“A Thylacine Painted On The Ceiling Of A Rock Shelter In Kakadu NP. They Have Been Extinct On The Mainland

The Last Thylacine: September 7, 1936

Hey everyone! This may be a little late depending on your time zone (as I’m in Los Angeles / PST, I’m behind practically everyone). Sorry about that!

Today, September 7th, 2019, marks the 83rd Anniversary of the death of the last known thylacine in the Hobart Zoo. This animal is pictured above.

There are a lot of myths and misconceptions surrounding the thylacine - and this individual in particular - so I thought I’d make a post to correct a few of these. Keep in mind that new facts and evidence do occasionally come to light, so this is of course subject to change!

MYTH #1: The last thylacine was named Benjamin.

FACT: The name “Benjamin” was allegedly given to the animal by a keeper named Frank Darby. Darby later claimed to have worked with this animal in an interview that took place in 1968. However, no record exists of Darby ever working at the Hobart Zoo, and the zoo curator’s daughter Alison Reid denied that Darby ever worked there.** [Source]

** Note: Although the nickname “Benjamin” was likely made up by Darby after the fact, it has stuck, so many thylacine enthusiasts (including me) still use it to refer to the last individual.

MYTH #2: The last thylacine was actually female.

FACT: Zoologist David Fleay, who took much of the film footage of this individual, stated in a newspaper article and diary entry that the animal was male, referring to it as a “fine male marsupial wolf.” Furthermore, in 2011, careful video analysis by Dr. Stephen Sleightholme (director of the ITSD) confirmed the presence of a scrotal sac, indicating that the last thylacine was indeed a male. [Source, Source]

MYTH #3: “Benjamin” was part of the Mullins family group.

FACT: The Mullins female was snared while her young were still in the pouch. This assertion would assume that “Benjamin” was one of the pups, grew up in captivity, and was the last surviving member of the family. However, in photos (including the one on this post), the snare mark is clearly visible on the animal’s hind leg, indicating that it was wild caught. It is more likely that “Benjamin” was snared by a man named Elias Churchill, though this is also debated. [Source]

MYTH #4: The carcass of “Benjamin” was immediately discarded after death because it was in poor condition.

FACT: The carcass was in fact sent to the Tasmanian Museum. What happened to it after that is unknown. [Source]

Thylacine family

The story of the Wolf Woman of Mobile was first published in newspapers on April 8th, 1971. This Alabama monster was reported over 50 times in one week. Witnesses claim that the top half of the creature was that of a human woman, but the bottom half was that of a wolf. Many people described the creature as “pretty and hairy”. Some believe that this creature may have been a werewolf. However, after 10 days of sightings, calls stopped and the creature was never seen again.

We still have enough time in 2019 to bring back the thylacine

Thylacine. Vintage lithograph book plate.

desert jackalopes 

An Endling is the last known member of a species or subspecies. The endling’s death means the end of the species as a whole. The word was supposedly coined by Robert Webster in the mid 1990s. The term is used, however, it still does not have an entry in The Merriam-Webster Dictionary despite Robert trying to get it into the dictionary before his death in 2004. The endling for the Thylacine was called Benjamin.

Gef the Talking Mongoose said a number of notable things in his time living at the home of the Irvings on the Isle of Man. He could speak a number of different languages according to those he spoke to, including but not limited to Welsh, Spanish, and Russian. However, even though he could speak more than English, he once claimed that the Irvings were the ones that had taught him to speak: “For years, I understood all that people said, but I could not speak until you taught me”. 

The Irving family posed many questions to Gef the Talking Mongoose to try and get his answers. Once, among all their questions, the Irvings asked Gef if he knew what death was. To which, his voice replied simply, “Yes, a changeover.”