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The highly anticipated photos of a ‘living’ Tasmania tiger family have been released and the man who captured them says he’s “absolutely confident” at least one is a thylacine.
Neil Waters released a video last week teasing fans about the photos which he claimed were proof the extinct animals were still alive.
But the tinny-sipping South Australian Tassie tiger hunter, who filmed the clip wandering around northern Tasmanian bushland, was quickly shutdown, with the museum there ruling the photos were likely of a pademelon.
In the series of images, the one photo Mr Waters is confident is a tiger joey, experts believe is probably a Tasmanian pademelon joey.
READ MORE: What can prove Tassie tigers are alive
Mr Waters’ latest video includes a series of interviews with ‘experts’ ruling out all kinds of animals they could be, one of them the pademelon.
They include international dog and cat show judges, vets and wildlife experts, most of them choosing to stay anonymous.
“Five vets all agree it looks like a four-legged animal and not a macropod that hops,” Mr Waters says.
“There are some very telltale signs here that this is everything but a pademelon.”
Mr Waters says these signs include the way the tail sits, the fact the feet are broad and there are four toe pads with claws.
He says the animal also has short feet like a Tasmanian tiger and “shiny hocks”, with evidence of striping on the tail.
Mr Waters says the head is “rather broad for a pademelon”.
“It must be the boofiest pademelon head around,” he says.
While Mr Waters says the larger animals in the photos – which he claims to be the mother and father – aren’t giving much away, he says the joey says it all.
“But why the hell would a baby thylacine, which I am absolutely confident that this animal is, be following a pademelon and be being followed by a pademelon?,” he asks viewers.
“Questions do arise about this bizarre revelation.
“Here we have a carnivore hanging out with two herbivores, can somebody please explain to me why this is occurring? I’d love to know.”
READ MORE: Unearthed footage shows last-known glimpse of extinct Tasmanian tiger
Nick Mooney, Honorary Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, last week said that based on the physical characteristics shown in the photos, the animals were “very unlikely to be thylacines”.
“With all due respect I disagree with Nick Mooney’s opinion and that’s fine – that’s perfectly OK – and he encourages me in his report to get as many opinions as I can because his is only one opinion,” Mr Waters says in the new video.
A senior veterinarian and former RSPCA president is quoted in the video as saying there is a 70 to 80 per cent chance the animal is a thylacine.
He says it comes back to the foot of the animal and asks what else could it be, with most features ruling anything obvious out.
But one ‘expert’ said he’d only put a $50 bet down that it was the famed Aussie animal – “a safe bet” Mr Waters agrees at the end of the clip.
What do you think about the photos? Share your thoughts in the comments below or vote in our poll above
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