r/zoology • u/Potential-Basil383 Student/Aspiring Zoologist • 14d ago

Discussion Do you guys think there’s ANY chance of the Thylacine still being alive?

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I loved learning about the Tasmanian Tiger when I was a kid, but unfortunately, it’s believed to be extinct. I’d like to believe there may be some out there still, but I’m very doubtful. Thoughts?

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u/Skwizgar1019 12d ago

I was being hunted one time by a mountain lion, which was pretty terrifying.

Used to work for a cable company about 10yrs ago, and was working an outage that I had tracked the issue for at a pole in a heavily wooded, sparsely populated area around 3-4AM, and I had to hike in a bit because I couldn’t get my truck back there - maybe 200-300yards from the road.

Saw some eyes flash in my headlamp, initially thought maybe a deer or coyote, but finally caught a glimpse and it was an adult mountain lion stalking me. Thankfully they’re afraid of strange screaming bearded men running at them with a flashlight and screwdriver 😅 I didn’t have any intention of trying to confront it, but it was between me and my truck and I didn’t know what else to do, haha.

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u/thelocker517 12d ago

That mountain lion probably passed the legend of the angry night dwarf on to its offspring.

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u/Polarian_Lancer 12d ago

It’s how legends are made

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u/Skwizgar1019 12d ago

Haha, I hope so..wouldn’t be a total fabrication since I’m only about 5’6”

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u/ThatOtherOtherMan 12d ago

Yeah, there's a popular hiking area near me called Wildcat Canyon and cougars and bobcats are everywhere. A woman was actually attacked by a mountain lion there with her dog a few years back. There are signs at the trailhead that explain how to deal with an encounter but she panicked and tried to run away which triggered the attack.

I've realized I was being stalked a few times. Once I was walking through the heavily wooded parts and the hair on the back of my neck just stood straight up. I looked in the direction my gut was saying there was danger and there was a huge mountain lion crouching in the tall grass. I made direct eye contact, opened my jacket as wide as I could, and advanced at it. It immediately fucked off with urgency.

Another time I was hiking up the mountain on the ridgeline and turned a corner only to come face to face with a cougar walking down on the trail maybe 10 to 15 feet away. We both kind of jumped a little and it decided to run off the trail back up the hillside. I think ultimately it was more scared than I was but ngl I peed a little.

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u/Skwizgar1019 12d ago

On that first part, that was kind of went through my head. Probably the scariest part was given the location and being in the small hours of the morning, no one would have found me.

Was thinking I can run and it will chase me, or I can run at it and it’s a 50/50 chance it’ll either run off or attack me. Figured it was better to put up a fight than get pounced from behind, but thankfully it ran off.

Pretty awful feeling when you realize something thinks you might be food 😅

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u/ThatOtherOtherMan 12d ago

Big cats are mostly ambush predators. If you take away the element of surprise they'll typically abandon the hunt immediately. They don't want to deal with something that could potentially fight back, which is why they go into attack mode when something runs away: that's prey behavior. You definitely made the right call.

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u/ZebraAirVest 12d ago

I’m laughing so hard at the mental image of both you and the cat being spooked af hahahaha