The Remains Of The Tasmania Tiger Last 'Listed' In The Museum, Mengcoh Curator And Researcher For 85 Years

The Tasmania tiger at the Hobart Zoo. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The remains of the last known Tasmania tiger, thought to have been missing for 85 years, have been found stored in the cupboard of an Australian museum.

The Tasmania tiger died in captivity at the Hobart Zoo in 1936. His body was then given to a local museum.

But what happened to his skeleton and skin after that became an eternal mystery.

The Tasmania Art Museum and Gallery is missing track of its remains, and is believed to have been dumped.

New research has found that they are in museums all this time, preserved but not cataloged properly, outwitting those looking for them.

"Over the years, many museum curators and researchers searched for their bodies without any results, because no Tasmania tiger material came from 1936 recorded," said Robert Paddle, who published a book in 2000 about the species' extinction, as reported by BBC December 6.

"It is assumed that his body has been dumped," he continued.

However, he and one of the museum's curators found reports of experts filling unpublished animal skins, prompting a museum collection review.

They found missing female specimens in a cupboard in the museum's education department.

The remains have been taken around Australia as a mobile exhibition, but staff are unaware it is the last Tasmania tiger, curator Kathryn Medlock told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

"It was chosen because it is the best skin in the collection," he explained.

"At that time they thought there were still animals in the bushes," he said.

The Tasmanian tiger's skin and skeleton are now on display at the museum in Hobart.

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Initially believed to be roaming throughout Australia, the Tasmania tiger population declined due to the impact of humans and dipo. Finally, this animal was only found on Tasmania Island, where he was eventually hunted to extinction.