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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2015 14:32:15 GMT 10
Hi,
is anyone aware of current thylacine searches that might be conducted?
I'm really talking about credible searches rather than an individual out there searching the back of his farm or block.
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Post by Surroundx on Apr 9, 2015 21:06:16 GMT 10
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2015 9:54:50 GMT 10
OK, thanks. That's interesting information. I've been doing a little youtube surfing and there seems to be a few adhoc type searches out there at the moment.
I see there is a link between the above researchers and CFZ?
I did come across a chap that has video (on youtube) of a long track line of what he says are tasmanian tiger prints though so I was surprised that there wasn't a bit more attention to his findings.
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Post by molloch on Apr 12, 2015 9:49:19 GMT 10
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Post by youcantry on Apr 13, 2015 12:41:55 GMT 10
Mike is certainly not the only person searching. Do a web search for Thylacine Research Unit (TRU), Tony Healy, myself and others besides whom I need to keep confidential.. assuming you mean only in Tas, too.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2015 15:47:05 GMT 10
Thanks for those names.
Yes, I only mean Tasmania - hadn't really considered further afield.
I searched the people and groups above (I don't do Facebook so I stayed away from those links).
checking out youtube I found a guy using a helicopter to get into some remote areas looked interesting.
I also see there are a couple of new thylacine documentaries planned for discovery channel based on an announcement on Tasmanian Premiers website.
All good info to feed my interest.
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Post by Surroundx on Apr 13, 2015 18:15:40 GMT 10
New Guinea would be my best bet for rediscovery. To be honest, I'm not sure why the species is considered globally extinct as such. It would be pretty hard to put forward a solid case for it being definitely extinct in NG.
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Post by youcantry on Apr 14, 2015 12:57:16 GMT 10
Also, I am not sure whether or not Col Bailey is still actively searching. I believe he may be finding it harder to get out and about these days but maybe he still has the opportunity to search via 4wd?
Then of course there is "Tracker Scout" and the Adamsfield thylacine story - again, Tracker may well still be searching.
Don't forget "Tigerman" - it seems a long time since I've heard any news from that quarter, but again he may be still actively searching.
And although not specifically targeting the thylacine there are a number of camera programs being operated by researchers and/or government departments. The Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) programs come to mind, such as the project at Cradle Mountain, using cameras to detect DFTD. Researcher Bronwyn Fancourt was using cameras in her Eastern quoll work. I would be surprised if there weren't additional researchers using cameras on projects elsewhere in the state - these are just a couple I know about. Again, not targeting the thylacine, but in with a chance.
There is a volunteer wildlife carer's magazine published out of Launceston and I know the editor sometimes uses cameras to capture various fauna. I believe there's a wombat preservation society in Tas that might also use cameras. Ditto Eastern barred bandicoot. And almost certainly farmers. Again, not thylacine-specific but still part of the trapping effort.
Nick Mooney makes a good case in the Monster Quest episode that during the great depression many people went back to the land, setting snares for wildlife. Millions of snares would have been laid and no thylacine reported - he describes it as a huge trapping effort across the species' known (now-apparently-former) range. I think an important modern day consideration is that we are not allowed to trap in National parks, nor are we allowed to bring in dogs. These are two advantages that earlier searchers had. Jeremy Griffith and James Malley used live chickens as lure - I doubt we'd be allowed to do that either.
Should make a note for the feral cat control program also. I don't know anything first hand, but believe Tracker Scout was/is employed by the government to trap feral cats. This would be another program with potential to detect thylacine.
As for New Guinea - while there is fossil material, the only witness account I am aware of comes from Irian Jaya (Indonesia - western half of the same landmass). A missionary returning to Australia brought the sighting report - when family met him in Irian Jaya they brought a book showing Australian animals for children to see. When they turned to a page on the thylacine the men remarked that it lives "over there" indicating a nearby mountain range.
A comment on this story - Tim Flannery has published a book on his searches for new mammal species in Papua New Guinea in the 1980s. He found that quite often locals would say the animal "used to be here but is no longer here but can still be found 'over there'" (my paraphrase). He would travel "over there" and get exactly the same story from the locals there. His speculation was that the locals did not really have a comprehension of extinction. They understood an animal to be gone locally and so assumed it must still be living elsewhere. The missionary's account matches this form of report.
In any case, the missionary returned home to Tasmania, told his friend Ned Terry who was a thylacine enthusiast who, in turn arranged a trip to Irian Jaya. Logistics meant that very little time was spent actually searching for the species although he spoke further with locals about the tiger. They said the reason it was not around was because the cuscus had gone and that that was a food source for the thylacine. Certainly an interesting account but I wouldn't be comfortable suggesting there is a solid case for the species' persistence in NG.. Surroundex - what do you base that suggestion on?
Ned, of course, continued to search in Tas and has published a CD interviewing several locals who had made sightings. His work was a couple decades ago though.
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Post by Surroundx on Apr 14, 2015 20:10:00 GMT 10
Certainly an interesting account but I wouldn't be comfortable suggesting there is a solid case for the species' persistence in NG.. Surroundex - what do you base that suggestion on? I never suggested that the thylacine persists in New Guinea, simply that it is the best chance of rediscovery we have. There have been too few expeditions to the area to fulfil the IUCN's criteria for evaluating the species as extinct, but that is not the same as suggesting that the species still exists there. I'm quite sure it doesn't exist anywhere, but the evidence is not good enough to say that it is definitely extinct there. As already mentioned, the IUCN's criteria are not fulfilled, and even if they were plenty of species formerly listed as globally extinct by the IUCN have been rediscovered. |
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Post by Surroundx on Apr 19, 2015 17:02:15 GMT 10
A summary of the 2013 CFZ expedition to Tasmania to search for the Thylacine was published in February: Freeman, Richard. (2015). Tasmanian Wolf at the Door. Animals & Men 52: 47-61. |
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Post by observer on Apr 20, 2015 7:08:32 GMT 10
Nice little teaser quote to finish the article off!
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Post by Surroundx on Apr 20, 2015 18:46:18 GMT 10
Nice little teaser quote to finish the article off! The book that the article quotes from is actually called The Sea Inside, if anybody is wondering why they are having trouble tracking it down. I know I did. |
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Post by Surroundx on Apr 20, 2015 19:42:01 GMT 10
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