Paul G Day has posted a second video - same footage, but with words saying it isn't fake, and the addition of "Official Animation of Thylacine Running" for comparison. He seems to have gone from just wondering "is this a thylacine?" to "this is a thylacine". I noticed quite a few people on the comments on the original video have said that the animal clearly has a problem with its rear leg, hence the gait, but he's ignoring that. Also of note, on his blog (I May Well Have Filmed a Tasmanian Tiger), after the first video went up he said "an expert on all things Thylacine" had contacted him and they were going back to the site. I imagine this is an expert in the vein of someone who looks at a pet fox on a leash and says "oh my GOD! That's a thylacine!!1!". I may be a little cynical. Anyway, in the comments on his blog he says "There have been rumours for ages and many sightings. Here on the Yorke Peninsula, there have been dozens of sightings, but no real evidence it appears until now. An expert is coming tomorrow to see for himself."
I've been reading up quite a lot today following this latest "sighting" and what I find strange about all the hype regarding possible thylacines is where people are actually looking. To my mind, if anyone really wanted to find them, the place to be looking would be New Guinea. If any have survived (and that is a very big if), then surely the remote rainforests of New Guinea would have provided a safe haven more so than anywhere in Australia....
You haven't seen the iconic photograph of a thylacine taken in an Indonesian zoo sometime in the 1970s then.....
What's the story with that one? I presume it's a hoax... Here in Australia this would be massive news! hahahahahaha
Pretty convincing in any case! I knew it didn't look quite right but I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong (or what it actually was)
This photo continues to do the rounds. I came across an 'expert' on Twitter a few months ago asking for information on it. I joined up just to tell them.
We should all feel a distinct sense of pride that something which originated on this site has managed to be so persistent Spoilsport
You guys could have an absolute field day with this photo (the fossa) on some of the thylacine sightings pages on Facebook! Most people on those pages won't even know what a fossa is! As non-Australians, you guys probably don't understand the hype (and hope) that thylacine sightings create in Australia.... As an Australian, it's hard for me to explain it really - because I'm quite used to it. It's really easy to get sucked in to it - even for people who know that it's completely illogical. People want it to exist - so every unclear or inconclusive piece of footage becomes a 'definite thylacine'. And on the other side, some people want these sightings to be foxes (which they probably are), because if they are proven not to be foxes then that challenges their outlook or their belief system etc - and therefore, the footage becomes a 'definite fox' (or 'definitely not a thylacine'). For me personally, I think the latest footage is inconclusive and that (in all likelihood) it is probably a fox - but I'm certainly not going to say that I'm 100% convinced that it's a fox.... It could be photoshopped footage of course - but part of me (maybe 5%) still thinks that there is a tiny chance that it could be a thylacine (as illogical as that is).... Weird things happen in Australia....
There is actually some crossover between contributors on Zoochat and the Thylacine-related websites which have sprung up far more recently than Zoochat has been around, so some of us are very aware of the great debate, particularly the recent one over whether Thylacines exist on the Australian mainland. This particular discussion- the 'mainland' thylacine, is quite a new phenomenum- unfortunately it has had the effect of embellishing this myth to the extent more and more copycat videos of blurred creatures at long distance are appearing, from people who have no doubt seen all the hype and may genuinely believe they are seeing Thylacines. Then there are the dedicated Thylacine hunters in Tasmania too, but despite advances in technology, they still come up with nothing tangible at all either. As you said, most people want to believe it still exists and this keeps the myth and the mystery still alive. The fossa mock-up was made some years ago by a Zoochat member. It is pretty good but the ears aren't quite right.
As Pertinax says there is a crossover between here and there. Personally I'm on every thylacine related site/page I can be. I'm 100% in the extinct camp, but still get excited everytime I hear a whisper. Not on the mainland (James Cook University included), but in Tasmania or New Guinea, although the latter is vanishingly rare. I had a tip off a few months ago about the Tasmanian film but still nothing showing all this time later. Personally my interest is in the historical side of things which I believe to be incorrectly presented in some important areas. Researching this has led me to having to accept the idea of extinction, especially as I think due to the inaccuracies in the accepted narrative, local extinction in the Central Highlands, their stronghold, happened earlier than is now thought. Not by much, but it points to the final population being restricted to NW by the final years, but then that's no surprise.
Just to add, some of the good tiger hunters/researchers seem to be getting pretty riled about these videos.
That in itself is really interesting actually - because the more videos without any serious evidence simply give the 'extant camp' more bad publicity. I'm assuming that most of these videos get publicised by that group (Thylacine Awareness Group - or whatever they're called) and that that group are not run by people with a background in zoology, forestry, conservation or any other related science? I'm talking about the group based in South Australia with all the mainland sightings. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this point though. If this is the case, then it's actually doing more harm than good for 2 reasons: 1. The money and energy being put in to this group could be used much more effectively by assisting proper researchers and scientists to do their job. 2. This group just gives proper scientists and researchers a bad name. On another semi-related point, 'thylacine sightings' are in the interests of the tourist board of any rural area.... A town or region with a number of sightings could certainly make a bit of a profit from 'thylacine tourism'.... but that's another story altogether....
To take your last point first, it is another story, but it's very relevant in my opinion. I'm sure we've noted one or two in the tourist industry who are lucky enough to spot 'thylacines' just by where they have caravans to let. Case in point would be the 1995 Beesley sighting, at the falls I can never recall the name of in Tasmania, which is reputed locally to have been paid for by a local publican. As to your first point, the Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia or TAGA (although I use a different acronym) aren't a group. They were a Facebook page run by Neil Waters in a fairly messianic fashion. Until that is he had a hissy fit and left or closed the group. So nowadays he seems to be on his own. He just pops up now again with his foxes says something crazy, and onto the next one. He also hangs about Facebook doing strange and unpleasant things to people. He's a real character. I don't think there's any attention given except by the gutter press over here, and the people who provide him with his latest fox video. And I don't think he's funded, he was on 'Kickstarter' or whatever, but I doubt he reached his target. I think the serious people I've spoken to, and I'd include people like Williams and Freeman, and the TRU are people who're genuinely concerned to follow the evidence as they see it and do it honestly. I don't believe the thylacine is still out there, but I do respect them for doing what they do and the way they do it. Let's not forget Nick Mooney either, I think he's still active in the field. As to your second point, I think the whole TAGA business gives mammals a bad name. I don't think it impacts much on the thylacine circuit much though, it's a just treated as a joke. But I do think people are sick of seeing a wounded fox labelled as their beloved thylacine. I know I am.
