THE
THYLACINE IN CAPTIVITY: -
THE HISTORICAL THYLACINE FILMS -
(film 2)
.
.
This
is the oldest of the four thylacine films taken at the Beaumaris Zoo at
the Queen's Domain site. The quality of the first few seconds of
the film is poor, but improves as the film progresses. Made at the
beginning of 1928, it commences with a scene of a hat being waved by the
zoo's curator, Arthur Reid, to prompt the thylacines into action for the
camera. It proceeds to show a keeper in the enclosure with three
thylacines, wielding a broom, presumably to ward off any untoward advances
by the animals. It is the only film in existence that shows a group
of thylacines interacting. The empty pouch of the adult female can
clearly be seen as she enters the night pen. This female arrived
at the zoo in January 1928 with two semi-independent young. Shortly
after this film was made, the mother and her pups died from an unspecified
disease. The two juveniles shown in the film are
not
related to the adult female. One of the juveniles bears the scar
of its capture, in the form of an amputated forefoot (photo
1), (photo
2), (photo
3). The sequence concludes with the animals being ushered into
their night pen.
