# Thylacine (*Thylacinus cynocephalus*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/thylacine  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), also called the Tasmanian wolf or Tasmanian tiger, is a marsupial mammal in the family Thylacinidae and the order Dasyuromorphia. It is listed as Extinct (EX) on the IUCN Red List, and checklists record it in Australia. Classed as a large animal by adult body mass, it weighed 25 kg, with values up to 30 kg, and had a body length of 1.6 m and a height of 60 cm. Its lifespan was 11 years, with values up to 13 years, and it had 3 young per litter and 1.55 litters per year.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 25 kg – 30 kg |
| Length | 1.6 m |
| Height | 60 cm |
| Lifespan | 11.2 years |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 13 years |
| Main food | vertebrates |
| Habitat | Not recorded |
| Young per litter or clutch | 3 |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1.55 |
| Conservation status | Extinct (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | 1 country |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Mammalia
- order: Dasyuromorphia
- family: Thylacinidae
- genus: Thylacinus
- species: *Thylacinus cynocephalus* (Harris, 1808)

Synonyms: *Didelphis cynocephalus*

## Countries on record

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

Australia

## Common questions

### Is the thylacine extinct?

Yes. The thylacine is listed as Extinct (EX) on the IUCN Red List.

### What kind of animal is the thylacine?

The thylacine is a marsupial mammal in the family Thylacinidae, order Dasyuromorphia. It is also called the Tasmanian wolf or Tasmanian tiger.

### How big was the thylacine?

The thylacine weighed 25 kg, with values up to 30 kg, and had a body length of 1.6 m and a height of 60 cm.

### How long did the thylacine live?

The thylacine's lifespan was 11 years, with values up to 13 years.

### How many young did the thylacine have?

The thylacine had 3 young per litter and 1.55 litters per year.

### Which countries is the thylacine recorded in?

Checklists record the thylacine in Australia.

### Who named the thylacine and when?

The thylacine's scientific name, Thylacinus cynocephalus, carries the authority (Harris, 1808).

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Cite as: Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/thylacine