A newly discovered animal of the Derwent [Tasmanian tiger – Thylacine cynocephalus], c. 1809
John Lewin
Watercolour
Linnean Society of London
Mss 630/10
The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, was described by Paterson in 1805. This was the same year he sent Sir Joseph Banks a specimen, along with plants, wombat and Tasmanian devil skulls, animals in spirits and the skull of an Aboriginal person. Lewin’s drawing (made in Sydney) is clearly based on a dead specimen, being stretched and thinner than the actual animal.
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