Tasmanian Tigers Were Not Cats

Genesis 1:25

“And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”

Tasmanian tigers were not cats. They weren’t even tigers. Many people refer to them as Tasmanian wolves because they look and act like dogs. But they aren’t dogs either. And their more correct name is thylacine.

Perhaps we need to retrace our steps a bit. I am not even sure whether to use the present or past tense. The last known living thylacine died in Hobart Zoo in Tasmania, Australia, on September 7, 1936. However, since then, there have been a number of alleged sightings – the last recorded being in 2008.

The thylacine was a marsupial – like koalas, wombats and kangaroos. Its babies were born relatively undeveloped and continued their development in their mother’s pouch. They were carnivorous animals – they hunted their prey in a manner similar to wolves, which they resemble. The tiger moniker was due to their stripes.

Evolutionists consider dogs to be highly evolved animals. Marsupials, on the other hand, are considered by evolutionists to be primitive. So which is it to be? Their dog-like carnivorous behavior is at odds with their status as marsupials.

For paradoxes such as this, evolutionists talk about ‘convergent evolution’. But this simply seems to be putting a label to something that they cannot explain. Evolutionists have to place the thylacine in a family all of its own because, while they believe in common ancestry, they cannot suggest what this might look like.

Creationists have no such problem. God made all animals, including thylacines, to reproduce after their kind.

Prayer: Father God, help us to be good stewards of Your creation, managing the dominion that You have given us with faithfulness. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: Doolan, R., Tale Behind the Tasmanian Tiger, Creation 17(3):20–21—June 1995. Image: Thylacines at Beaumaris Zoo, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 1910; Public Domain.