Sexual dimorphism (continued):

    Robert Paddle (2000, p. 4), in his book: "The Last Tasmanian Tiger", quotes an average direct length for an adult male thylacine as 1.63m, and an adult female as 1.54m.  The average male body length measurement as cited by Paddle is consistent with the sample group.  The average body length measurement for females however, is some 11% greater than the sample group.

    Regarding tail length in relation to overall body length, Moeller (1968) notes that: "The tail ranges from 40% to 60% of the head body length".  From the sample of 18 males, the tail length averaged 43.1% of the nose-to-root-of-tail measure, and from the sample of 9 females, the tail length averaged 45.3%.  These figures are consistent with the lower range quoted by Moeller.

. Female thylacine body measurements (mm) taken from 10 specimens.  Source: Dr. Stephen Sleightholme. The darker red is the nose-to-root-of-tail measurement, and contrasting lighter shade the tail length.  The Cambridge Museum of Zoology skin specimen A6 7.6 has a withered tail, and this is shown as a yellow base to the column.  All imperial measurements have been converted to centimetres at 2.54cm to 1 inch.

    References to the thylacine's body weight (mass) are rarely noted in historical literature.  The few historical measurements that do exist are mainly 19th century in origin, together with the odd Tasmanian newspaper reference for the weights of animals either captured or killed.  Moeller (1968) noted: "Thylacine body weight varies considerably throughout the records but anything between 15 to 35 kilograms seems to be the general consensus". Paddle (2000), in his book "The Last Tasmanian Tiger" notes: "the average weight for an adult thylacine as being 65 pounds or 29.5 kilograms".

    The above graph plots the thylacine body mass measurements in kilograms taken from two historical sources - e.g., that of Crisp (1855) and Paterson (1805), two 20th century post-mortem reports of animals that died at the London Zoo, and from three historical reports in the Tasmanian press [Examiner 1 (22nd November 1887, p. 2), Examiner 2 (28th May 1887, p. 2) and the Cornwall Chronicle (2nd September 1868, p. 4)].  The post-mortem reports are those from two thylacines, one male and one female, which died at London Zoo in 1914.  The body mass for the two specimens was 57½lbs and 29lbs respectively or in metric equivalent 26.1kg and 13.2kg.  Accurate body mass measurements from a dependable source of this type are very rare indeed.

    The mean body weight represented by this small mixed-sexed sample of seven animals is 23.3kg (51.3lbs) within a range of 13 to 30.4kg or 28.7lbs to 67lbs.  With most mammals, and in particular marsupials, the maximum body mass is often two to three times that of the mean for the species.

If we take the mean for this sample group of 22.1kg (48.6lbs), then animals exceeding 45kg (99lbs) will no doubt have existed in the general population, although it must be noted that these would have been exceptional individuals.  The Tasmanian newspaper the Wellington Times & Agricultural & Mining Gazette of the 28th July 1892 (p. 2) notes the kill of a large "tiger", and cites its weight:

. A clipping from the Cornwall Chronicle of the 2nd September 1868 (p. 4).

    "A large native tiger was caught here on Wednesday last by Mr. A. Tengdahl; the animal weighed ll6lbs (52.6kg) and the skin measured 6ft 7in (201cm) long by 4ft (122cm) across.  He was caught in a spring snare, but broke the springer and got away for a considerable distance, but the broken portion of the pole caught in some bushes, and by going round and round he got hopelessly entangled and was shot.  The beast is the largest of the kind I have heard of and has a beautifully marked skin with 17 broad black stripes across its back".