| Brief Description |
This is a rare and exceptional mounted specimen of an extinct species, the Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus). This specimen was obtained by exchange by the Museum's first curator Samuel Henry Drew as reported in the 11 April 1891 edition of the Whanganui magazine, the Yeoman. “Amongst the recent additions to Mr Drew’s Museum we notice some specimens from the Colonial Museum of Tasmania that are as interesting as they are peculiar to that colony, and, no doubt, in a very few years will be extinct. The first is the large marsupial tiger... a Tasmania wombat... a native porcupine... a beaver rat... and a kangaroo rat... Anyone interested in these matters should call on Mr Drew, for the specimens are worth inspection.”
The last known Tasmanian tiger died in a Hobart Zoo in 1936. This animal was not actually a wolf or tiger, but a marsupial, closely related to kangaroos and wombats. Its Latin name, Thylacinus cynocephalus, means "pouched dog with wolf head". Its pouch is not visible in this mount.
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