The Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) is an extinct small Oceanian marsupial. It is an adoptable animal in Zoo Tycoon 2.
Description[]
The Thylacine is a predatory marsupial and the largest member of the order Dasyuromorphia, to which the Tasmanian Devil and Numbat also belong. It physically resembles a large dog, with adults standing 60cm (24in) at the shoulder, but its tail is stiffened like that of a kangaroo, allowing it to hop on its back legs if threatened. It is known as the Tasmanian Wolf due to its dog-like appearance, as well as the Tasmanian Tiger because of the dark stripes on its lower back. Little is known about the wild behaviour of the thylacine, but it is believed to be nocturnal, hunting other marsupials and birds as large as kangaroos and emus. It would have used its muscular jaws, which could open as wide as 80 degrees, to catch its prey. A female could have up to four joeys at a time.
The thylacine was once common across the forests, wetlands and grasslands of Australia and features in indigenous rock paintings. Although it went extinct on the mainland before British settlement - with human population growth, climate change and competition with the dingo being possible contributions to its extinction - it continued to thrive on the island of Tasmania. Numbers continued to decline following Tasmanian settlement, as farmers would shoot them as they were perceived to be a threat to their livestock. The last known individual, known as "Benjamin", died at Hobalt Zoo on 6 September 1938 after being locked out of its indoor shelter during an unusually cold night.
Zoo Tycoon 2[]
The thylacine is an adoptable animal in Zoo Tycoon 2 and was added as part of the Extinct Animals expansion pack. In Campaign and Challenge mode, it is available for adoption when a zoo reaches a rating of 3 stars.
The thylacine is a Temperate Forest animal. Like other extinct temperate forest animals, it requires a misty spring in order to be comfortable. It breeds easily and will occasionally hop and gape, actions observed in videos of captive thylacines.
 zootycoon.com Description
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| Although the thylacine was a marsupial, it was the size of a small wolf and looked like a dog—except for the parts that looked like a kangaroo. It had a tapered hind end and a long, stiff, kangaroolike tail, which accounted for about half its length. It could balance upright and hop on its hind legs, stabilized by its rigid tail, and also had a ready-made pouch on its abdomen in which it carried its young. While the kangaroo is an herbivore, the thylacine’s diet was markedly wolflike: It was a carnivore. The last known thylacine lived in an Australian zoo until its death in 1936. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- When the Thylacine encounters an adult male guest, it gets petted instead of attacking the guest. This interaction is shared with the aurochs.