Why is the extinct thylacine animal extinct?

Answer 1

The Thylacine was hunted to extinction after a bounty was placed on it, as farmers were concerned about the loss of their livestock.

Scientists have also recently proven that, prior to its extinction, the Thylacine had limited genetic diversity. There is every chance that, were Thylacines still in existence today, they would most likely be facing similar problems currently faced by the Tasmanian devil.

Incidentally, Thylacines are truly extinct. Not a single reported sighting has ever been confirmed.

Answer 2

The Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus, also known as the Tasmanian Tiger and sometimes the Tasmanian Wolf), became extinct during the 20th century. The last known specimen died in the Hobart Zoo on 7 September 1936. It was hunted to extinction after a bounty was placed on it as a livestock killer. The government paid one pound for every dead adult thylacine head, and ten shillings for every dead thylacine pup head. Also, wild dogs that settlers brought in competed with the thylacines, reducing the prey of the thylacine.

The thylacine and Tasmanian devil both became extinct in mainland Australia hundreds of years earlier, probably because they were in competition with dingoes once the Aborigines came.

Further, it has been suggested that, in the early part of the Twentieth Century an extremely virulent disease began to spread first through the wild then captive populations. Exactly what this disease was remains unknown but it was described as being similar to but distinct from canine distemper. Another theory points to the fact that, by the time the Thylacine was confined to the island of Tasmania, the remaining specimens did not have sufficient genetic diversity to sustain the population. A similar problem is currently affecting the Tasmanian devil, resulting in the spread of the fatal DFTD, or Devil Facial Tumour Disease.