---
title: "When did the last thylacine die?"
description: "At Hobart Zoo, Tasmania, 7 September 1936. What happened, why it has not happened since, and whether it plausibly could again."
url: https://atoneplace.net/the-last-time/thylacine/
site: "At One Place"
---

# When did the last thylacine die?

**When did the last thylacine die?: 7 September 1936**

At Hobart Zoo, Tasmania

The last known Tasmanian tiger died of exposure after being locked out of its shelter overnight. The species had been given legal protection fifty-nine days earlier. Australia now marks 7 September as National Threatened Species Day. Reported sightings have continued for ninety years and none has been substantiated.

- **What:** At Hobart Zoo, Tasmania
- **When:** 7 September 1936
- **Category:** The natural world
- **Could this change?:** Not in any foreseeable way. The event is closed.

## The natural world

| Question | When |
| --- | --- |
| When did Vesuvius last erupt? | March 1944 |
| When did the last passenger pigeon die? | 1 September 1914 |
| When did the last ice age end? | About 11,700 years ago |
| When did the Earth's magnetic poles last reverse? | About 780,000 years ago |

> This page gives a date and never a "years ago". These pages are built as static files, so a computed interval would freeze at build time and quietly become wrong — which on a reference site is worse than making the reader do the subtraction.

## Common questions

### When did the last thylacine die?

7 September 1936 — At Hobart Zoo, Tasmania.

### What happened?

The last known Tasmanian tiger died of exposure after being locked out of its shelter overnight. The species had been given legal protection fifty-nine days earlier. Australia now marks 7 September as National Threatened Species Day. Reported sightings have continued for ninety years and none has been substantiated.

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## Sources

- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Smithsonian Institution (https://naturalhistory.si.edu/)