The Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), or Tasmanian tiger, was the largest carnivorous
marsupial of modern times. Despite its striped back and dog-like skull, it is only distantly
related to canids - the resemblance is a striking case of convergent evolution. Native to
mainland Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, it was hunted to extinction after European
settlement; the last known specimen died in Hobart Zoo in 1936. Shy and nocturnal, it hunted
small prey at night. It is thought to have survived into the Holocene, making it one of the
few "extinct" species the resurrection process has been able to recover.
