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Published online 12 November 1998 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news981112-10
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On the trail of the Tasmanian wolf
When the European colonists of the remote territory of Tasmania encountered the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus ), they named it the ‘Tasmanian tiger’ on account of its boldly striped pelt, or the ‘Tasmanian wolf’ after its strikingly dog-like appearance. This resemblance of this dog-sized creature to European dogs was indeed remarkable, given that the thylacine was a marsupial, a pouched mammal more closely related to kangaroos than dogs.
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