One of Australia’s most fabled species, the Tasmanian tiger, also known as the thylacine, went extinct on the continent’s mainland around 2000 years ago. A small population of thylacines persisted on Tasmania when Europeans arrived in Australia.
The species was rapidly viewed as a pest and a dangerous threat to livestock, though many of these claims were highly exaggerated. Over 2,000 bounties were paid by the government between 1888 to 1909 to eradicate the species. A sudden decline in the thylacine population was reported in the early 1900s, and the species was declared extinct in 1936.