Where does the marsupial wolf live? The Tasmanian wolf is Australia's mysterious predator. Description and appearance

The marsupial, also known as the Tasmanian wolf or thylacine, was the only representative of marsupial wolves. On this moment these mammalian animals became completely extinct.

It should be noted, that the thylacines were indirectly related to the wolf family, because their ancestors disappeared during the period from the Oligocene to the Miocene.

Description of the Tasmanian wolf

The very first written mentions of the existence of this species of wolves were recorded back in 1808. This was done by a man named Harrison., who was not only a naturalist researcher, but also a member of the Linnean Society of London. The scientist designated the generic name as Thulacinus, the translation of which means “marsupial dog,” and the specific name of the Tasmanian wolf is translated as dog-headed.

In fact, external characteristics The Tasmanian tiger, as it is also called, was more like the description of a dog. The body of the beast was slightly elongated, and its limbs were digitigrade. Before their extermination, these animals were the most major representatives marsupials Scientists note that the similarity between thylacines and wolves is only a consequence of convergent evolution. This means that, that animals acquired similar characteristics not because they are relatives (in fact, this is not the case), but only due to the fact that they lived in the same area, and therefore their modification in the process of adaptation and evolution it was similar.

The only relative among predatory marsupials for thylacines were Tasmanian devils, but they were not similar in appearance, because marsupial wolves are much larger in size and have a completely different body shape.

It was quite a large animal, whose body length reached just under one and a half meters, and taking into account the tail and all two. At the withers, the height of the animal varied from fifty to sixty centimeters. The weight of the animal could range from twenty to twenty-five kilograms.

Another difference between thylacines and wolves was that their skull shape was exclusively canine. The number of incisors also varied: in representatives of the wolf family their number reaches six, and in Tasmanian wolves all eight were observed.

The color of these animals deserves special attention . Their fur was quite thick, but short, and on their gray-yellow back with a brown undercoat there were about two dozen dark stripes. They were located along the length of the animal from the shoulders to the tail. The belly was distinguished by a much lighter shade than the back, and the muzzle of the animal had gray with spots around the eyes, and the ears are small and erect.

It is interesting that the mouth of these animals can open one hundred and twenty degrees, and when the animal yawns or growls, the jaws form an almost straight line, which is uncharacteristic of other animals.

Tasmanian marsupial wolves have a slightly springy gait due to their curved hind legs, which, oddly enough, resemble the structure of the paws of a kangaroo. Thanks to them, low jumps are also possible.

The pouch on the belly of the animal, which distinguishes it from all other predators, was formed as a result of evolution by a fold that tends to open backwards and also hides several pairs of nipples.

History of the study

The first people The people who discovered and tried to establish contact with thylacines were the indigenous people of Australia. This happened a little later than the thousandth year BC. These facts are confirmed by scientists, because rock paintings in which this animal appears were found in ancient caves.

Marsupial wolves got their name in honor of their habitat, namely Tasmania. The population of Tasmanian wolves has decreased markedly since ancient times. In Europe, they learned about the existence of this beast thanks to the work of Abel Janszon Tasman, the great navigator. He received a message from his guards that traces of a hitherto unknown animal had been spotted on land. They looked like tiger-like ones and seriously frightened those who arrived. This happened in 1642.

The animal was never found, and only some time later, in 1772, Marc-Joseph Marion-Dufresne stated that he had observed a “tiger cat” running through the thickets. He failed to describe the animal in detail, but already in 1792 a naturalist whose name was Jacques Labilladiere took up this task. This description was also a little vague and was not taken into account by the scientific world.

Another attempt to get the ball rolling a little The study of the Tasmanian wolf was undertaken by William Paterson, who at that time was the governor of what is now Tasmania. His description was compiled with a view to publishing his writings in the Sydney Gazette in 1805.

The officially recognized characteristics of the thylacine were compiled by George Harrison, who was a member of the Tasmanian Society. In his documents there are quite a few interesting description, which characterizes the wolf as “a possum with the head of a dog.”

For these predators, a special genus was even allocated in the mammal classification system, to which they were assigned already in 1810. This decision was accepted because like none marsupial mammal does not resemble the thylacine and is not related to it.

Habitat

Believed to be the home of the Tasmanian tiger- Australia and part of New Guinea. Scientists are of the opinion that about three thousand years ago Tasmanian raptors were driven out of their range by stronger and more numerous wild dingoes, which, in turn, were brought to this territory with the help of Aboriginal settlers.

Tasmanian tigers ate the following animals:

• echidnas
• lizards
• birds

After that historical sources claim that Tasmanian wolves were found exclusively in Tasmania, where there were no dogs. After relocation The wolf population began to grow, however, this process quickly stopped as people began to actively exterminate the animals, believing that they pose a huge danger to the sheep bred in the settlements.

Thylacines ravaged poultry houses, which is why they often became victims of hunters, and also often fell into traps placed throughout their habitat. The population feared not only for their livestock, but also for their own lives, because of the ferocity, savagery, mercilessness and incredible strength Tasmanian wolves have incredible legends.

The beginning of mass extermination

Absolutely uncontrolled shooting and the active extermination of these predators led to the fact that Tasmanian wolves could now be found only in the most impenetrable parts of the forest and in high mountain ranges. But the situation took an even more deplorable and terrible turn when the active spread and infection of canine distemper began through dogs brought to the mainland. The thylacine population has become even smaller.

Soon it was developed Tasmania's conservation program, and there was a ban on hunting most animals, however, marsupial wolves were not included in this list. Therefore, their destruction continued for several years, and finally the last representative of these unique marsupial predators was killed. A tragic event occurred on May thirteenth, 1930. And the last thylacine kept in captivity died of old age in a zoo in 1936.

A ban on hunting these animals was introduced two years later, when it was already too late. Scientists believe that due to their rather unusual jaw structure, it was not typical for wolves to eat sheep, and therefore, all the claims made against them, which served as the beginning of the extermination, were false.

Undoubtedly, there was no mass shooting the only reason, which contributed to the extinction of marsupial wolves. The fact is that low genetic diversity also played a role in their extinction. Also worth noting what's not in natural environment habitat, wolves did not breed.

Attempts to restore the population

Scientists hope that marsupial wolves were still able to survive in the completely impenetrable forests of Tasmania, but, naturally, there were very few of them left. These hopes and rumors are not supported by anything, however, attempts to catch such a predator still do not stop.

Desperate researchers decided to solve this issue on their own, and began creating a clone marsupial wolf. For this purpose, DNA fragments were used that were preserved from predator puppies, preserved in alcohol and located in the Australian museum. Unfortunately, the project did not last long, because although the DNA was extracted, it turned out to be damaged and completely unsuitable for work.

After the project was closed in 2005, attempts There was no attempt to do anything to restore the population, however, three years later, researchers managed to make the gene of this animal, extracted from its puppy, which had been preserved in alcohol for hundreds of years, function in a mouse embryo.

Thus, research in this area was carried out in the following years:

But despite all efforts researchers and the creation of new projects and works, at the moment marsupial wolves are considered completely exterminated.

Before the arrival of settlers, the marsupial wolf lived not only on the mainland, but also on nearby islands: Tasmania and New Guinea.

The natural habitat of wolves was open plains and not very dense forests, but the Europeans who arrived in Australia forced the animals to move to rainforests and climb the mountains. There they settled in burrows, hollows of fallen trees and caves.

Thylacinus kinocephalus, which translated means “striped dog with a wolf’s head.” This is what the amateur naturalist Harris named the marsupial wolf when he published data about this animal in 1808.

Apparently, the Tasmanian wolf received this name because of its resemblance to a dog, the structural features of the skull and the dark transverse stripes decorating the back and hind legs of the animal. The body, covered with thick grayish-yellow hair, had a length including the tail of about 180 centimeters, the height of the animal at the shoulders was 60 centimeters, and the weight of the wolf ranged from 20-25 kilograms.

The elongated mouth made it possible for the thylacine to open it 120 degrees, and the long hind legs made it possible to assume a vertical position and give the gait a jumping character.

The female thylacine fattened her tiny babies in a pouch where they remained for three months. The mother left the grown wolf cubs in the shelter and went off in search of prey. After the hunt, the she-wolf taught the cubs how to handle the prey.

Wolves led a solitary lifestyle, and hunted in pairs or small groups for small marsupials, lizards and birds, exhausting their prey with a grueling long chase. Occasionally, the animals feasted on the colonists' domestic animals, which aroused the hostility of the settlers. Trying to get rid of wolves, people scattered poisoned meat, but these wolves never ate half-eaten prey, so it was not possible to exterminate them in this way.

The mass extermination of the thylacine began when Australian farmers unjustly took up arms against the wolf, although the sheep were not hunted by marsupial wolves, but by wild dingoes and feral domestic dogs brought by the colonists. As a result, the wolves remained on the island of Tasmania, where they simply could not be reached. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the number of these animals decreased sharply due to an epidemic of canine distemper. In 1928, the Tasmanian Animal Protection Act was passed, but the Tasmanian wolf was not protected and the species disappeared forever. In 1930, one of the marsupial wolves was killed by a “valiant” hunter, and in 1936, the last representative of the species died in the zoo from old age.

With the development of genetic engineering, there were attempts to clone the thylacine using genetic material taken from a marsupial wolf cub preserved in alcohol from the Sydney Museum and successfully transplanted into a mouse embryo. However, it has not yet been possible to clone the animal itself.

Marsupial or Tasmanian wolf, or thylacine(lat. Thylacinus cynocephalus) - an extinct marsupial mammal, the only one that survived to historical era representative of the family of marsupial wolves. Its description was first published in the proceedings of the Linnean Society of London in 1808 by the amateur naturalist Harris. Generic name Thylacinus means “marsupial dog” - from ancient Greek. θύλᾰκος "bag" and κύων "dog", specific cynocephalus- from κῠνοκέφᾰλος "dog-headed"

Opening

By the time the first explorers arrived in Australia, these animals were already scarce in Tasmania. Europeans may have first encountered the marsupial wolf in 1642, when Abel Tasman arrived in Tasmania. Members of the expedition who landed on shore reported finding traces of “wild animals with claws like a tiger.” Marc-Joseph Marion-Dufresne reported seeing a "tiger cat" in 1772. But this information does not allow us to unambiguously determine which animal we are talking about. The first officially recorded meeting of a representative of the species by French explorers occurred on May 13, 1792, as noted by naturalist Jacques Labillardiere in his journal of the expedition led by d'Entrecasteaux. However, it was not until 1805 that William Paterson, Lieutenant Governor of northern Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania), sent a detailed description for publication in Sydney Gazette .

First detailed scientific description was made by the representative of the Tasmanian Society, Surveyor George Harris in 1808. Harris first placed the marsupial wolf in the genus Didelphis which was created by Linnaeus for the American opossum, describing it as Didelphis cynocephala- "possum with the head of a dog." The idea that Australian marsupials are significantly different from famous genera mammals, led to the emergence modern system classification, and in 1796 the genus was identified Dasyurus, to which the marsupial wolf was classified in 1810. To resolve the confusion of Greek and Latin specification, the variety name was changed to cynocephalus. Common name comes directly from the family name, originally from the Greek θύλακος (thýlakos) meaning "pouch" or "bag".

Spreading

Possible habitat on the island. Tasmania

Unlike, for example, the undoubtedly exterminated Falkland fox, the marsupial wolf may have survived in the deep forests of Tasmania. Over the following years, cases of encounters with the animal were recorded, but none of them received reliable confirmation. There are no known cases of a marsupial wolf being captured, and attempts to find it have not been successful. In March 2005, Australian magazine The Bulletin offered a AU$1.25 million ($950,000) reward to anyone who catches a live marsupial wolf, but the reward has yet to be claimed. Another yet unconfirmed case occurred in September 2016, when a certain animal (presumably a marsupial wolf) was caught on a road video camera.

In March 2017, there were press reports that animals similar to the marsupial wolf were captured on camera traps in Cape York Park; photographs were not released to the public, citing the need to keep the animal's habitat secret.

Appearance

The marsupial wolf was the largest of the predatory marsupials. The similarity of its appearance and habits with wolves is an example of convergent evolution, and it differed sharply from its closest relatives, the predatory marsupials, in both size and body shape.

The length of the marsupial wolf reached 100-130 cm, including the tail 150-180 cm; shoulder height - 60 cm, weight - 20-25 kg. Outwardly, the marsupial wolf resembled a dog - its body was elongated, its limbs were digitigrade. The marsupial wolf's skull also resembled that of a dog and could be larger in size than the skull of an adult dingo. However, the tail, thick at the base and thin at the end, and bent hind legs were reminiscent of marsupial origin this predator. The marsupial wolf's hair is short, thick and coarse, with a gray-yellow-brown back covered with 13-19 dark brown transverse stripes running from the shoulders to the base of the tail, and with a lighter belly. The muzzle is gray, with blurry white markings around the eyes. Ears are short, rounded, erect.

The elongated mouth could open very wide, 120 degrees: when the animal yawned, its jaws formed an almost straight line. The curved hind legs made possible a specific galloping gait and even jumping on the toes, similar to the jumping of a kangaroo. The marsupial's pouch, like that of the Tasmanian devil, was formed by a fold of skin that opened backwards and covered two pairs of nipples.

Lifestyle and diet

Marsupial wolves at the New York Zoo, 1902

Originally an inhabitant of sparse forests and grassy plains, the marsupial wolf was driven out by humans into rain forests and into the mountains, where his usual shelter was holes under tree roots, hollows of fallen trees and rocky caves. He was nocturnal, but was sometimes seen basking in the sun. The lifestyle was solitary, sometimes couples or small family groups gathered for hunting.

The marsupial wolf fed on medium and large terrestrial vertebrates - wallabies, small marsupials, echidnas, birds and lizards. After sheep and poultry were brought to Tasmania, they also became prey for the marsupial wolf. Often ate animals caught in traps; therefore, he himself was successfully caught in traps. According to different versions, the marsupial wolf either lay in wait for prey in ambush, or leisurely pursued prey, bringing it to exhaustion. The marsupial wolf never returned to half-eaten prey, which was used more small predators, like marsupial martens. The voice of a marsupial wolf on the hunt resembled a coughing bark, dull, guttural and piercing.

Marsupial wolves never attacked humans and usually avoided meeting them. Adult marsupial wolves were poorly tamed; but the young lived well in captivity if they were given, in addition to meat, live prey.

Reproduction

The females had a pouch on their belly, formed by a fold of skin, in which the cubs were born and raised. The bag opened back between the hind legs, preventing leaves from getting inside tall grass and sharp stems through which the animal had to run. The marsupial wolf did not have a specific breeding season, but apparently was confined to December, since most cubs were born in December-March. The pregnancy was short - only 35 days, after which two to four underdeveloped cubs were born, which after 2.5-3 months left the mother's pouch, although they remained with her until the age of nine months. In captivity, marsupial wolves did not reproduce. Life expectancy in captivity was more than eight years.

Cloning

Gallery

Notes

1. Sokolov V. E. Five-language dictionary of animal names. Mammals. Latin, Russian, English, German, French. / under the general editorship of academician. V. E. Sokolova. - M.: Rus. lang., 1984. - P. 17. - 10,000 copies.
2. Anna Salleh. Rock art shows attempts to save thylacine (undefined) . ABC Science Online (December 15, 2004). Retrieved November 21, 2006. Archived August 26, 2011.
3. Rembrants. D. (1682). “A short relation out of the journal of Captain Abel Jansen Tasman, upon the discovery of the South Terra incognita; not long since published in the Low Dutch". Philosophical Collections of the Royal Society of London, (6), 179-86. Quoted in Paddle (2000) p.3
4. Roth H.L. (1891). "Crozet's Voyage to Tasmania, New Zealand, etc....1771-1772." London. Truslove and Shirley. Quoted in Paddle (2000) p.3

The Tasmanian wolf, also called the thylacine or marsupial tiger, is one of the most mysterious animals to ever live on our planet. Three and a half centuries ago, a Dutch navigator discovered big Island, which later received the name of its discoverer. The sailors sent from the ship to explore this piece of land talked about footprints they saw that looked like tiger paw prints. Thus, in the middle of the seventeenth century, the mystery of marsupial tigers was born, rumors about which persisted over the next several centuries. Then, when Tasmania was already sufficiently populated by settlers from Europe, eyewitness accounts began to appear.

The first more or less reliable report about the marsupial wolf was published in one of the English scientific publications in 1871. The famous naturalist and naturalist D. Sharp studied local birds in one of the river valleys of Queensland. One evening he noticed a sand-colored animal with clearly visible stripes. Unusual looking the beast managed to disappear before the naturalist could do anything. Sharpe later learned that a similar animal had been killed nearby. He immediately went to this place and carefully examined the skin. Its length was one and a half meters. Unfortunately, it was not possible to preserve this skin for science.

The Tasmanian wolf (the photo confirms this) has, in some respects, a certain similarity with representatives of the canine family, for which it received its name. Before the appearance of white settlers on the Australian continent, who brought with them their beloved sheep, the thylacine hunted small rodents, wallabies, marsupial opossums, badgers-bandicoots and other exotic animals then known only to local aborigines. Most likely, the Tasmanian wolf preferred not to pursue game, but to use ambush tactics, lying in wait for prey in a secluded place. Unfortunately, today science has too little information about the life of this predator in wildlife.

Forty years ago, based on numerous expert reports, scientists announced the irretrievable disappearance of this animal. Indeed, one of the last representatives of the species was a Tasmanian who died of old age in 1936 at the zoo in Hobart, the administrative center of the island of Tasmania. But in the forties, several fairly reliable evidence of encounters with this predator was recorded. Consequently, it still continued to exist in its natural habitat.

True, after this documented evidence, this animal could only be seen in photographs. But even less than a hundred years ago, the Tasmanian wolf was so common that visiting farmers were obsessed with genuine hatred of the thylacine, which gained among them the bad reputation of a sheep thief. There was even a considerable prize placed on his head. Over the last twenty years of the century before last, the authorities paid 2,268 such rewards. Thus, the thirst for easy money gave rise to a wave of real hunting for the thylacine. It soon turned out that such zeal led to the almost complete extermination of this predator. Already at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Tasmanian wolf was endangered. The law on his protection came into force only when, in all likelihood, there was no one left to protect...

But, apparently, the marsupial wolf still did not suffer the fate of the tarpan, and in 1985, amateur naturalist Kevin Cameron from the town of Girraween, Western Australia, suddenly presented to the world community quite convincing evidence that the thylacine continues to exist. Around the same time, evidence of occasional fleeting encounters with this beast in New South Wales began to appear.

Eyewitnesses noted a strange wagging with the tossing of the back of the body, which, according to experts who studied the skeletons of representatives of this species, is quite consistent with the morphological and anatomical structure marsupial wolf. Moreover, of all Australian animals, only he is characterized by similar features. So isn’t it time to exclude the Tasmanian marsupial wolf from the “martyrology” of the animal world and once again add it to the list of living, albeit not thriving, contemporaries?

Means “entrance to the lakes” - in this place an extensive network of rivers and lakes flows into the ocean, creating ideal conditions for fishing.

Indeed, at the pier in Lakes Entrance there were many fishing trawlers, which immediately sold fresh fish and shrimp. Almost all vacationers in this place in Victoria could see a boat; many hotels have corners with tables for cutting fish.

Well, where there are fish, there are pelicans.

And the fishermen, accordingly...

In general, apart from fish and a couple of beaches, there is nothing special to see in Lakes Entrance, except for the private maritime museum Griffiths Sea Shell Museum, where you could find just tons various types shells, preserved and dried fish and other sea creatures.

Not far from Lakes Entrance are the Buchan Caves.

Well, after visiting the caves, it was nice to have a glass of local beer at the Bullant Brewery.

We were already in Canberra in 2008, stopping for a couple of days on our way to Sydney. Then we saw that there are many places in the city that can be visited in a few days.

Before leaving Canberra we visited the Australian Parliament building. There were several police officers at the entrance who let visitors through a frame, like at airports. After walking through the halls and offices, visiting green roof, we moved on...

Consulting group the Economist Intelligence Unit has published its list of the world's best cities, with Melbourne topping it for the second year in a row.

The top ten cities look like this:

Great Ocean Road

We took a trip to the Great Ocean Road last December and just added everything from that trip yesterday.

You can drive the entire road in one day if you leave early in the morning, don’t stop everywhere, and return directly along the highway. To take our time with sightseeing, we stayed for a couple of nights right in the center of the road, in the town of Port Campbell (Summer's Rest Units).

On the first day it was cloudy, so we had to wear jackets, but on the second day the sun came out and it became much more fun.

A few attractions we visited:

Despite s18(1) of the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), I agree and acknowledge that any message Vodafone sends me will not contain an unsubscribe facility. I understand that I can, at any time, opt out of receiving marketing material by contacting Vodafone Customer Care.

In general, Australian laws do not have to be followed, the main thing is to communicate this in small print.

She received the surname Macpherson from her stepfather Neil Macpherson.

Thanks to your perfect proportions body (90-61-89), at the age of 18, Elle signs her first contract with the famous modeling agency Click Model Management.

In 1985, Elle decides to marry a photographer and creative director. Elle magazine Gilles Bensimon, who was 20 years older than Macpherson. Thanks to her marriage, Elle appeared in every issue of Elle magazine for six years.

In 1986, Elle made the cover of Time magazine. By that time, she had already been on the covers of magazines such as Cosmopolitan, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and Playboy. Elle also appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated six times during her career.

In 1989, MacPherson and Bensimon divorced, and along with her husband, Elle lost her largest employer, Elle magazine. This period in the girl’s career and life is difficult, but Elle pulls herself together and decides to move on.

Elle Macpherson in the movie "On the Edge"

In 1990, the first film starring famous model- "Alice", directed by Woody Allen. Then she plays in several films: “Sirens” (with Hugh Grant), “Batman and Robin” (with George Clooney), “On the Edge” (with Anthony Hopkins) and others.

Also in 1990, Macpherson launched her lingerie line, Elle Macpherson Intimates, which is sold exclusively in Australia.

In 1995, together with her supermodel friends, Elle opened the Fashion Café restaurant chain, which did not become profitable and was closed in 1998.

In 1999, Elle Macpherson starred in five episodes of the popular TV series Friends.

In 2003, Elle was engaged to French financier Arpad Busson, with whom she had two sons, Flynn in 1998 and Cy in 2003.

In 2005, the couple broke up, and today Elle and her children live in London.

Smile!

I read in the local newspaper today about what to do when traveling, and I saw this advice:

Smile. Always smile.

It"ll get you places you wouldn"t believe. From persuading Parisian waiters to speak English to figuring out where the hell you"re supposed to be sitting on that train, a little smile and a good attitude will get you help in no time. NB: There"s an exception to this rule – it "s called Russia. (They"ll think you"re mad.)

In translation:

Smile! Always smile.

This will open up so many new opportunities for you that you never dreamed of. For example, a waiter from Paris suddenly speaks English, or you finally find that fucking seat on the train - just smile a little and act accordingly.

One exception to this rule is Russia. They'll think you're crazy.