By Tim Binnall
A trio of Australian wildlife experts have weighed in on a series of alleged Tasmanian Tiger photos that went viral last month and their verdict is that the case is a hoax. The tantalizing images (seen below) made headlines a few weeks ago when biologist and YouTube personality Forrest Galante shared them in a video that featured an interview with the American man who claimed to have captured them while on vacation Down Under. Seemingly showing a declared-extinct thylacine on the side of a road in Tasmania, the photos sparked considerable debate in cryptozoology circles, though it would appear that those with a skeptical take on the images have now been vindicated.
Speaking to the Australian Associated Press, University of Tasmania ecologist Barry Brook told the publication that the 'creatures' seen in the images "look like badly staged models, not living animals" and dismissed the case as "not worthy of further consideration." Echoing that assessment was University of New South Wales professor Michael Archer, who pointed to features of the purported Tasmanian Tiger as being inconsistent with what is known about its anatomy. Specifically, he described the depiction of the creature's jaw as "just ridiculous" and lambasted another photo showing the animal's leg as "a joke." Archer ultimately declared that "nothing there is credible. Whoever did this really needed to spend a bit of time looking at real animals before they tried to fake this one."
Joining in on the debunking was conservationist Nick Mooney, who observed that "the photos show an uncanny emphasis on key physical features the public associate with thylacines, to the point of overemphasis." Interestingly, he also cast doubt on the tourist's account of encountering the wounded animal on the side of the road and then being threatened by the creature, noting that such a sudden change in behavior is "incredibly rare." Similarly unlikely, Mooney mused, is that the Tasmanian Tiger even still exists today as contemporary environmental conditions are so favorable to the animal that "we should have thylacine pouring out of our ears," yet they are seemingly nowhere to be found.