The Last Known Thylacine

A photo of two Tylachines (Tasmania, 1902)

7 September 1936 died in Tasmania the last known Thylacine, called  Benjamin. The species, also remembered as Tasmanian tiger,  has been declared extinct since 1936.
Thylacine was a carnivous marsupial; the first fossils are dated to Oligene Era.

Thylacine: from rock paintings to European colonization

Rock painting of  Tylachine, Australia 

The first presence of the animal has been recognized in Australian mainland in several rock paintings and engravings.
Human colonization of the continent has been dated back 40,000-50,000 BC.
These extraordinary depictions represent how humans and thylacines coexisted for centuries.
The Tasmanian Tiger has suffered the colonization, the invasive animals, such as dingoes,  and human hunting. Anyway, it wasn't clearly identified the main reason for Tylachine's extinction. 
In the 19th Century the animal disappeared from the mainland remaining solely in Tasmania.

Benjamin

Rapidly the animal started to suffer the human hunting. In 1930 the last wild thylacine was killed by a farmer in Western Tasmania.
In 1933 another thylacine  was trapped. The animal was called Benjamin and lived for three years in the Hobart Zoo. However, it is disputed whether the tylachine was a male or female.

And now?

From 1936, the animal has been declared extinct. However, many sightings have been reported during the years in Tasmania. Any of them were confirmed. Some Tylachines could be somewhere in Tasmania.
Recently, it was proposed, thanks to modern scientific developments, to clone the animal through species' DNA material. We will see what the scientific community will decide about the Tylachine.
Meanwhile the animal is still present in the Tasmanian coat of arms.

Tasmanian coat of arms