Did you know that NATIONAL THREATENED SPECIES DAY was created to commemorate the death of the Tasmanian tiger? Here's why and what we can do to prevent other species from experiencing the same fate.
Nearly 100 years ago, and only two months after the species was granted protected status, the world lost its last remaining Tasmanian tiger, also known as the thylacine. This yellowish-brown-grey colored creature, with its dog-like head, stiff long tail and 15-20 distinct stripes running along its back, was a marsupial once found all over continental Australia. But colonization and the introduction of farming, disease, and excessive bounty hunting resulted in the thylacine’s rapid decline, and eventual extinction.
