Jacques Kleynhans
Methane-spewing cow burps are killing the planet. Livestock contributes 14.5 per cent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, and cows make up two-thirds of that figure. Four years ago, Josh Goldman read research from Australia s national research agency CSIRO and James Cook University in Queensland that suggested a solution: seaweed.
Sprinkle a tiny bit of
Asparagopsis taxiformis into a cow s dinner, making up about 0.2 per cent of their total meal, and they burp 85 per cent less methane – and, early trials show, require less food overall, as all that belching wastes energy. But for this red seaweed to solve cow burps, it needs to be easy to grow: 200 million tonnes of it will be needed if it is to feed the world s cattle.
But Nick Mooney, honorary curator of vertebrate zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery reviewed and assessed the material provided by Waters.
In a statement, TMAG said Mooney had “concluded that based on the physical characteristics shown in the photos provided, the animals are very unlikely to be thylacines, and most likely Tasmanian pademelons”.
“TMAG regularly receives requests for verification from members of the public who hope that the thylacine is still with us. However, sadly there have been no confirmed sightings documented of the thylacine since 1936.”
The thylacine is believed to have been extinct since 1936, when the last living thylacine, Benjamin, died in Hobart zoo. But unconfirmed sightings have regularly been reported for decades.
Article content
An Australian group of enthusiasts searching for extinct thylacines believes it has discovered three Tasmanian tigers, but its evidence has been dismissed by wildlife experts, who said the photographed animals were most likely pademelons.
The Thylacine Awareness Group of Australia (TAGOA), a non-profit organization dedicated to the research and discovering of thylacine – an extinct Tasmanian tiger, the last of which died almost 90 years ago – reported that it had photographed the three animals in north-east Tasmania.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser, or Tasmanian tigers spotted in Australia are unlikely to be extinct thylacines: Wildfire experts Back to video
Tasmanian tigers spotted in Australia are unlikely to be extinct thylacines: Wildfire experts nationalpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Study suggests the Tasmanian tiger survived into the 21st century
by James Fair on 4 February 2021
The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, most likely went extinct in the late 1990s or early 2000s, and could still persist in the most remote parts of the island, according to new research that is still undergoing peer review.
More than 1,200 records of sightings and physical evidence from 1910 up to 2019 were collected and collated by scientists at the University of Tasmania and used to model where and when the thylacine is likely to have persisted.
This study challenges the accepted consensus that the thylacine went extinct in the decade or two after the last known individual died in Hobart Zoo in 1936.