# Animal identification **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 12, 2000, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900 "2000-09-12T15:48:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/1 "2000-09-12T15:48:40Z")
What the heck is [this](http://home.san.rr.com/gcharles/images/animal.jpg)? All I know is it’s from Australia and may be extinct. I can win fabulous (though as yet undisclosed) prizes if I’m the first to identify it. ---
**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/2 "2000-09-12T16:01:19Z")
It looks to me like a Tasmanian devil, which, SFAIK, is not extinct, although its range _is_ severely restricted and it may well be officially endangered (I don’t know Australian federal or state laws). ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/3 "2000-09-12T16:09:17Z")
I don’t think it is a Tasmanian Devil ([_Sarcophilus laniarius_](http://www.tased.edu.au/tot/fauna/devil.html)). Tasmanian Devils are closer to black and have a very visible ring around their neck. And the forearms and paws of the mytery animal are noticeably longer and bulkier. ---
**Author:** ![Pandora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eada6e/32.png) [@Pandora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandora)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/4 "2000-09-12T16:13:21Z")
Tasmanian Tiger? If I recall correctly, It is another carniverous marsupial that it is/was larger then the tasmanian devil, and is general considered to be extinct. but… I could be wrong. -Pandora ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/5 "2000-09-12T16:19:35Z")
Could be a thylacine, based on “Australia” and “may be extinct”. Can’t see if there’s stripes on tha back end of it. [http://www.aristotle.net/~swarmack/thylacin.html](http://www.aristotle.net/~swarmack/thylacin.html) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/6 "2000-09-12T16:25:37Z")
Don’t think it’s a Tasmanian Tiger/Thylacine (_Thylacinus cynocephalus_). Thylacines were very distinctly doglike; the animal in the picture has a different conformation entirely. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/7 "2000-09-12T16:37:33Z")
I hate to sound like a doubting Thomas, but the photo looks as fake as hell. It doesn’t look like a real animal at all. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/8 "2000-09-12T16:55:36Z")
It’s real, it’s just real _dead._ It looks fake because its insides are fake, its attitude is fake, its eyes are fake, and its setting is fake. But it’s obviously a stuffed _something_, and not a muppet. ---
**Author:** ![Timothy\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Timothy\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timothy_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/9 "2000-09-12T16:57:37Z")
I think it’s a beaver on steroids. Check out those biceps! Rickjay may have a point: faked animal pictures aren’t unknown. No, I’m not talking about Big Foot. In an April issue a few years back, a science mag (Discover, I think) ran a story about an Antarctic predator that burrowed through the ice using a system that struck me as biologically impossible. They had a picture of something that looked like a shrew with a big red bump on his head (which it purportedly used to melt the ice as it travelled). Sure enough, the next month they 'fessed up that they’d made up the story as an “April Fool’s” joke. They caught a lot of flak for that. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/10 "2000-09-12T17:27:06Z")
Holy fuzzy critters Batman! That ain’t nuthin’ I’ve ever seen. It sure as hell ain’t a Thylacine or a Tasmanian devil (Tas. devil’s a lil’ black mongoosey-lookin’ thing). Come to think of it, it does look vaguely familiar. I’m pretty sure it’s an extinct marsupial, but nowhere near as recent as the Thylacine…this guy died out a couple _million_ years ago. How big is our fierce fuzzy friend? I might be able to put a name to it if I can figure out the size of the critter. (i.e. big=ancient) ---
**Author:** ![muppetsoup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@muppetsoup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muppetsoup)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/11 "2000-09-12T18:48:32Z")
gunslinger is on the right targt… that my friend is an extinct marsupial **lion** , \*Thylacoleo Carnifex \*. I’ll try to find a site to link it to that pic… try this one for now… [http://www.jps.net/sabado/thylacoleo.html](http://www.jps.net/sabado/thylacoleo.html) ---
**Author:** ![Myndephuquer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@Myndephuquer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myndephuquer)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/12 "2000-09-12T19:07:37Z")
That is one of my ex-girlfriend’s ‘Glamour Shots’. Bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/13 "2000-09-12T19:11:42Z")
See? I’m good for something! That’s it, no doubt about it. Look at the teeth in [this pic](http://www.jps.net/sabado/thylacoskel1.gif) from tha page. Those are rather unique, and match your mystery critter exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Aglarond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@Aglarond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aglarond)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/14 "2000-09-12T20:15:22Z")
That looks pretty close, Gunslinger. It may be it, but I’m not sure. I seem to recall a picture very similar to that in the OP on one of the cryptozoological sites out there. Unfortunately, all sites involving cyrptozoology are banned by our security software so I can’t look. You might start looking around there, though. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/15 "2000-09-12T20:19:35Z")
Once again, I’m in sheer awe of the Dopers here. I’ll be even more amazed if muppetsoup really manages to find the original picture on the web somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![muppetsoup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@muppetsoup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muppetsoup)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/16 "2000-09-12T21:42:45Z")
I know for sure I saw that picture on a tv show and it was identified as Thylacoleo Carnifex , but i’ll keep looking for a site on the web. The site you linked had to get it from somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![muppetsoup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@muppetsoup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muppetsoup)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/17 "2000-09-13T14:30:30Z")
Who’s the king, baby? [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid\_911000/911408.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_911000/911408.stm) ---
**Author:** ![muppetsoup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@muppetsoup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muppetsoup)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/18 "2000-09-13T16:16:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Greg Charles \* > \*\*I can win fabulous (though as yet undisclosed) prizes if I’m the first to identify it. \*\* You’ll forgive me for asking what the fabulous prizes turn out to be… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/19 "2000-09-13T16:33:44Z")
You’ll all forgive me if I fall into patois for a moment. **You da man, muppetsoup!!** I promised to be amazed, and amazed I am. Unfortunately, the fabulous prizes have turned out to be … largely fictional. I promise I’ll split anything I do receive fifty-fifty. That seems fair seeing as you did all the work and everything. ---
**Author:** ![Aglarond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@Aglarond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aglarond)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900/20 "2000-09-13T17:22:20Z")
Muppetsoup rockin’ the house. OK, so only like 5 of us care. But that’s 5 people who think you’re alright despite what everybody else is aying about you in the pit. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-identification/32900.md?page=2)