylacine (section)

==Extinction==
=== Dying out on the Australian mainland ===
[[File:Bagged thylacine.jpg|thumb|Killed thylacine, 1869]]
Australia lost more than 90% of [[Australian megafauna|its megafauna]] around 50–40,000 years ago as part of the [[Quaternary extinction event]], with the notable exceptions of several kangaroo and wombat species, emus, cassowaries, large [[goanna]]s, and the thylacine. The extinctions included the even larger carnivore ''[[Thylacoleo carnifex]]'' (sometimes called the marsupial lion) which was only distantly related to the thylacine.<ref name="manusia"/> A 2010 paper examining this issue showed that humans were likely to be one of the major factors in the extinction of many species in Australia although the authors of the research warned that one-factor explanations might be over-simplistic.<ref name="manusia">{{cite journal|last1=Prideaux|first1=Gavin J.|last2=Gully|first2=Grant A.|last3=Couzens|first3=Aidan M. C.|last4=Ayliffe|first4=Linda K.|last5=Jankowski|first5=Nathan R.|last6=Jacobs|first6=Zenobia|last7=Roberts|first7=Richard G.|last8=Hellstrom|first8=John C.|last9=Gagan|first9=Michael K.|date=December 2010|title=Timing and dynamics of Late Pleistocene mammal extinctions in southwestern Australia|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=107|issue=51|pages=22157–22162|doi=10.1073/pnas.1011073107|pmc=3009796|pmid=21127262|first10=Lindsay M.|last10=Hatcher|bibcode=2010PNAS..10722157P|doi-access=free}}</ref> The youngest radiocarbon dates of the thylacine in mainland Australia are around 3,500 years old, with an estimated extinction date around 3,200 years ago, synchronous with that of Tasmanian devil, and closely co-inciding with the earliest records of the [[dingo]], as well as an intensification of human activity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=White |first1=Lauren C. |last2=Saltré |first2=Frédérik |last3=Bradshaw |first3=Corey J. A. |last4=Austin |first4=Jeremy J. |date=January 2018 |title=High-quality fossil dates support a synchronous, Late Holocene extinction of devils and thylacines in mainland Australia |journal=Biology Letters |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=20170642 |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2017.0642 |issn=1744-9561 |pmc=5803592 |pmid=29343562}}</ref>

A study proposes that the dingo may have led to the extinction of the thylacine in mainland Australia because the dingo outcompeted the thylacine in preying on the [[Tasmanian nativehen]]. The dingo is also more likely to hunt in packs than the more solitary thylacine.<ref name="johnson2003">{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=C. N. |last2=Wroe |first2=S. |date=September 2003 |title=Causes of Extinction of Vertebrates during the Holocene of Mainland Australia: Arrival of the Dingo, or Human Impact? |journal=The Holocene |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=941–948 |bibcode=2003Holoc..13..941J |doi=10.1191/0959683603hl682fa |s2cid=15386196}}</ref> Examinations of dingo and thylacine skulls show that although the dingo had a weaker bite, its skull could resist greater stresses, allowing it to pull down larger prey than the thylacine. Because it was a [[hypercarnivore]], the thylacine was less versatile in its diet than the omnivorous [[dingo]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/tigers-demise-dingo-did-do-it/2007/09/05/1188783320057.html|title=Tiger's demise: Dingo did do it|date=6 September 2007|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|access-date=3 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007162544/http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/tigers-demise-dingo-did-do-it/2007/09/05/1188783320057.html|archive-date=7 October 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=W07>{{cite journal|title=Computer simulation of feeding behaviour in the thylacine and dingo as a novel test for convergence and niche overlap|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B|year=2007|volume=274|issue=1627|pages=2819–2828|doi=10.1098/rspb.2007.0906|pmid=17785272|pmc=2288692|first1=Stephen |last1=Wroe |first2=Philip |last2=Clausen|first3=Colin |last3=McHenry|first4=Karen |last4=Moreno|first5=Eleanor |last5=Cunningham}}</ref> Their ranges appear to have overlapped because thylacine [[subfossil]] remains have been discovered near those of dingoes. Aside from wild dingoes, the adoption of the dingo as a hunting companion by the indigenous peoples would have put the thylacine under increased pressure.<ref name=johnson2003/>

A 2013 study suggested that, while dingoes were a contributing factor to the thylacine's demise on the mainland, larger factors were the intense human population growth, technological advances, and the abrupt change in the climate during the period.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Prowse|first1=Thomas A. A.|last2=Johnson|first2=Christopher N.|last3=Bradshaw|first3=Corey J. A.|last4=Brook|first4=Barry W.|date=March 2014|title=An ecological regime shift resulting from disrupted predator–prey interactions in Holocene Australia|url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1890/13-0746.1|journal=Ecology|volume=95|issue=3|pages=693–702|doi=10.1890/13-0746.1|pmid=24804453 |bibcode=2014Ecol...95..693P |issn=0012-9658}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Dingo wrongly blamed for extinctions|url=https://phys.org/news/2013-09-dingo-wrongly-blamed-extinctions.html |agency=University of Adelaide |date=September 9, 2013 |access-date=9 January 2021|website=phys.org}}</ref> A report published in the ''Journal of Biogeography'' detailed an investigation into the [[mitochondrial DNA]] and radio-carbon dating of thylacine bones. It concluded that the thylacine died out on mainland Australia in a relatively short time span.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/climate-not-dingoes-killed-the-thylacine-on-mainland-australia/|title=Climate killed thylacine on mainland Australia|date=27 September 2017|website=Cosmos |first1=Cheryl |last1=Jones |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025103339/https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/climate-not-dingoes-killed-the-thylacine-on-mainland-australia/ |archive-date= Oct 25, 2023 }}</ref>

Ken Mulvaney has suggested, based on the high number of rock carvings of the thylacine on the [[Burrup Peninsula]], Aboriginal Australians were aware of, and concerned about the thylacine’s dwindling numbers around that time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Salleh |first=Anna |date=2004-12-15 |title=Rock art shows attempts to save thylacine |url=https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/12/15/1265476.htm |access-date=2023-12-10 |website=ABC Science |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mulvaney |first=Ken J. |title=Thylacine: The History, Ecology and Loss of the Tasmanian Tiger |publisher=CSIRO Publishing |year=2023 |isbn=9781486315536 |editor-last=Holmes |editor-first=Branden |pages=51–54 |chapter=The relevance of rock art in understanding the thylacine's mainland extinction chronology}}</ref>

===Dying out on Tasmania===
[[File:Wilf Batty last wild Thylacine.jpg|thumb|Wilf Batty with the last thylacine that was killed in the wild; photo from 1930]]
Although the thylacine had died out on mainland Australia, it survived into the 1930s on the island of [[Tasmania]]. At the time of the first European settlement, the heaviest distributions were in the northeast, northwest and north-midland regions of the state.<ref name="AML" /> There were an estimated 5,000 at the time.{{sfn|Owen|2003|p=26}} They were rarely sighted but slowly began to be credited with numerous attacks on sheep. This led to the establishment of bounty schemes in an attempt to control their numbers. The [[Van Diemen's Land Company]] introduced bounties on the thylacine from as early as 1830, and between 1888 and 1909, the [[Government of Tasmania|Tasmanian government]] paid £1 per head for dead adult thylacines and ten [[shilling]]s for pups. In all, they paid out 2,184 bounties, but it is thought that many more thylacines were killed than were claimed for. Its extinction is popularly attributed to these relentless efforts by farmers and [[bounty hunter]]s.<ref name="tasparks" /><ref name="Jarvis">{{cite news |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/02/the-obsessive-search-for-the-tasmanian-tiger |title=The Obsessive Search for the Tasmanian Tiger Could a global icon of extinction still be alive? |first1=Brooke |last1=Jarvis |date=2 July 2018 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=30 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190315204848/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/02/the-obsessive-search-for-the-tasmanian-tiger |archive-date=15 March 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/extinction-of-thylacine | title=National Museum of Australia – Extinction of thylacine }}</ref> 

Aside from persecution, it is likely that multiple factors rapidly compounded its decline and eventual extinction, including competition with wild dogs introduced by European settlers,<ref name="Boyce">{{cite journal|author=Boyce, James|year=2006|title=Canine Revolution: The Social and Environmental Impact of the Introduction of the Dog to Tasmania|url= http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/eh/11.1/boyce.html|url-status=dead|journal=Environmental History|volume=11|issue=1|pages=102–129|doi=10.1093/envhis/11.1.102|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090918111654/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/eh/11.1/boyce.html|archive-date=18 September 2009}}</ref> erosion of its habitat, already-low genetic diversity, the concurrent extinction or decline of prey species, and a [[Canine distemper|distemper]]-like disease that affected many captive specimens at the time.<ref name="UTAS" /><ref name="P202203">[[#Paddle|Paddle (2000)]], pp. 202–203.</ref> A study from 2012 suggested that the disease was likely introduced by humans, and that it was also present in the wild population. The marsupi-carnivore disease, as it became known, dramatically reduced the lifespan of the animal and greatly increased pup mortality.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite journal|author=Paddle, R.|year=2012|title=The thylacine's last straw: Epidemic disease in a recent mammalian extinction|url=http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=201212562;res=IELAPA|journal=Australian Zoologist|volume=36|issue=1|pages=75–92|doi=10.7882/az.2012.008|access-date=15 December 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181118184903/https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=201212562;res=IELAPA|archive-date=18 November 2018|url-status=live|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[File:Thylacine-chicken.png|thumb|left|This 1921 photo by Henry Burrell of a thylacine was widely distributed and may have helped secure the animal's reputation as a poultry thief. In fact the animal was in captivity.]]
A 1921 photo by [[Henry Burrell]] of a thylacine with a chicken was widely distributed and may have helped secure the animal's reputation as a poultry thief. The image had been cropped to hide the fact that the animal was in captivity, and analysis by one researcher has concluded that this thylacine was a [[taxidermy|dead specimen]], posed for the camera. The photograph may even have involved [[photo manipulation]].<ref name="CF">{{cite journal|journal=Australian Zoologist |volume=33 |issue=1 |author=Freeman, Carol |date=June 2005 |url= http://www.carnivoreconservation.org/files/issues/thylacine_picture_worth.pdf |title=Is this picture worth a thousand words? An analysis of Henry Burrell's photograph of a thylacine with a chicken |pages=1–15 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120905080540/http://www.carnivoreconservation.org/files/issues/thylacine_picture_worth.pdf |archive-date=5 September 2012 |doi=10.7882/AZ.2005.001 }}</ref><ref>See {{Cite book |title=Paper Tiger: How Pictures Shaped the Thylacine |first1=Carol |last1=Freeman |edition=illustrated |publisher=Forty South Publishing |year=2014 |location=Hobart, Tasmania|isbn=978-0992279172 }}</ref>

The animal had become extremely rare in the wild by the late 1920s. Despite the fact that the thylacine was believed by many to be responsible for attacks on sheep, in 1928 the Tasmanian Advisory Committee for Native Fauna recommended a reserve similar to the [[Savage River National Park]] to protect any remaining thylacines, with potential sites of suitable habitat including the [[Arthur River, Tasmania|Arthur]]-[[Pieman River|Pieman]] area of western Tasmania.<ref name="CM2">{{cite web |url= http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/highlights/thylacine |title=Pelt of a thylacine shot in the Pieman River-Zeehan area of Tasmania in 1930: Charles Selby Wilson collection |publisher=National Museum of Australia, Canberra |access-date=9 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322053713/http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/highlights/thylacine |archive-date=22 March 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

By the beginning of the 20th century, the increasing rarity of thylacines led to increased demand for captive specimens by zoos around the world, placing yet more pressure on an already small population.<ref>Department of the Environment (2018). [http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=342 ''Thylacinus cynocephalus''] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180408061435/http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=342 |date=8 April 2018 }} in Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of the Environment, Canberra. Retrieved 7 April 2018.</ref> Despite the export of breeding pairs, attempts at rearing thylacines in captivity were unsuccessful, and the last thylacine outside Australia died at the [[London Zoo]] in 1931.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Penny |last1=Edmonds |first2=Hannah |last2=Stark |title=Friday essay: on the trail of the London thylacines |website=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]] |publisher=Academic Journalism Society  |date=5 April 2018 |access-date=22 August 2022 |url=https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-on-the-trail-of-the-london-thylacines-91473 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407182737/https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-on-the-trail-of-the-london-thylacines-91473 |archive-date=7 April 2018 }}</ref>

The last known thylacine to be killed in the wild was shot in 1930 by Wilf Batty, a farmer from [[Mawbanna, Tasmania|Mawbanna]] in the state's northwest. The animal, believed to have been a male, had been seen around Batty's house for several weeks.<ref name="ley196412">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Ley
 |first=Willy
 |date=December 1964
 |title=The Rarest Animals
 |department=For Your Information
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v23n02_1964-12#page/n93/mode/2up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=94–103
}}</ref><ref name="NW">{{cite web|url=http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/history/persecution/persecution_10.htm|title=History – Persecution – (page 10)|year=2006|publisher=The Thylacine Museum|access-date=27 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220092350/http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/history/persecution/persecution_10.htm|archive-date=20 December 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Alb Quarrell holding his prized thylacine kill.jpg|thumb|Alb Quarrel posing for a picture with a thylacine he had recently killed; photo from 1921]]
Work in 2012 examined the relationship of the genetic diversity of the thylacines before their extinction. The results indicated that the last of the thylacines in Tasmania had limited genetic diversity due to their complete geographic isolation from mainland Australia.<ref>
{{cite journal
  |last1=Menzies|first1=Brandon R.
  |first2=Marilyn B.|last2=Renfree
  |first3=Thomas|last3=Heider
  |first4=Frieder|last4=Mayer
  |first5=Thomas B.|last5=Hildebrandt
  |first6=Andrew J.|last6=Pask
  |title=Limited Genetic Diversity Preceded Extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger
  |journal=[[PLOS ONE]]
  |date=18 April 2012
|volume=7|number=4
  |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0035433
  |pages=e35433 |pmid=22530022 |pmc=3329426
|bibcode=2012PLoSO...735433M
  |doi-access=free
 }}</ref> Further investigations in 2017 showed evidence that this decline in genetic diversity started long before the arrival of humans in Australia, possibly starting as early as 70–120 thousand years ago.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|last1=Feigin|first1=Charles Y.|last2=Newton|first2=Alex H.|last3=Doronina|first3=Liliya|display-authors=etal|title=Genome of the Tasmanian tiger provides insights into the evolution and demography of an extinct marsupial carnivore|journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution|date=11 December 2017|doi=10.1038/s41559-017-0417-y|pmid=29230027|volume=2|issue=1|pages=182–192|doi-access=free|bibcode=2017NatEE...2..182F }}</ref>

The thylacine held the status of [[endangered species]] until the 1980s. International standards at the time stated that an animal could not be declared extinct until 50 years had passed without a confirmed record. Since no definitive proof of the thylacine's existence in the wild had been obtained for more than 50 years, it met that official criterion and was declared extinct by the [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] in 1982<ref name="IUCN">{{cite iucn | author = Burbidge, A. A. | author2 = Woinarski, J. | title = ''Thylacinus cynocephalus'' | journal = [[IUCN Red List of Threatened Species]] | volume = 2016 | page = e.T21866A21949291 | year = 2016 | url = https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/21866/21949291 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T21866A21949291.en | access-date = 16 December 2019}}</ref> and by the Tasmanian government in 1986. The species was removed from Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ([[CITES]]) in 2013.<ref name="CITES2013">{{cite web |url=http://www.cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/notif/2013/E-Notif-2013-012.pdf |title=Amendments to Appendices I and II of the Convention |date=19 April 2013 |publisher=Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora |access-date=16 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722181130/https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/notif/2013/E-Notif-2013-012.pdf |archive-date=22 July 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===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>

=== Searches and unconfirmed sightings ===
Between 1967 and 1973, zoologist [[Jeremy Griffith]] and dairy farmer James Malley conducted what is regarded as the most intensive search for thylacines ever carried out, including exhaustive surveys along Tasmania's west coast, installation of automatic camera stations, prompt investigations of claimed sightings, and in 1972 the creation of the Thylacine Expeditionary Research Team with Dr. [[Bob Brown]], which concluded without finding any evidence of the thylacine's existence.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Park, Andy|date=July 1986|title=Tasmanian tiger&nbsp;– extinct or merely elusive?|journal=Australian Geographic|volume=1|issue=3|pages=66–83}}</ref>
[[File:Thylacine sightings Tasmania.png|thumb|right|Map showing the location of reported sightings between 1936 and 1980 in Tasmania. Black = 1 reported sighting, red = 5 reported sightings.]]
The [[Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia)|Department of Conservation and Land Management]] recorded 203 reports of sightings of the thylacine in Western Australia from 1936 to 1998.<ref name="sight" /> On the mainland, sightings are most frequently reported in Southern Victoria.<ref name="smhcbd">{{cite news |url= http://www.smh.com.au/news/Tassie-Tiger/Thyla-seen-near-CBD/2003/08/18/1061059765660.html |title= Thyla seen near CBD? |newspaper= The Sydney Morning Herald |date= 18 August 2003 |access-date= 15 February 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121106083559/http://www.smh.com.au/news/Tassie-Tiger/Thyla-seen-near-CBD/2003/08/18/1061059765660.html |archive-date= 6 November 2012 |url-status= live }}</ref>

According to the [[Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment]], there have been eight unconfirmed thylacine sighting reports between 2016 and 2019, with the latest unconfirmed visual sighting on 25 February 2018.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dalton |first1=Jane |title=The last Tasmanian tiger is thought to have died more than 80 years ago. But 8 recent sightings suggest the creature may not be gone. |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/australians-report-sightings-tasmanian-tiger-once-thought-extinct-2019-10 |website=Business Insider}}</ref>

Since the disappearance and effective extinction of the thylacine, speculation and searches for a living specimen have become a topic of interest to some members of the [[cryptozoology]] subculture.<ref name="LOXTON-AND-PROTHERO">[[Daniel Loxton|Loxton, Daniel]] and [[Donald Prothero]]. ''Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids'', p. 323 & 327. [[Columbia University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-231-15321-8}}</ref> The search for the animal has been the subject of books and articles, with many reported sightings that are largely regarded as dubious.<ref name="Fuller">{{cite book |last1=Fuller |first1=Errol |title=Lost Animals: Extinction and the Photographic Record |date=2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |isbn=9781408172155 |pages=170, 178}}</ref>

A 2023 study published by [[Barry Brook (scientist)|Brook]] et al. compiles many of the alleged sightings of thylacines in Tasmania throughout the 20th century and claims that, contrary to beliefs that the thylacine went extinct in the 1930s, the Tasmanian thylacine may have actually lasted throughout the 20th century, with a window of extinction between the 1980s and the present day and the likely extinction date being between the late 1990s and early 2000s.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Brook|first1=Barry W.|last2=Sleightholme|first2=Stephen R.|last3=Campbell|first3=Cameron R.|last4=Jarić|first4=Ivan|last5=Buettel|first5=Jessie C.|date=2023|title=Resolving when (and where) the Thylacine went extinct|journal=Science of the Total Environment|volume=877|at=162878|doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162878|pmid=36934937 |bibcode= 2023ScTEn.87762878B|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Worthington|first=Jackson|date=25 January 2021|title=Tracking the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger|url=https://www.araratadvertiser.com.au/story/7098023/tracking-the-extinction-of-the-tasmanian-tiger/|access-date=26 January 2021|website=The Ararat Advertiser}}</ref>

In 1983, the American [[media mogul]] [[Ted Turner]] offered a $100,000 reward for proof of the continued existence of the thylacine.<ref name="theage">{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/Science/Extinct-or-not-the-story-wont-die/2005/03/25/1111692630378.html|title=Extinct or not, the story won't die|author=Steger, Jason|work=The Age|location=Melbourne|date=26 March 2005|access-date=22 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108204714/http://www.theage.com.au/news/Science/Extinct-or-not-the-story-wont-die/2005/03/25/1111692630378.html|archive-date=8 January 2007|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="MM">{{cite web|url=http://net.pembrokesc.vic.edu.au/home/tiger/expd5.html|title=Reward Monies Withdrawn|author=McAllister, Murray |year=2000| access-date =22 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213055235/http://net.pembrokesc.vic.edu.au/home/tiger/expd5.html |archive-date=13 December 2007}}</ref> In March 2005, Australian news magazine ''[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]]'', as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations, offered a $1.25&nbsp;million reward for the safe capture of a live thylacine. When the offer closed at the end of June 2005, no one had produced any evidence of the animal's existence. An offer of $1.75&nbsp;million has subsequently been offered by a Tasmanian tour operator, Stewart Malcolm.<ref name="smhclone">{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/Science/Clone-again/2005/05/14/1116024405941.html |title=Researchers revive plan to clone the Tassie tiger |author=Dasey, Daniel |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=15 May 2005 |access-date=22 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809163042/http://www.smh.com.au/news/Science/Clone-again/2005/05/14/1116024405941.html |archive-date=9 August 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>