The Furneaux Group consists of a string of islands located in the Bass Strait, the waterway separating Tasmania from the Australian mainland. The group of 100 islands has a total land area of slightly more than 2,000 square kilometers; Flinders Island is the largest in size and population. Less than 1,000 people reside on the islands.
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Thylacinus cynocephalus - The Tasmanian wolf was already extinct on the Australian mainland when first observed and recorded in Tasmania by French naturalist Jacques Labillardière in 1792. Although thylacine resembled a canid, it had one distinct feature, a marsupial pouch, to distinguish it from canids. The female pouch contained 4 teats and opened backwards; males had a scrotal pouch to protect the external reproductive organs. Thylacine, an apex predator, had muscular jaws with the capacity of opening to 80 degrees.
