Thylacine Skull

This is the skull of an adult thylacine or Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus).

Rather than being pack-hunting top predators like grey wolves, thylacines have long narrow snouts more similar to the South American maned wolf, which mainly target smaller prey like rabbits and rodents. Thylacines have long hook-like canine teeth and rarely show broken teeth - which is common in predators like wolves that target large struggling prey. Thylacines lack the bone-crushing rear cheek teeth found in the mouths of dogs and wolves, instead having a row of sharp teeth better shaped for slicing softer food. These observations point to a diet of smaller animals like bandicoots and young pademelons.

Registration number: TMAG A244

Scanning and data processing: This model was created by Douglas Rovinsky using an Artec Space Spider surface scanner.