Know as Tasmanian tigers due to their stripes, thylacines (Thylacinus cynocephalus) were the largest modern carnivorous marsupial according to the Smithsonian Institution.
They once existed across the Australian continent, but their habitat had been reduced to the island of Tasmania by the time European settlers arrived.
According the National Museum of Australia:
Thylacines were believed to kill livestock and were often shot and trapped. They were a convenient scapegoat for poor financial returns and high stock losses at a time of rural depression in Tasmania.
Thylacines were declared a protected species in 1936, the same year the last known specimen died. Unconfirmed sightings of Tasmanian tigers continue to this day.
Using preserved specimens, a team at Pennsylvania State University has successfully sequenced the animal's mitochondrial DNA.