Search for the "Elusive" Tasmanian Tiger: Why People Are Still on the Hunt for Extinct Species

Lately, there has been a buzz about the existence of a certain long accepted to be extinct species. The Tasmanian tiger is no longer alive. The reports of Its long-term survival have been greatly exaggerated.

Recent Sightings

The massive marsupial creatures known scientifically as thylacines, which looked more like wild dogs than tigers, spread across Tasmania and the Australian mainland, were declared extinct in 1936. The president of the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia, Neil Waters, promised definitive photographic evidence of a surviving thylacine on Feb. 23. He reported the four images showed a family of thylacines traveling through thick brush, including a juvenile. The news sparked a frenzy of enthusiasm among wildlife enthusiasts.

Debunked

However, thylacine experts quickly disproved the photographs as a case of mistaken identity. The incident is the most recent in a long line of extravagant statements about photographic or video proof of lost or unknown animals that haven't turned out to be true. Why do these loops repeat themselves too often, often even persuading experts? According to psychology, the solution could be found in the peculiarities of the human psyche and how we interpret knowledge that is both familiar and difficult to comprehend.

Extinct Species "Sighted"

Although any of the footage turned out to be a fake, many stills and videos show actual animals - even though they aren't what they claim to be. In the jungles of Indonesian Borneo, a WWF camera trap captured video of a "mystery carnivore" - most definitely a flying squirrel - in 2005. Hairless dogs and raccoons were identified as chupacabras in Texas in 2007, 2011, and 2014.

In the same year, a kayaker captured video in an Arkansas marsh purporting to reveal an endangered ivory-billed woodpecker, sparking outrage and widespread science curiosity. The bird was finally described as a pileated woodpecker by several researchers.

It's not impossible for previously thought-to-be-extinct animals to resurface. After two Indonesian men captured and photographed a specimen of the Black-Browed Babbler, which had been missing since the 1840s, news of its rediscovery broke last month. An entomologist confirmed the existence of a small population of the Australian cloaked bee, which had been last seen in 1923, a day later.

Search for Extinct Species

That's why the idea of thylacine footage piqued the interest of eager researchers. Unlike Bigfoot or Nessie, those creatures were undeniably present, were well-documented while alive, and vanished almost entirely within living memory. Getting a snapshot of one doesn't seem to be that difficult.

Once-discovered animals have disappeared from our radar all over the globe, through ecosystems, taxa, all for a number of causes. There are animals or plants that have been missing for years or decades and are thought to be extinct. Fortunately, many collaborative projects and programs are putting in their best efforts to locate these once-thought-to-be-extinct species.

GWC

Among these groups is the GWC.

Global Wildlife Conservation has assembled a catalog of 1,200 species of animals and plants that are unknown to science, working with more than 100 scientists. GWC and its collaborators hunt for organisms in some of the world's most inaccessible areas, then collaborate to preserve them until detected.