Tasmanian Tiger Sightings: Video of 'Family' Resurface Online, Can it Debunk Extinction Theories?

The photos of a Tasmanian tiger family that has been long anticipated for has been released and the man who took them says he is very confident that at least one is a living Tasmanian tiger (thylacine).

A video was released last week by Neil Waters teasing fans about the photos which he professed to prove that the extinct animals were still alive.

But the tinny-sipping Tassie tiger hunter from South Australia, who recorded the video roaming around the bushland in northern Tasmania was hurriedly shut down, with the museum there ruling the photos were likely to be one of the several species of wallabies, a pademelon.

In the course of viewing the images, the only photo Mr. Waters has great trust in is tiger joey, which experts believe that it could be a Tasmanian pademelon joey. 

Mr. Waters' latest video shows different interviews with 'experts' excluding all kinds of animals they could be, one of them the pademelon, one the species of wallabies. These interviews include international dog and cat show judges, vets and wildlife experts, but most of them choose to stay anonymous.

(Photo : Photo by State Library of New South Wales collection on Foter.com)

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Agreement of Five Vets 

Mr. Waters says five vets all concur that it looks like a four-legged animal and not a macropod that hops, and there are some signs there that it is everything but a pademelon.

These signs include: the way the tail sits, the broadness of the feet and four toe pads with claws. The animal also has short feet like a Tasmanian tiger coupled with shiny hocks, with proof of striping on its tail.

Mr. Waters states that the head is rather broad for a pademelon, so It must be the boofiest pademelon head around. Mr. Waters made it known that the larger animals in the images which he claims to be the father and mother are not giving much away, stating that the joey says it all.

"But why the hell would a baby Tasmanian tiger, which I am very sure that this animal certainly is, be accompanying a pademelon and being accompanied by a pademelon? Questions do come up about this strange revelation and here we have a carnivore collaborating with two herbivores, can somebody explain to me why this keeps happening please? I would love to understand," he asks viewers.

(Photo : Danne)

Animals Were Likely To Be Thylacines 

Honorary Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Nick Mooney, said last week the animals were very likely to be thylacines based on the physical characteristics shown in the photos.

In the new video, Mr Waters says, "With all due respect I conflict with Nick Mooney's opinion and that is okay. It is perfectly fine and he encourages me in his report to get as many opinions as I can because his own is only one opinion."

A senior veterinarian and former president or RSPCA is quoted in the video saying that there is a 70 to 80 per cent chance the animal is a thylacine. It comes back to the animal foot and asks what else could it be, with most features ruling out clearly.

But one 'expert' says that he would  put only a $50 bet down that it was the famous Aussie animal, which Mr Waters agrees at the end of the clip. 

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