Tasmanian Tiger - 2nd Edition by David Owen & David Pemberton (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The tragic story of how ignorance, fear and lack of care led to the disappearance of the famous Tasmanian tiger. This updated edition includes the latest research on whether it could ever be cloned and returned to the wild.

Is it still out there? People claim to keep seeing it still.

Once the world's largest marsupial predator, the Tasmanian tiger roamed the Australian mainland. Then confined to Tasmania for thousands of years, it was deliberately hunted down by settlers through fear, ignorance and greed. But was it a savage sheep killer or a shy and fussy nocturnal feeder? Did the last tiger die in a Hobart zoo in 1936, or did a few survive in the wild? And did it really drink its victims' blood?

A number of Australian species have miraculously reappeared after being labelled as extinct. Perhaps the tiger is still with us. And if it's not, can it really be brought back by cloning and returned to the wild?

'Sweeps us along with wonderful writing as we meet a truly incredible animal that became the centrepiece in an ecological tragedy. Anyone interested in nature and the conservation of the diversity of life should read this story.' - Professor John Seidensticker, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

Review Quotes

Documents the Tasmanian tiger from an evolutionary as well as a historical perspective to scrub away some of the mysticism surrounding the animal and shore up its legacy with facts. --Science News

Drawing on newspapers, government reports, ships' logs, and interviews with Tasmanians old enough to have seen a thylacine, Owen tells the tale and seeks to explain this rush towards extinction. --Times Literary Supplement

Why would anyone want to read a book about the thylacine, an extinct Australian marsupial carnivore? Because it is one of the most fascinating and mysterious creatures that ever lived; so poorly understood that it was driven to extinction by people who had no idea what it was really like. --Richard Ellis, author ofThe Empty Ocean and The Extinction Scenario

An enchanting book that reveals all we know about this little known animal. David Owen sweeps us along with his wonderful writing as we meet a truly incredible mammal that became the centerpiece in an ecological tragedy. Anyone interested in nature and the conservation of the diversity of life should read this story. --John Seidensticker, Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park and author of Tigers

The thylacine, or as it is commonly known, the Tasmanian tiger, is not just an extinct animal. This book tells how it has also become a mythical story about humanity's relentless arrogance in the face of a world of wonder, the tragic fate of which is a warning for us all. --Richard Flanagan, author, The Narrow Road to the Deep North

This is the message that clearly runs throughout David Owen's absorbing chronicle of the once and future thylacine, recounting in fact-filled but never dry or wordy detail about the discovery and destruction of this remarkable species, and documenting the amazingly sparse extent of knowledge concerning it that was gleaned before it was lost to science, and the world, almost 70 years ago. --Fortean Times

About the Author

David Owen is the author of 19 fiction and nonfiction titles, including Tasmanian Devil and Shark: In peril in the sea. He is the Official Secretary of the Governor of Tasmania.

David Pemberton is a wildlife biologist and former manager of the Tasmanian Government's Save the Tasmanian Devil Program. He is co-editor of Saving the Tasmanian Devil, and co-author with David Owen of Tasmanian Devil.