Tasmanian Tiger
The Tasmanian Tiger was one of the biggest Marsumial Predators to have lived. It was the biggest to make it to modern times. Unfortunately Man hunted it to extiction. The last Tasmanian Tiger died in captivity in the 1930s. It was thought that it was preying on grazing livestock, and later it was found that most of the killed livestock were killed by convicts. The Tasmanian Tiger is officially called a Thylacine. It is also known as the Tasmanina Wolf. It had more than one name, like Cougars are also Pumas and Mountain Lions.
It was a great example of convergent evolution because it had teeth much like a hyena's or a dogs. It looked a lot like a dog or wolf, but it was not related to either dogs or wolves. It had a tail with fused bones. So the Thylacine could not bend its tail. Because it was a marsupial the Tasmanina Tiger had a pouch. In fact BOTH sexes had a pouch. The female, like the one here in this picture, had a pouch for her 3-4 cubs or babies. The male had a pouch for protecting his genitals.
The name Tasmanina Tiger should not confuse you. It got that name because of the stripes, but it was not related to tigers at all. . . other than they are both mammals. But tigers are placental mammals and don't have a pouch.
Tasmanian Tigers lived and hunted in packs. They were extremely shy of humand. They were nocturnal so they were active at night, hence the moon and stars in the drawing.
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