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Scientists search for Thylacine in Cape York


oldrover

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  • The title was changed to Scientists search for Thylacine in Cape York

This is important and exciting! Can't wait to hear about what they find.

Just hoping that if they do find Tasmanians that they leave them alone and not try to capture them.  Keep them safe, but let them live their lives.

:cat:

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I hope they do find and then protect the species, especially since it was exterminated by humans, largely for no reason, or at least being misunderstood. Historically it had a much larger range. I am not certain of the human population of N. Queensland but from what I have heard it's a pretty inhospitable place for humans, so you never know. I know there have been recent discoveries of new plant species from there, of course that is different from large animals, but it shows it is not a completely explored area. Unfortunately, you have to have a certain amount of genetic diversity for any animals species to survive, so a mere handful of survivors does not bode will for long term viability in a species. 

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9 hours ago, MJNYC said:

Just hoping that if they do find Tasmanians that they leave them alone and not try to capture them.  Keep them safe, but let them live their lives.

If they find any Tasmanians they should round 'em up and deport them to whence they came...

Tas%20reputation.jpg

Queensland is already weird enough...

Edited by Night Walker
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I think this is unlikely to be a genuine search for  thylacine, so much as a general survey of the area's wildlife. Tagging the thylacine onto such searches isn't an unknown thing to do, about three or four years ago an expedition to New Guinea did the same thing, it was never they're real attention to find a tiger, but they used the name to frame the work they were doing.  

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12 hours ago, Sundew said:

I hope they do find and then protect the species, especially since it was exterminated by humans, largely for no reason, or at least being misunderstood. Historically it had a much larger range. I am not certain of the human population of N. Queensland but from what I have heard it's a pretty inhospitable place for humans, so you never know. I know there have been recent discoveries of new plant species from there, of course that is different from large animals, but it shows it is not a completely explored area. Unfortunately, you have to have a certain amount of genetic diversity for any animals species to survive, so a mere handful of survivors does not bode will for long term viability in a species. 

Exactly, a long relict population remaining confined in a restricted area sounds more cryptozoology than zoology. 

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You're probably right oldrover but it's still going to be an interesting search nonetheless, it seems like they're going to be using some good surveillance so I really hope they find something! It might be a lost hope but it's one animal I've always had a love for.

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7 hours ago, Cryptid_Control said:

You're probably right oldrover but it's still going to be an interesting search nonetheless, it seems like they're going to be using some good surveillance so I really hope they find something! It might be a lost hope but it's one animal I've always had a love for.

I know what you mean. Personally, I can't imagine it, but there are lot who still hope. Just yesterday I read a Q&A session with two leading researchers, one was more cautious but the other was openly refusing to use the term extinct. But then the evidence he was sighting was old and debunked, so I'm not sure what the hell was going on there. There's other private opinion from well placed people who extend the extinction date by around sixty years at least. I can't see it myself though. 

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Josh Gates did a show on this. There were some interesting pics from a trail camera on it. 

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31 minutes ago, skliss said:

Josh Gates did a show on this. There were some interesting pics from a trail camera on it. 

They were from a man called Andrew something, he's got a bit of a name I'm afraid. At one point he was phoning around Tasmanian radio stations claiming he was under death threats to keep quiet, then he appears on Expedition Unkown. The photos are also well known, none show anything unexplained.

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I meant the guy at the end of the show, if I remember right he's some kind of naturalist. They went together and picked up the trail cams so it wasn't old shopped around videos, it was brand spanking new while Josh was standing there with the guy.

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13 minutes ago, skliss said:

I meant the guy at the end of the show, if I remember right he's some kind of naturalist. They went together and picked up the trail cams so it wasn't old shopped around videos, it was brand spanking new while Josh was standing there with the guy.

You mean Michael Moss? That's a quoll that they seem to get so excited about. 

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Sorry, I just remember the find while they were going thru the field cams and that the was working currently to get evidence.

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32 minutes ago, skliss said:

Sorry, I just remember the find while they were going thru the field cams and that the was working currently to get evidence.

No worries. The trail cam part was with Michael Moss, they see a couple of animals, I think a rat and a wombat? Then they both go wild over an animal which is clearly a quoll. 

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I wish them good luck. At the very least, perhaps the cameras will provide data on local wildlife populations and health.

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42 minutes ago, DieChecker said:

I wish them good luck. At the very least, perhaps the cameras will provide data on local wildlife populations and health.

Exactly.

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Keeping the dream alive I see.  No doubt whoever finds the last of the thylacines becomes an instant celebrity and everything that goes with it.

If a handsome reward was offered for it's safe capture,  maybe more people would be looking. I would say time is of the essence, if they aren't completely extinct by now the clock is winding down fast. 

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There have been rewards offered for a thylacine since the thirties. Walt Disney offered a reward, Ted Turner of Turner Classic Movies (TCM Channel) and husband of Jane Fonda offered $100,000 back in the early 80's, and some magazine offered $1,000,000 back in the 90's. Those are a few. Back in the thirties during the depression the incentive was even more stark. Still no thylacines. You can't catch what isn't there. 

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10 hours ago, oldrover said:

You can't catch what isn't there. 

True. Yet, we are all capable of seeing what isn't there. That's the real issue, I suppose -- many subjective sightings (experiences) but the supporting objective evidence is lacking...

 

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56 minutes ago, Night Walker said:

True. Yet, we are all capable of seeing what isn't there. That's the real issue, I suppose -- many subjective sightings (experiences) but the supporting objective evidence is lacking...

 

Yeah, that's the reality. Not what any of would want, but what we're stuck with.

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Well, researchers discovered the New Guinea mountain (singing?) dog after 50 years of supposed extinction, so who knows if a small population might still exist.

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13 hours ago, oldrover said:

Yeah, that's the reality. Not what any of would want, but what we're stuck with.

It is what it is yet what it is has yet to be adequately described. How does it work? What are the mechanisms? What are the triggers? Can the experience be duplicated? Etc…

We cryptozoological hobbyists may not be on the verge of any great zoological discoveries any time soon but that doesn’t mean there are no discoveries to be had…
 

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15 minutes ago, Night Walker said:

It is what it is yet what it is has yet to be adequately described. How does it work? What are the mechanisms? What are the triggers? Can the experience be duplicated? Etc…

We cryptozoological hobbyists may not be on the verge of any great zoological discoveries any time soon but that doesn’t mean there are no discoveries to be had…
 

That's also very true. Cryptozoology is a really interesting area. Nit because of the animals it discusses so much as the way it duscusses them. And probably because there's a discussion of any sort in the first place. It's obvious that these animals don't exist, yet hundreds of people see scores of different weird and wonderful creatures aacross the world every year, and other people believe them. Why? There are probably as many reasons for that as there are cryptids. 

Main point I think is that cryptozoology has changed massively over the last 50 years or so. In the old days it was mostly dependant on a few winesses telling stories of encounters they'd had a long way off in distant parts of the world, things like tye yeti, the nandi bear etc. These days the audience and the witnesses are one and the same crowd since the popularity off home grown cryptids like bigfoot and the thylacine have steadily taken over.

People see what they read about, take the thylacine, I've read hundreds of sightings and only two have described the colour correctly. Thylacines were nothing like the colour you see in the reconstructions, yet that's what peopple report. The idea that they walked with a stiff sort of awkward gait has got into the public imagination, it's refuted by the evidence, yet still this is what people claim to have seen. Peopie are easily led and want to have a story to tell. 

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A bit late back at the reply but always have hope! If you look it up, the eastern cougar was declared extinct, but I've had the pleasure along with many others I know of seeing them in the wild. Ask a biologist and they'll refute it but it's common knowledge among hunters here that there's still a decent population hiding out there. Though that does make me wonder why they put research into thylacine which has a rocky history, as opposed to things like the eastern cougar, maybe we could prevent their eventual true extinction.

But over all, having first hand experience finding an "extinct" animal gives me that extra push to believe there may still be something out there.

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3 hours ago, Cryptid_Control said:

A bit late back at the reply but always have hope! If you look it up, the eastern cougar was declared extinct, but I've had the pleasure along with many others I know of seeing them in the wild. Ask a biologist and they'll refute it but it's common knowledge among hunters here that there's still a decent population hiding out there. Though that does make me wonder why they put research into thylacine which has a rocky history, as opposed to things like the eastern cougar, maybe we could prevent their eventual true extinction.

But over all, having first hand experience finding an "extinct" animal gives me that extra push to believe there may still be something out there.

The status eastern cougar as I understand it is considered 'data deficient' in Canada, as opposed to extinct in the eastern U.S. In any event, there are definitely pumas living in the Americas today. Here in Wales we also have a similar situation with the pine marten, smallish animal, but then a very small area to hide. Every thirty or forty years we get a specimen turning up stuck to the tarmac. It's very strange.

Thylacines are a different matter, there's no known population anywhere, the last being between about 70-80 years ago. Plus, what a lot of people overlook or aren't aware of is the circumstances under which that population disappeared. It's not just that they got scarce and then seemed to disappear, they went in a particularly suggestive pattern. There were a few desperate attempts made by people who knew the species to try and save it, all to no avail. 

I'm not sure what the idea is behind the James Cook team, and their bringing the thylacine into their search, but it seems very unlikely that it's actually to do with the tiger. The sightings they've referred to are very old, and very poor quality. I don't get it. 

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