Crossword clues for thylacine
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Thylacine \Thy"la*cine\, n. [Gr. ? a sack.] (Zo["o]l.) The zebra wolf. See under Wolf.
Wiktionary
n. The carnivorous marsupial ''Thylacinus cynocephalus'' which was native to Tasmania, now extinct.
WordNet
n. rare doglike carnivorous marsupial of Tasmania having stripes on its back; probably extinct [syn: Tasmanian wolf, Tasmanian tiger, Thylacinus cynocephalus]
Wikipedia
The thylacine ( , or , also ; binomial name: Thylacinus cynocephalus, Greek for " dog-headed pouched one" ) was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger (because of its striped lower back) or the Tasmanian wolf. Native to continental Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, it is believed to have become extinct in the 20th century. It was the last extant member of its family, Thylacinidae; specimens of other members of the family have been found in the fossil record dating back to the late Oligocene.
Surviving evidence suggests that it was a relatively shy, nocturnal creature with the general appearance of a medium-to-large-size dog, except for its stiff tail and abdominal pouch (which was reminiscent of a kangaroo) and a series of dark transverse stripes that radiated from the top of its back (making it look a bit like a tiger). The thylacine was an apex predator, like the tigers and wolves of the Northern Hemisphere from which it obtained two of its common names. As a marsupial, it was not closely related to these placental mammals, but because of convergent evolution it displayed the same general form and adaptations. Its closest living relative is thought to be either the Tasmanian devil or the numbat. The thylacine was one of only two marsupials to have a pouch in both sexes (the other being the water opossum). The male thylacine had a pouch that acted as a protective sheath, covering his external reproductive organs while he ran through thick brush. The thylacine has been described as a formidable predator because of its ability to survive and hunt prey in extremely sparsely populated areas.
The thylacine had become extremely rare or extinct on the Australian mainland before British settlement of the continent, but it survived on the island of Tasmania along with several other endemic species, including the Tasmanian devil. Intensive hunting encouraged by bounties is generally blamed for its extinction, but other contributing factors may have been disease, the introduction of dogs, and human encroachment into its habitat. Despite its official classification as extinct, sightings are still reported, though none has been conclusively proven.
Thylacine were a three piece Australia rock band from the Northern Territory who were active during the 1990s. They released two albums through CAAMA music, Thylacine Live (1995) and Nightmare Dreaming (1997).
Thylacine may refer to:
- Thylacine, largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger
- Thylacine (band), Australian alternative band
- Thylacine Darner, or scientifically Acanthaeschna victoria, species of dragonfly in family Aeshnidae and endemic to Australia
Thylacine is the debut studio album by Australian singer-songwriter, Monique Brumby.
At the ARIA Music Awards of 1998, the album was nominated for ARIA Award for Best Female Artist, but lost out to Left of the Middle by Natalie Imbruglia.
Usage examples of "thylacine".
Training a Thylacine, usually unbelievably torpid, to do anything except eat or sleep on command was almost front-page news.
Billygonequeer went queer, he would stand all night and look upwards at the stars and howl exactly like the Tasmanian tiger, the thylacine, a creature dog-like in appearance and extremely shy of humans.
She told him how the thylacines-the Tasmanian tigers-had been killed by farmers, scared for their sheep, how the politicians in the 1930s noticed that the thylacines should be protected only after the last of them was dead.
Undoubtedly there were once thylacines on mainland Australia and, indeed, stories of their survival were finally corroborated in 1966 when David Lowry found the skin of a thylacine in a cave on the Mundrabilia cattle station in Western Australia.
In Australia the thylacine, or marsupial 'wolf (often called the Tasmanian wolf because it survived in Tasmania for a little longer than in mainland Australia), was tragically driven extinct within living memory, slaughtered in enormous numbers as a 'pest' and for 'sport' by humans (there is a slight hope that it may still survive in remote parts of Tasmania, areas which themselves are now threatened with destruction in the interests of providing 'employment' for humans).
She told him how the thylacines-the Tasmanian tigers-had been killed by farmers, scared for their sheep, how the politicians in the 1930s noticed that the thylacines should be protected only after the last of them was dead.
It was lying among the bones of other animals, including other thylacines, bats, snakes, rabbits, kangaroos, wombats and a Tasmanian devil.
In 1960, by the Manuka River (near the spot where a sighting had been reported), he himself heard the strange yapping hunting noise that the thylacines made.
Similar sightings have been reported from Queensland's Sunshine Coast since 1993: if these sightings are genuine, they are probably of thylacines whose recent ancestors escaped from zoos.
Passing through the grand hall with its imposing pendent banners of purple and crimson, its mounted heads of sabertooths and dragons, arctic bears and tropical thylacines, he turned left just before the imposing entryway and made his way to the smaller door that was nearer the stables.
Earth's biosphere has been in the intensive care ward for decades, weird rashes of hot-burning replicators erupting across it before the World Health Organization can fix them – gray goo, thylacines, dragons.