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The Thylacine or 'Tasmanian tiger' (Thylacinus cynocephalus), an iconic canid-like marsupial predator and last member of its taxonomic family (Thylacinidae) to have survived to modern times, was declared officially extinct in the early 1980s, half a century after the death of the last captive animal. However, the regularity and frequency of sightings of the species over more than eight decades since has not only created a zoological mystery, but also made it challenging to reconstruct the timeline of the fate of the species. To help resolve this intriguing historical-ecological problem, we compiled and curated a comprehensive inventory of documented sighting records from Tasmania from 1910 to 2019. By examining sources spanning official archives, published reports, museum collections, newspaper articles, microfilm, contemporary correspondence, private collections and other miscellaneous citations and testimony, we have amassed 1,223 unique Thylacine records from this period and resolved previous anomalies and duplications. Each observation in the database is dated, geo-tagged, categorised, quality-rated, referenced and linked to an image of its source material. Although purported observations have occurred every year, reporting rates vary across the decades in terms of frequency, type, location, and quality rating. Here we describe the database in detail, highlight its value for research, interpret the major patterns revealed by this archival compilation, and discuss the broader implications of the result of this work on the likely time and place of the Thylacine's extinction in the wild. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors present a comprehensive catalogue of 112 known photographs of the Thylacine or Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus), both from zoological collections and the small number of images that were taken in the wild. Throughout the literature, numerous inaccuracies relating to the provenance of the photographs have entered into publication. These errors often go unchallenged and are blindly replicated in subsequent publications as truths. The perpetuation of such errors can only frustrate or complicate future research effort into the species, hence the need for a reliable reference. This paper provides a summary of the work involved in developing the catalogue, together with a synopsis of the findings. The catalogue has been named the Thylacine Image Registry [TIR], and is published here for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thylacine (Thyladnus cynocephalus) once ranged widely across Tasmania from the east to west coasts. The authors present the first comprehensive study to delineate the extent of the thylacine's post-1900 range, based on the retrospective analysis of 1167 geo-referenced capture, kill, and confirmed sighting reports, from 1900 to 1940. They examine the probable causes of population collapse, and discuss the possibility that the species survived into the 1940s and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

David Fleay's 1933 motion film footage of the last captive thylacine at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart was thought to be the only film record of this thylacine. The authors provide evidence to confirm that two earlier motion picture films, erroneously dated to 1928, also show the last captive specimen at the zoo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most comprehensive assessment of the breeding season of the thylacine was that undertaken by Eric Guiler of the University of Tasmania in 1961. Guiler based his study on a retrospective analysis of government bounty records. The authors contend that the bounty records contain inherent anomalies that undermine Guiler's findings, and argue that historical newspaper reports, together with museum and zoo records, provide better data to determine the natural boundaries of the breeding season of the thylacine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]