A group of experts will try to confirm the survival of the Tasmanian tiger species after two possible sightings raised hopes of finding the animal believed to be extinct since 1936.
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The thylacine, which derived its name from the tiger-like stripes on its back, lived in Australia and New Guinea around 3,000 years ago, although by the time Europeans arrived in the 18th century, its population was mainly concentrated on the island of Tasmania.
Intensive hunting between 1830 and 1909, boosted by offers of bounties, contributed to the extinction of the largest terrestrial predator of the Oceanic continent in recent times.
The Tasmania tiger was blamed for killing livestock but experts recently discovered this was false and that the carnivorous marsupial mainly used to prey on small animals such as the wallaby.
But the species never recovered from the campaign of extermination that left only a few dozen live animals in Tasmania until it was officially declared extinct 81 years ago when the last known thylacine died in a zoo in Hobart, the island's capital.
Since then, there have been several attempts to clone the Tasmanian tiger, which is roughly the size of a big dog - an adult could be up to 1.2 meters long (3.9 feet) - with short fur and a long, stiff tail measuring up to 65 centimeters (2 feet).
There been several possible sightings of the animal, including in 2005 when local media printed a photo of an animal thought to be a thylacine near Lake St Clair in central Tasmania, but which turned out to be false.
However, the latest two sightings in Cape York by a long-time employee of the Queensland National Parks Service and a frequent camper in the remote wild lands of Northern Australia, offer more hope.
The sightings took place at night and in one case four animals were observed at close range, at a distance of six meters away, with a spotlight.
The reports have aroused the curiosity of James Cook University researchers, who have proposed confirming the veracity of the sightings by conducting night surveys and installing around 50 cameras in the area to try to photograph the animal.
Bill Laurance, one of the leaders of the project, told EFE that an eventual discovery of the Tasmanian tiger so many years after the death of the last known specimen would be "earth-stopping in terms of its implications."
"Although we've received several credible-sounding reports, we are mainstream scientists and have to take a critical approach. I personally believe there is only a small chance of finding thylacines but one learns in science 'never to say never' because there are many instances when a presumably extinct species has turned out to be alive," he said.
"We have carefully questioned the people we've interviewed and have attempted to eliminate alternative possibilities. The feral fox, which has been confused with thylacines in the past in Australia, does not occur in Cape York because it is too warm for them here," the professor explained.
To positively identify a Tasmanian tiger, scientists need samples of hair, blood and tissue to carry out a genetic analysis. ■