Rock painting of extinct thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) at Ubirr, Kakadu NP, Northern Territory, Australia

This rock painting of a thylacine at Ubirr was presumably done before the species became locally extinct, making the artwork at least 2000 years old. Thylacines once lived in Kakadu but are now extinct, after dingoes came to Australia 3500 years ago, which hastened the mainland demise of thylacines by 2000 years ago. This carnivorous marsupial is also called the Tasmanian tiger due to its aggressive hunting style, its striped back and its last refuge in Tasmania, ending with the death of the last one in a zoo in 1936. On Tasmania, ranchers had persecuted thylacines as alleged pests. The group of rock outcrops known as Ubirr rise on the edge of the Nadab floodplain in Kakadu National Park. While most of its present paintings were created about 2000 years ago, Ubirr's rock faces have been continuously painted and repainted since 40,000 BCE, right up to modern times.

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Filename: 23AUS-4745.jpg
Copyright: © Tom Dempsey / PhotoSeek.com
Image Size: 5472x3648 / 9.7MB; http://www.photoseek.com/; Animalia Art Work PhotoBest animal art history past pattern
Contained in galleries: Highlights 2023, AUSTRALIA: NORTHERN TERRITORY, 2023 Apr: AUSTRALIA + INDONESIA, AUSTRALIA: favorites

This rock painting of a thylacine at Ubirr was presumably done before the species became locally extinct, making the artwork at least 2000 years old. Thylacines once lived in Kakadu but are now extinct, after dingoes came to Australia 3500 years ago, which hastened the mainland demise of thylacines by 2000 years ago. This carnivorous marsupial is also called the Tasmanian tiger due to its aggressive hunting style, its striped back and its last refuge in Tasmania, ending with the death of the last one in a zoo in 1936. On Tasmania, ranchers had persecuted thylacines as alleged pests. The group of rock outcrops known as Ubirr rise on the edge of the Nadab floodplain in Kakadu National Park. While most of its present paintings were created about 2000 years ago, Ubirr's rock faces have been continuously painted and repainted since 40,000 BCE, right up to modern times.