Tasmanian Tiger Hunting Style Resembled an Opportunistic Predator, Study Finds

A new study of carnivore locomotion suggests that the extinct Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, was more likely an opportunistic predator than a persistent pursuit hunter like a wolf.

“The thylacine was a large, 10–28 kg carnivorous marsupial that once lived across mainland Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea,” said Dr Christopher Clemente of the University of the Sunshine Coast and colleagues.

The species disappeared from mainland Australia and New Guinea approximately 3,500 years ago and survived in Tasmania until the 1930s. The last known thylacine died in captivity at Hobart’s Beaumaris Zoo in 1936.

The thylacine belonged to the order Dasyuromorphia, a group of carnivorous marsupials that includes antechinuses, planigales, dunnarts, quolls and the Tasmanian devil. Members of this group range from tiny insect-eating species weighing less than 250 g to much larger predators.

Small dasyuromorphs generally use a body posture similar to that of rodents, while larger species tend to adopt a more upright stance. These changes reflect broader patterns also observed among placental mammals.

Quolls and Tasmanian devils are generally regarded as solitary ambush predators. Tasmanian devils are also well known for scavenging carrion. Like many marsupials, these animals commonly use a bounding gait rather than a gallop when moving quickly.

What type of predator was the thylacine? Earlier studies based largely on anatomy produced different interpretations. Some researchers compared its body shape to that of a dog-like pursuit predator, while others emphasized similarities to cat-like hunters. These comparisons helped inspire popular names such as “marsupial wolf” and “Tasmanian tiger.”

In the new study, researchers used geometric morphometrics to compare the locomotion of 48 species of carnivorous mammals, including domestic cats, hyenas, wolves and Tasmanian devils.

They digitized 115 video-recorded strides and tracked 19 anatomical landmarks on each animal frame by frame. This allowed the team to create a mathematical “shape space” showing how the posture of each species changed during a stride.

The researchers classified the animals into five broad hunting-strategy groups based on factors such as tracking distance, prey size and social behavior. These groups included anteaters, opportunistic grapplers, large grapplers, opportunistic pouncers and social hunters.

The team then tested whether these ecological categories corresponded with differences in body movement, while accounting for body mass, gait style and evolutionary relationships.

Using rare archival footage of the last thylacine filmed at Hobart’s Beaumaris Zoo, the researchers analyzed the animal’s walking posture and compared its locomotion with that of living carnivorous mammals.

Across several statistical analyses, the thylacine’s walking style most closely matched that of an opportunistic predator. Its overall posture also showed some similarities to species with more grappling-based hunting strategies.

“We used archival footage and modern biomechanical analysis to examine how posture, movement and locomotion can provide clues about an animal’s hunting behavior,” Dr Clemente said.

“We grouped the animals into five categories, ranging from social hunters that pursue prey together to predators that grapple with or pounce on their prey.”

“It was interesting to find that the Tasmanian tiger was more likely to have been an opportunistic predator, similar to a fox, jackal or coyote, rather than a specialized pursuit hunter like a tiger or wolf,” he added.

The findings suggest that hunting ecology is reflected in the way predators move, particularly during faster locomotion associated with acceleration, maneuvering and prey capture.

Although evolutionary history strongly influenced the walking patterns of the species studied, the researchers found that valuable information about hunting behavior was still preserved in their movements.

The study was published in BMC Ecology and Evolution.

_____

J. L. Gashuk et al. 2026. Convergent carnivores or divergent dasyurids? Inferring predation and movement strategies of extant and extinct carnivorous marsupials from locomotor morphology. BMC Ecology and Evolution 26, 69; doi: 10.1186/s12862-026-02569-x.