The object in context
The preserved thylacine in the 2016 museum selection entered the collection in 1871 through Morton Allport. The dossier calls it Tassie and explains why the mount is sensitive to light and humidity. A thylacine is a marsupial: the familiar “Tasmanian tiger” name describes its stripes, not its relationship to cats. The last known captive animal died in Hobart on 7 September 1936.
Try this when you look
Compare a museum specimen with a photograph of a living animal in an authenticated source. Separate the preserved skin, the shape of the mount and the animal’s former behaviour. Ask what a mount can show reliably and what would require observations of a living population. An extinction date is not a statement about when this specimen died.
Before you visit
Use the museum’s current biodiversity information to check display and any conservation restrictions. Fragile specimens may require reduced exposure or rotation. This note describes the documented historical specimen without claiming that the present gallery always contains it.
- The object in context: The preserved thylacine in the 2016 museum selection entered the collection in 1871 through Morton Allport.
- Try this when you look: Compare a museum specimen with a photograph of a living animal in an authenticated source.
- Before you visit: Use the museum’s current biodiversity information to check display and any conservation restrictions.
