Thylacine Refuge

Instructions

What is this thylacine game supposed to be? This game features an AU where the last thylacines have been saved before they went extinct and/or have brought back using de-extinction technology. To live to the fullest, they are kept in a wildlife refuge to prevent any panic from non-native species, like dogs. There are specialized island reserves and fences with cameras to manage or monitor the animals. What is a thylacine? Thylacines, also known as Tasmanian/marsupial tigers/wolves, are marsupials closely related to Tasmanian dasyurids, numbats, quolls, and dunnarts. They served as the apexes in their ecosystem, before they were spiraled to extinction by humans. Why are thylacines needed? Without thylacines, the Tasmanian ecosystem undergoes trophic downgrading as meso-species overpopulate and overgraze on plants and food species. Without the thylacine, Tasmanian marsupials struggle with food and intensive population increases. While the wedge-tailed eagle can temporarily function as the main apex, it struggles to track food of the nocturnal understory and is ALSO critically endangered. With the thylacine, weight is lifted from the raptor AND its forested habitat will be protected, too. What can be done about thylacine trophic downgrading? To solve this, entire habitats are dedicated towards the remaining animals to allow repopulating AND reintroduction. The animals would resume their natural lives without monopolizing intensive niches or resources, unlike a dingo, per say. What are thylacines' connections to dingoes? Thylacines were NOT like dingoes, but, rather, were more akin to the dasyurid marsupials, regardingly, their bounding, slower-metabolism, and solitary nature. Any similarities were merely convergent evolution, where two unrelated species evolve similar traits. Thylacines actually lacked the jaw strength to take large fauna, like the sheep they were framed for eating, but, instead, specialized with a wide mouth and sharp teeth for targeting smaller, weaker, and younger individuals, preventing massive populations of adults. What is the difference between a dingo and a thylacine? Thylacines could handle droughts better, live alone, and thrive on fewer resources. On the mainland, the introduction of dingoes added a social dynamic-based and fast-metabolizing animals that monopolize niches and resources, effectively depriving and eating mainland marsupials, native-hens, and thylacines into extinction. Modern reptiles and avian apexes are often overwhelmed by packs that they never would have faced. The thylacine, however, niche-partitioned. It could not single out on eagles and large monitors, but, instead, tried to leave them be. Not only that, dingoes crash extensively, surplus consume, and concentrate in certain regions, upsetting the Australian balance by providing gaps for non-native species, and restricting native ones. What were thylacines like? Like other dasyurids, they were bounding, drought-tolerant, and solitary apexes. Thylacines have also been known to be CAPABLE walkers, allowing them to behave less like a Kangaroo, and more like a feline, such as Scratch Cat! However, Thylacines convergently resemble a canid, thus leading many to assume they behaved as such. Despite this, they also retained pouches and were still very much a marsupial. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How can we de-extinct the thylacine? Step 1: Sequence the thylacine genome in mainland and preserved remains. Step 2: Identify genetic markers of the dunnart and modify to match the thylacine. Step 3: Incubate the thylacine cells in an exo-pouch, until fully developed. Step 4: Release the thylacines into an enclosed refuge to document their health and impact. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Marsupials: • Dunnart • Numbat • Quoll • Devil • Thylacine • Bandicoot • Wombat • Macropod 2. Reptiles: • Native-Hen • Wedge-Tailed Eagle • Emu • Goanna • Python