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Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 |
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Extinction Discounted
"A computer analysis has left little doubt that the supposedly extinct Tasmanian tiger or wolf still exists in remote areas of Australia's island state."
 The thylacine (or Tasmanian wolf or tiger) has been reported repeatedly in recently years. |
H. Nix, of the Australian National University's Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, has a computer program based upon detailed descriptions of climatic, topographic, and environmental factors that identifies areas where a particular animal or plant could flourish. Nix gathered the environmen tal requirements of the thylacine from records of where they had been shot and trapped in the past. This plus the computer program allowed Nix to identify prime thylacine territory. Compar-ing this information with the best sightings over the past 60 years, Nix found perfect agreement. In other words, post-extinction reports of thylacines come from just those areas where one would expect them to!
(Anonymous; "Computers Help to Hunt the Tasmanian Tiger," New Scientist, p. 24, March 10, 1990.)
Comment. This all sounds a bit tauto logical; that is, like "circular reasoning"!
Reference. The possible late survival of the thylacine is covered in BMD12 in our catalog volume: Biological Anomalies: Mammals II. To order, visit: here.