Talk:Thylacine

Conflict with Endlings

The current section about the last captive thylacine - which says the animal was female - is confusing and appears to contradict Endling#Mammals in regard to details such as the gender of the animal, and the name of the trapper who caught it. The Endlings article quotes a 2023 review which concludes that the last Hobart zoo thylacine was male. Muzilon (talk) 00:56, 6 March 2024 (UTC) Muzilon (talk) 00:19, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

Although both articles now seem confident that the last captive thylacine was male, it might be better to say that the matter remains contested. This source, also from 2023, argues that it was female, based on the researchers’ discovery of her probable remains. Jeminids1 (talk) 16:16, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

I haven't look closely at the edit histories, but the current version of Thylacine still says the last captive specimen was female, while Endlings says it was male. So, the contradictions have not been resolved one year after I raised the issue. Muzilon (talk) 01:04, 5 May 2025 (UTC)

What is in the article now appears to be a fair summation of the uncertainty surrounding the last Thylacine's gender. Possibly the Endling#Mammals section should be revised to reflect that uncertainty. Spinifex&Sand (talk) 22:30, 19 April 2026 (UTC)

National Threatened Species Day

These two sentences are poorly worded, I am unable to tell if it means the day has been celebrated since 1996 or if it has been celebrated on the 7th of September since 1996. The source makes it clear what is correct but the sentence needs to be rewritten to be more clear. Traumnovelle (talk) 01:16, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

To remove ambiguity, I propose we change the two references within the article to: Since 1996, National Threatened Species Day has been commemorated annually in Australia on 7 September, the date on which the last known thylacine died in 1936. Spinifex&Sand (talk) 03:39, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

what enemies did it have

what enemies did it have ~2026-55595-1 (talk) 08:45, 26 January 2026 (UTC)

In Tasmania, none. On the mainland, however, the dingo arrived maybe 3,500 years ago, and seemingly made the thylacine extinct there. HiLo48 (talk) 10:26, 26 January 2026 (UTC)

Pop culture section and fringe science

There's always a bit of contention with these sections for extinct animals, but in this case it's definitely warranted. What probably isn't warranted are the various minor appearances in games, movies or cartoons that aren't very relevant to thylacines specifically, like turning up in Crash Bandicoot or its various knock-offs. I'm never sure where to draw the line, though; is The Hunter of much cultural significance with regards to the idea of late-surviving thylacines? Should coverage of Colossal's mascot be moved to the more relevant section, or scrapped altogether? Are there any major cultural uses that aren't mentioned that probably should be? Before just taking a hacksaw to a section because "I don't like it" I wanted to try and find where general opinion lies here, especially since I'm not Australian and I'm sure am missing a lot of specific cultural depictions there.

As a related question, the animal's "cryptozoological" significance abroad has exploded thanks to, presumably, American reality tv and podcasts, and some of this has now made it to news reporting or scientific works instead of just fringe books or websites. An article about a real animal shouldn't get bogged down with that, but I wanted to get a solid opinion on what to do with the notoriety within that subculture, and how to handle the shift from zoology to crypto-zoology as it was gradual. Reading up on literature from the 40s-60s it seems the species was often considered extant by authorities at the time, and Brook's 2023 paper or its sources would be a good reference to expand coverage of mid-20th century search efforts and alleged sightings. At the moment only a single short paragraph is given about the legitimate post-1936 search efforts, about equivalent to the articles coverage of mainland or 2000s sightings that are definitely more in the realm of cryptozoology. Like pop culture this is an area where I worry too much adding or removing without talking it over first would make me look like a total ass, so I wanted to ask about it here. Gasmasque (talk) 18:35, 20 May 2026 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 1 June 2026

It says: Footage of Hobar Zoo's thylacine, potentially the endling, filmed in 1935 for Tasmania the Wonderland

It should be: Footage of Hobart Zoo's thylacine, potentially the endling, filmed in 1935 for Tasmania the Wonderland

"Hobar" its a typo ~2026-32576-48 (talk) 17:31, 1 June 2026 (UTC)

 Done, thanks. DrOrinScrivello (talk) 20:36, 1 June 2026 (UTC)

This one is my doing, thanks for bringing it up here! I'll double check through the rest of that section to see if any more screwups made it through, my keyboard is unfortunately a bit broken. Gasmasque (talk) 11:35, 2 June 2026 (UTC)

Popular Culture mentions

User:Gasmasque removed some pop culture mentions which I believe are valid enough to stay. I reverted it, and as of 7/13/2026 they are there again.

This is the edit made by Gasmasque

If anyone wants to bring their own consensus, including @Gasmasque let know ! :) jan Manisijun ^{(talk-cont-sign)} 04:33, 14 July 2026 (UTC)

@JanManisijun See the previous discussion on the matter that I opened up in May, which until now saw no feedback. I explained my rationale there and welcome discussion to weed out what does and doesn't warrant mention. Gasmasque (talk) 06:12, 14 July 2026 (UTC)

@Gasmasque, sorry that I didn't notice your discussion! That looks rather silly of me.

In my opinion, the mentioning of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger and The Hunter (2011 Australian film) deserve to stay, given that the Thylacine is held in the spotlight in both of those pieces. Looking again, I am iffy about the rest of those things staying. The Valorant mention is probably the one that tetters to staying, since Valorant is a massively popular game. jan Manisijun ^{(talk-cont-sign)} 17:17, 14 July 2026 (UTC)

Popular culture sections included in larger main articles are best used, I think, for specific examples where the animal has shaped regional or international culture, or alternatively where culture has shaped the view of the animal. Thylacines have showed up in all sorts of things, but aren't a major focus in works like Extinct, Peripheral, Crash Bandicoot, Valorant, or TazMania, so I'm definitely of the opinion that including those makes it feel more like a trivia section than a section discussing cultural significance. I don't think it's ever explicitly said that the side characters in Crash Bandicoot or TazMania even are thylacines, just implied, and the sources used are low quality. A spinoff article like "Thylacines in popular culture" might be a better place to put some of the contemporary pop culture mentions if better sources can be found, if it's really felt they're needed somewhere, instead of in an article otherwise about the real animal. The Hunter (mostly the book, but the movie to some extent) has some secondary coverage that analyzes thylacine symbolism in contemporary pop culture, which is why I think it might be worth keeping if said coverage is cited. Colossal's usage of thylacines in marketing might be better covered in a section about their alleged de-extinction project than in the culture section.

All of this is obviously pretty subjective, but is why I personally felt it was fine for that whole block of text to go. After nearly two months without anyone commenting I figured I probably had free reign. Gasmasque (talk) 18:54, 14 July 2026 (UTC)

The criteria for inclusion are pretty strict per WP:Trivia and WP:In popular culture. We need to establish how these appearances have influenced wider culture and perception of the animal. FunkMonk (talk) 19:02, 14 July 2026 (UTC)

I feel as if the easiest evidence of impact could be made for Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, selling over 2 million copies of its own game franchise (Link). Not sure about the rest of them. jan Manisijun ^{(talk-cont-sign)} 21:11, 14 July 2026 (UTC)

Reviving this discussion to say that it doesn't really seem like an agreement was reached. I've found a bit of scholarly coverage talking about The Hunter (book and movie) that discusses thylacine symbolism and significance in Tasmania that could be worked with, but not much about thylacines in games or cartoons or whatnot. I may just be looking in the wrong places. I'm personally not familiar with Ty the Tasmanian Tiger or its cultural impact, but sourcing seems pretty scanty as far as relation to thylacines. @FunkMonk you've written more high-quality recent extinction articles than just about anyone else so I'd definitely want to hear your thoughts about how to organize a section like this without it coming across like trivia. Gasmasque (talk) 02:51, 6 August 2026 (UTC)

Per WP:popular culture and WP:trivia I think it's best to stick to the most significant cultural aspects and leave everything else out, based on reliability of sources, the extend to what the subject has affected or been affected by popular culture, etc. I think the closest case I've written would be dodo. I'm not sure a game were the protagonist happens to be a member of this species cuts it. FunkMonk (talk) 03:07, 6 August 2026 (UTC)