Did you know Australia has tigers? Well - had - sadly, they’re all but extinct,
although some people maintain a bizarre conspiracy that they’re still roaming around in Australia’s
interior. And when I say tigers, what I really mean
is striped marsupials - that kind of resemble more of a wolf-like creature than anything
else. And when I say Tasmanian … oh wait - no. That bit’s correct, sorry I was on a roll
there. But you get the picture, right? Believe it or not - for thousands of years,
the indigenous people of Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania - lived side by side with perhaps
one of the most awesome creatures that evolution has managed to spit out. Part kangaroo, part wolf - part tiger - part
bizarre amalgamation of all three - the Tasmanian Tiger is one of the coolest character creations
in history. So let’s see what life would be like if
they weren’t sadly driven to extinction. Hello internet - and welcome back to the most
inquisitive channel on YouTube - Life’s Biggest Questions. As per usual, I’ll be your disembodied floating
voice Jack Finch - as today, we strap on our Blundstone’s - head out into the outback,
and curiously ask the question - What If The Tasmanian Tiger Didn’t Go Extinct? Roll the clip. It’s strange, isn’t it? How could an established, scientifically credited
species go from being a verified ancestral, Australian creature - to being regarded in
modern times as a cryptid, and find itself amongst the ranks of Bigfoot, the Yeti and
the Jersey Devil? That’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? Usually, and sadly - more often than not - when
humanity drives a species to extinction, we later mourn them in passing like a bumbling
Lenny with his puppies in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Although, strangely enough - the similar circumstance
of the Tasmanian Tiger has in fact happened before. The Beast of Bodmin Moor - was a giant panther-like
cat that supposedly prowled the coastal areas of Cornwall, England during the late 1970s
- with the majority of reported sightings including evidence of mutilated slain livestock
- as well as alleged photographic evidence of the giant feline. These sightings became so widespread that
the UK government were forced to conduct an official investigation, despite the fact that
the English coastal climate and food supply would make it nigh impossible for a creature
of that size to survive. It happened again though - this time with
the Beast of Buchan in Aberdeenshire, Scotland - a rumour which emerged as early as the 1930s
- although it reached its peak again throughout the 1970s. And this trend isn’t just exclusive to the
United Kingdom, because across the planet sightings of creatures that just don’t belong
in a given, specific climate are more commonplace than you can shake a stick at - baffling locals
and leaving farmers scratching their heads, questioning why a rhino is drinking from their
pigs troff. Well, not that - but you get the picture. But the Tasmanian Tiger is different. Because this guy DOES belong in his given
habitat - and yet still, as recently as 2017 - the Tasmanian Tiger is still being purportedly
sighted in the Australian mainland. But let’s scale it back a bit - and give
ourselves a timeline of our stripy, marsupial friend. The Tasmanian Tiger, more commonly known as
the thylacine - was the largest ever known carnivorous marsupial mammal - which evolved
around 4 million years ago until it’s tragic extinction in 1936. The last ever known confirmed live thylacine
in captivity was in 1933 in its native Tasmania, and it’s extinction is contributed to the
rapid expansion of modern Australia alongside the illegal and systematic poaching of the
relatively shy and nocturnal creature. Despite that though, the Tasmanian Tiger was
an incredibly formidable and adaptable apex predator, and ancestrally dominated the Australian
mainland all the way up to the mid 1600’s, before being exclusively found in the surrounding
Tasmania and New Guinea islands up until its extinction. Numerous examples of Aboriginal rock art of
the thylacine have been found across Australia, dating back to at least 1000 BC - and were
an intrinsic part of Aboriginal ecology. WERE - sadly - being the key word. But then, in 1973 - two Australians, Gary
and Liz Doyle, shot ten seconds of 8 mm film which allegedly showed an unidentified animal
running alongside a South Australian road. Then again in 1982, a researcher named Hans
Naarding of the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service observed what he believed to be a
thylacine for three minutes during the night, at a site near Arthur River in Northwestern
Tasmania. This sighting was so prolific, and reported
by a highly accredited individual - that it led to an extensive year-long government funded
search for the creature. Again - I’m going to say again a lot - in
1985, an Aboriginal tracker named Kevin Cameron produced five clear photographs which appeared
to show a digging thylacine which he took in Western Australia. In January of 1995 - a Parks and Wildlife
officer reported a clear sighting of a thylacine in the Pyengana region of North East Tasmania
during the early hours of the morning. In 1997 - locals of a village near Mount Carstensz
in Western New Guinea claimed that they’d seen the thylacine on so many separate occasions
that they had no idea it was still extinct. Much later, following two detailed historical
sightings in 1983 in the remote Cape York Peninsula of Mainland Australia, scientists
led by Bill Laurance announced in 2017 that they were conducting extensive research surveys
utilizing camera trap technology to track down the elusive thylacine. This is important - because this guy, Bill
Laurance, is a highly distinguished research professor of James Cook University in Australia
- and the fact that even he isn’t entirely convinced of the Tasmanian Tiger’s extinction
isn’t just food for thought - it’s a twelve course tasting menu. In fact, the Island of Tasmania is still so
convinced that the thylacine is alive that they issued out Thylacine Response Kits to
locals, to keep in their car in case they find clear, startling evidence of the creature. Tasmania is a big, dense area - filled with
brutally thick bushlands and deep forest - and it’s a lot of needles in a lot of haystacks. Combined with the fact that Tasmania’s next
apex predator, the Tasmanian Devil - is the perfect evidence destroying creature, as in
- it literally eats everything and anything that it kills - the search for the thylacine
may be one that is never fully explored. Perhaps we’ll never know. Perhaps the Tasmanian Tiger has adapted to
be such an elusive creature that it’s very survival has depended on its ability to avoid
humanity. Or perhaps the evidence has been there all
along - the last Tasmanian Tiger died in captivity in 1936, but when hearing the news - the mayor
of Hobart issued an order to capture another thylacine for display at the zoo. Yet, little did he realise and to his surprise
- there were none left to capture. Well folks, what do you think? Why don’t you let us know your thoughts
in the comment section down below. Unfortunately, that’s all we’ve got time
for in today’s video - but before we depart, let’s read out some of your more creative
comments from over the past few days. First up, First Name Last Name says -- What
If I actually made an actual creative comment? -- Hm, well First Name Last Name - that’s
actually a pretty creative comment. So actually. Good job. Next up, Spirit Thief says -- Which do you
prefer, PC Gaming or Console Gaming? -- Well, Spirit Thief, we know that there’s
only one true answer to that question, and only one device capable of truly crushing
your opponents. PC. Of course. But hey, consoles are fun if you’re into
that kind of thing. On that note questioneers - I better get out
of here before the flame war begins. Cheers for sticking around all the way until
the end. If you were a fan of this video, make sure
to hit that thumbs up button - as well as that subscribe bell - and I’ll be seeing
you in the next one. As per usual, I’ve been your disembodied
floating voice Jack Finch - you’ve been watching Life’s Biggest Questions - and
until next time, you take it easy.
