In Tasmania the thylacine was mainly found across the northwest, north and eastern half of the State, favouring to hunt in open grassland, scrub and lightly timbered areas including dry sclerophyll forest.
The thylacine stood about 60 cm tall at the shoulder and measured up to 100 to 130 cm in head to body length. The long, stiff tail measured 50 to 65 cm in length. Adults weighed 20 to 30 kg. The coat was short, coarse and sandy brown in colour. A series of chocolate brown stripes ran across the body extending down the back and increasing in width toward the rump to the start of the tail. No stripes occurred down the tail which was semi-rigid and held erect while moving. The gait was stiff, deliberate and relatively slow for an active predator. The ears were large and erect and the head tapered to a long nose. Vocalisations included a howl, cough, growl and yap. The thylacine was hunted to extinction by early European settlers, especially pastoralists, for killing livestock. Habitat destruction and increasing pastoralisation was also reducing the availability of natural range. It was officially accepted as extinct in 1936.
Source; Bryant, S. L. and Jackson, J. (1999). Tasmania’s Threatened Fauna Handbook. Threatened Species Unit, Parks and Wildlife Service, Hobart.
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