Tasmanian Tiger Expedition Broadcast
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 13th, 2009
Chris Rehberg (above) at the website Where Light Meets Dark has confirmed that the new “MonsterQuest” episode “Isle of the Lost Tiger,” will screen this week, and shall feature the WLMD Expedition in search of the Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) carried out in 2009.
Screening dates in the US are Wednesday, May 13, 2009 (9 pm Eastern), Thursday, May 14 (1 am E) and Sunday May 24 (9 am E). Check your local listings for times in your area. Image: WLMD
Dr. Jeremy Austin and a juvenile thylacine from the University of Adelaide.
The WLMD site gives a summary on the “Tasmanian Tiger Expedition2009.”
The almost final results achieved are listed as the following:
Even though the final trek of the expedition has not yet been undertaken, a number of positive outcomes have been achieved already.
A previously unknown Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle nest was discovered. There are believed to be only about 200 nesting sites remaining in Tasmania.
The elusive ground parrot was identified by its call. Coincidentally, I only recognised the call because of last year having examined evidence for its survival in Sydney where it has not been sighted in over 100 years.
Above: Where Light Meets Dark recently published a photograph of an all-white Eastern quoll taxidermy, prepared in 1882. The quoll was captured in Ercildoune, Victoria and since publishing these photos the Australian Museum has confirmed that it too has an all-white specimen, also from the mainland. Photo used by permission.
The program will have the final discoveries and scientific analyses of those.
Here is the description of the episode, “Isle of the Lost Tiger”:
A remote island off the coast of Australia was once home to a real monster with vampire-like tendencies. The Tasmanian Tiger, which was known for its massive jaws and sharp incisors, stalked livestock and terrified the human inhabitants of the island before a bounty brought about the Tiger’s extinction almost eighty years ago. But if the eyewitness stories and scientific breakthroughs are correct, this creature may be on the verge of making a comeback. Across Tasmania there have been over 350 sightings of this monster, including reports from experienced biologists and outdoorsmen. Meanwhile, in an Australian laboratory, one scientist is using a preserved strand of DNA in an attempt to resurrect the tiger. Now, the MonsterQuest science and expedition teams will seek to find the ultimate proof that the Tasmanian Tiger could be alive and stalking the subtropical forests of this distant island.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Calling the thylacine a vampiric monster is really ridiculous. No doubt it was comments like that that helped with its (probable)extinction… anything for ratings I guess. It would be great if they found something solid though.
I 2nd that Averagefoot. I was a little annoyed by the description (I hate hearing any animal referred to as a “dangerous monster” etc.). I really hope this one is good (though I doubt anything as great as photographing a thylacine happened *sigh* But hey maybe some footprints or something) Since the thylacine is my favorite of all, I’ll be quite miffed if they do to this one what they did to the Jersey Devil episode.
But I’m thrilled that Chris Rehberg is involved! So no matter what I’ll be watching & it will be interesting! Here’s hoping!
Last nights episode did show a paw print. Possibly it could be a front left print of a Thylacine? I was able to make out, what I belive to be 5 toes. They did compare it to a sketch drawing of the front paw prints off a Thylcine. I still don’t think they should have called it vampire like, or a monster.
Last night’s episode was actually really good. They found the track, a possible photo, and diverge into any silliness.
Oh, and Averagefoot, the vampire like tendencies were described by settlers. According to the local superstition, the Thylacine drank blood.
Just wanted to tell all Thylacine appreciators that I stumbled across a great little horror flick the other day that must have gone right to DVD after it was released as I had never heard of it til I spotted it as a free download on my COX cable network. I searched for comments about it on Cryptomundo, but did not find any.
Its called Dying Breed.
If you like horror from time to time its really not that bad with the twist that it mixes two Tasmanian legends.
There are some great vintage videos at the beginning of the last Thylacines ever filmed. You have seen them before of course, but they look much better on a wide screen TV than on the computer screen.
And yes, there are a couple of actual present day sightings “portrayed”. But even though they are digital, they are much more satisfying that a MonsterQuest “bait and swich” tactic.
Some great scenery too.
Forgive if this has already been discussed.
Its on Netflix also.
Check out the trailer.
The Tasmanian tiger didn’t drink blood! It was killed because it killed sheep.
It was called the vampire dog because it was nocturnal and it killed it’s prey (sheep) by biting their necks which is something dogs, wolfs and lions do, seeing as it’s the most venerable spot on most animals. But make no mistake, it eat meat.
And as for “local superstition” D2K4, I AM Australian, we learn about the Tassie Tiger in school, I even Holiday in Tasmania regularly and reading this atrial was the first time I’d ever heard the suggestion it drank blood!
As to the question of there still being some in Tasmania, there is a huge area at the south west of Tasmania, that is world heritage listed, it is one of the last truly wild places in the world. With are steep cliffs, thick forest and such, days away from roads with parts where no European people have set foot. If there are Thylacines left that’s where they are. And from what I can tell from the pictures of the show, they didn’t go anywhere wilder than where I’ve been bushwalking, and I’ve never seen one. Although I have a friend who swears Black and blue she saw a Thylacine.
The thylacine was accused of being “vampiric” because one of the earlier settlers claimed to see it lapping up the blood of a freshly killed carcass, they were also reported to have a taste for the liver and other inner organs of their kills. Of course the sources of all these reports are fairly questionable considering the settlers thought of them as vermin and blamed them for their sheep killings (when it is believed they very seldom did actually take livestock), however it cannot be disproven that the animal had these traits as these accounts from farmers are all we really have to go on.