What did the Thylacine eat?
Marsupial Wolf
Thylacinus cynocephalus
Photographer: H. Burrell (Australian Museum Photographic Image Archives)
The Thylacine was mainly nocturnal or semi-nocturnal but was also out during the day. The animal moved at a slow pace, generally stiff in its movements. The Thylacine hunted singly or in pairs and mainly at night.
Thylacines preferred kangaroos and other marsupials, small rodents and birds. They were reported to have preyed on sheep and poultry after European colonisation, although the extent of this was almost certainly exaggerated. For example, the famous photo shown here is now known to have been staged using a taxidermied Thylacine specimen with a dead chicken place in its mouth.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 1999, 2002
