Cryptid Of The Day: Javan Tiger

Thylacine kept at the Bronx Zoo (1903).

images of the thylacine you have probably never seen before

The Last Thylacine: September 7, 1936

Hey everyone! This may be a little late depending on your time zone (as I’m in Los Angeles / PST, I’m behind practically everyone). Sorry about that!

Today, September 7th, 2019, marks the 83rd Anniversary of the death of the last known thylacine in the Hobart Zoo. This animal is pictured above.

There are a lot of myths and misconceptions surrounding the thylacine - and this individual in particular - so I thought I’d make a post to correct a few of these. Keep in mind that new facts and evidence do occasionally come to light, so this is of course subject to change!

MYTH #1: The last thylacine was named Benjamin.

FACT: The name “Benjamin” was allegedly given to the animal by a keeper named Frank Darby. Darby later claimed to have worked with this animal in an interview that took place in 1968. However, no record exists of Darby ever working at the Hobart Zoo, and the zoo curator’s daughter Alison Reid denied that Darby ever worked there.** [Source]

** Note: Although the nickname “Benjamin” was likely made up by Darby after the fact, it has stuck, so many thylacine enthusiasts (including me) still use it to refer to the last individual.

MYTH #2: The last thylacine was actually female.

FACT: Zoologist David Fleay, who took much of the film footage of this individual, stated in a newspaper article and diary entry that the animal was male, referring to it as a “fine male marsupial wolf.” Furthermore, in 2011, careful video analysis by Dr. Stephen Sleightholme (director of the ITSD) confirmed the presence of a scrotal sac, indicating that the last thylacine was indeed a male. [Source, Source]

MYTH #3: “Benjamin” was part of the Mullins family group.

FACT: The Mullins female was snared while her young were still in the pouch. This assertion would assume that “Benjamin” was one of the pups, grew up in captivity, and was the last surviving member of the family. However, in photos (including the one on this post), the snare mark is clearly visible on the animal’s hind leg, indicating that it was wild caught. It is more likely that “Benjamin” was snared by a man named Elias Churchill, though this is also debated. [Source]

MYTH #4: The carcass of “Benjamin” was immediately discarded after death because it was in poor condition.

FACT: The carcass was in fact sent to the Tasmanian Museum. What happened to it after that is unknown. [Source]

Thylacine

Thylacinus cynocephalus

Source: Here

Thylacines from a German illustration of marsupials from 1890.

Kelpie

Powerful shapeshifting equine, lure people into the water, usually in the form of a horse or a beautiful young woman, in order to drown them and feast on their corpses.

The more modern interest in the legendary Loch Ness Monster was ignited after several sightings that took place in 1933. One of the sightings was recorded in the Inverness Courier in May. The witnesses of the May encounter reported “an enormous animal rolling and plunging” on the surface of the water. In June of the same year, George Spicer and his wife claimed to have seen an unknown creature cross the road on which they were traveling until it reached the waters of the loch and vanished. Spicer said that the creature was about 4 feet tall and 25 feet long with a strangely long neck that was a little thicker than an elephant’s trunk. The creature had no visible legs. 

Inktober Day 20 - Jackalope

“The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore (a fearsome critter) described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns”

THE BLACK SHUCK OF COLTISHALL BRIDGE

Late one night, between 1960 and 1962, two RAF officers were travelling by car back from Norwich to RAF Coltishall. Passing over Coltishall Bridge, which straddles the River Bure, they were forced to break as an enormous black dog crossed the road. It slowly turned its head and glared at them and then vanished near the other side of the road. Its build was like a Labrador, only level with the roof of their car (1.35 metres or 53 inches in height). A perfectly proportioned giant black dog.

Another encounter took place in the same area in the 1950s, when a woman and her husband were parked on the Coltishall Bridge at nightfall and saw a black dog about the size of a pony, walking towards them, that then suddenly vanished before reaching the other side of the road.

Yet another encounter was experienced by a man and a woman who swear that a Black Shuck passed them one evening on Coltishall Bridge. They initially heard its footfalls and heavy breathing and turned sharply to see the creature approaching them.

A final sighting was made again on Coltishall Bridge, this time by a middle-aged couple. The man was striking a match to light his wife's cigarette when a Black dog the size of a Calf, noiselessly, passed within a foot of them.