Research challenges previously held ideas about thylacine

Posted Mon 31 Aug 2026 at 7:03pmMon 31 Aug 2026 at 7:03pmVera Weisbecker says the thylacine was a unique animal. (Supplied: Flinders University)In short:Researchers from Flinders University and the University of Melbourne have analysed thylacine skull structureThey found their long, deep jaw would have been able to subdue small prey with powerful snapping bites.The study also found the thylacine was unique.A new Australian study has shed light on how the thylacine subdued its prey and what kinds of animals it likely ate, further undermining a key reason that led to its extinction. The study from Flinders University and the University of Melbourne analysed thylacine skulls.Researchers found the combination of an oversized skull, long and tall upper jaw and mace-like widened snout meant the thylacine — also known as the Tasmanian tiger — had a "bite unlike any other living meat-eating mammal".They concluded the thylacine's biting behaviour enabled it to use "high-impact snapping" to catch small-to-medium prey, such as bandicoots, as opposed to larger animals, such as sheep.A digital reconstruction of a CT-scanned thylacine skull from the study, which shows the canine teeth coloured pink. (Supplied: Vera Weisbecker)Professor Vera Weisbecker, from the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University, said their work shed new light on how the thylacine subdued its prey."The main novelty of our work really is that you can't really compare the thylacine to any of the animals that it's been compared to before … it's a very unique thing," Dr Weisbecker said.The thylacine survived in Tasmania through to the 1900s but was targeted by farmers after being blamed for killing sheep and other livestock.This led to a government bounty for thylacines, which accelerated its decline.The last thylacine in captivity, at Beaumaris Zoo Hobart in 1933. (Supplied: David Fleay)A study in 2011 revealed that due to thylacines' weak jaws, it was unlikely they could kill and eat sheep.Dr Weisbecker said their research also found the thylacine was unique."As the thylacine went extinct, largely because people thought it was a wolf-like predator of sheep, it was definitely a dangerous predator to some animals, but it hunted animals in a way that no other mammal that is alive today probably hunted," she said."When the thylacine was sent extinct, we lost an animal that really was unique to the entire planet."The thylacine's scientific name is Thylacinus cynocephalus. Cynocephalus means "dog head".But Dr Weisbecker said thylacines were more closely related to kangaroos than to dogs."People often think of it as a dog-like animal, but it's actually a marsupial mammal — just like kangaroos and koalas — and also it's reasonably closely related to the Tasmanian devil," she said.