Was Extinct Tasmanian Tiger Seen on New Video? Experts Weigh In

New footage showing what is being claimed to be an extinct Tasmanian tiger in the wild has attracted huge speculation after years of reported sightings.

The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, was one of Australia's most iconic species and the nation's only marsupial apex predator.

However, the population declined dramatically because of hunting by humans and competition with the dingo.

Despite disappearing from the mainland at least 2,000 years ago, the species persisted on the island of Tasmania. Nonetheless, at an average weight of only 55 pounds, the small predator faced threats from dogs and persecution by European settlers. The thylacine was declared extinct in 1986, and the last known one died 88 years ago.

Since then, there have been numerous claims of sightings in the wild but none have led to capture.

Now, new photos have come to light showing what is being alleged to be a Tasmanian tiger in the wild once again.

The footage was publicized by American wildlife biologist and television personality Forrest Galante, who was sent the images and interviewed the photographer.

The photographer, who did not show their face on camera and only referred to themselves as Zack, said they were on a trip in Tasmania with their dad when they found the creature late at night.

They said they had pulled over the car after seeing what they thought was a dog in need of help by the roadside. After the animal noticed them they ran toward it before the creature bared its teeth and made a shrieking sound "almost like a meow."

It was then said to have run toward a line of trees and disappeared.

Galante was sent several photos showing the animal lying down at a distance, coming towards the camera and baring its teeth taken from a side profile.

While none of the images were clear, they showed what appeared to be a dog-like creature with striping along its back, similar to the thylacine.

Galante said that some of the images looked "legit" but that one, showing the creature with its mouth wide open, looked "kinda bulls***", adding he would send the images to an expert for further examination, neither fully crediting nor discrediting the photos.

Newsweek has contacted a media representative for Galante via email for comment.

The YouTube video has been viewed 329,000 times while social media posts on X, formerly Twitter, have helped push the story even further.

There have been sightings since the last thylacine in captivity died in 1936. A 2023 study that assessed 1237 observational records from 1910 onwards suggested that extinction could have been as recent as the late 1980s to the early 2000s "with a small chance of persistence in the remote south-western wilderness areas."

However, Newsweek has spoken to several experts who doubt that the new "sighting" shared on YouTube is legitimate.

Chris Rehberg, who has been investigating and writing about thylacine spottings on his website Where Light Meets Dark since 2006, said elements of the story did not add up such as the airport "Zack" said he flew into from the U.S.

Rehberg also noted that one of the photos where the creature's mouth was wide open appeared to be "malformed" and "missing a nose", also noting the inconsistent shadows behind it in the photos.

"There's no doubt the appearance of the animal in the images matches what you might expect of a Thylacine—the real question is around the authenticity of the images," Rehberg told Newsweek.

Dr. Axel Newton, who is part of the Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research Lab at the University of Melbourne attempting to resurrect the thylacine through a groundbreaking stem-cell project, said he was "extremely skeptical" that images were legitimate.

"It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell real from fake, especially with AI imagery becoming so sophisticated," Newton said.

"I discount that these are real given the weird textured graininess to the images, the lack of raw unadjusted images, video footage etc..."

Thylacine researcher Branden Holmes, who authored the 2023 book Thylacine: The History, Ecology and Loss of the Tasmanian Tiger, said that while there were some consistent characteristics, other parts were less convincing.

"The first photo [of the animal staring directly at the camera] shows an animal that is very heavily built despite the lack of objects for scale.

"In reality, thylacines were lightly built animals, averaging 16.6kg (females 13.7, males 19.7) with a maximum body weight of 30kg or less.

"If the animal were a dog for the sake of argument, I would estimate its weight at 40-50kg.

"This super thylacine is quite clearly due to artistic license and not natural size variation.

"This is most evident in the morphology of the jaws as depicted in the third photo. These are set too far apart at the rear of the mouth to be a real thylacine. Historical photos of the species opening its jaws as a threat display, as in David Fleay's famous film of the last captive male, show the jaws much closer together."

Professor Kristofer M. Helgen, Chief Scientist and Director at the Australian Museum Research Institute also told Newsweek, "These photos look fake to me.

"They don't have the look or feel of a real animal."

The de-extinction efforts led by scientists in Australia may be the likelier chance for people to see a thylacine, or a creature like it, again.

The multi-million dollar project aims to use stem cells from other marsupials to make a thylacine embryo and transfer it to a surrogate animal such as the mouse-like dunnart.

"The level of support we have for this project now I think it is conceivable that we could a thylacine-like cell within 10 years," Professor Andrew Pask, from the School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne, previously told Newsweek.

"It's a big job and it needs some significant support to drive it. Fortunately we now have that. It is a bit like Jurassic park—we start with a living cell from a closely related species, in this case the dunnart—and we edit that cell to turn it genome into that of the thylacine. Once you have your 'thylacine' cell, you can use cloning technology to turn that cell into a living animal."

To view the full video from Forrest Galante, including the images of the "Tasmanian tiger", click here.