Two previously unseen photographs of the long-extinct Tasmanian tiger have sparked a surge of enthusiasm within the Tasmanian Tiger Archives community.
The images, found in an overlooked museum archive, add to the existing collection of just 119 known photographs of the animal, also known as the thylacine.
While details about the specific tiger featured in the pictures remain scarce, researchers believe it may have been captured in Melbourne in 1902. Three thylacines died at the city’s zoo that year, and the animal’s relaxed posture suggests it passed away shortly before the images were taken.
Tasmanian Tiger Archives researcher Branden Holmes told Yahoo he was grateful the museum was able to supply copies of the high resolution images.
“These ones have gone relatively unnoticed for years in a public collection,” he said.
The find has reignited hopes that more undiscovered images may be lurking in both public and private collections.
“There were dozens of thylacines held in captivity at various zoos around the world, and zoo visitors may have photographed them,” Holmes said.
