By far, the most spectacular discovery yet of thylacine remains from the Nullarbor was made on the 23 October 1966 at a cave (now known as Thylacine Hole) on Mundrabilla Station, 110 km west of Eucla, Western Australia (Lowry & Lowry 1967).  An almost vertical shaft 11½ metres (37.7 ft.) deep opened into a broad cave which was littered with the remains of native species.  Innumerable animals had plummeted down the shaft and perished, their bodies becoming naturally preserved on

the cave floor.  The cave's main chamber registered a temperature of 19°C (66.2°F) and a relative humidity of 67%.  The odour emanating from dead animals within the cave apparently acted as a lure for carnivores, which occasionally became trapped as well.  However, their remains were far fewer in number than those of the herbivorous species.  A well preserved carcass of a thylacine was found lying 140 metres (approx. 459 ft.) from the cave's entrance.  Most of the soft tissue had deteriorated into a thick, tarry substance bearing a musty odour.  However, the tongue and left eye were still reasonably intact.  The hair and skin were in . . A close-up of the head of the Mundrabilla thylacine carcass. Courtesy: Western Australian Museum. .

a very good state of preservation, and even the stripes were still clearly visible.  Three separate radiocarbon tests have dated the specimen to between 4600-4700 years old (Lowry & Merrilees 1969, Merrilees 1970).  However, Douglas (1986) is of the opinion that the carcass is in fact quite recent - perhaps only a matter of months old at the time of its discovery, and feels certain that it has been contaminated with soluble carbonates from the flood water that occasionally enters the cave, giving a false carbon-14 date.  Douglas further supports his argument for the specimen being recent with the statement that "The carcass in its present condition could not exist for more than 4000 years in a cave containing flesh-eating beetles and subject to high humidity and flooding".  Douglas

. . The Mundrabilla thylacine carcass as it appeared when found on the floor of Thylacine Hole cave. (1990) also notes that the layer of limestone rubble on which the specimen was found was the result of a very recent rock fall from the ceiling, and he suspects that the carcass was probably placed on the rock pile by previous, unknown visitors to the cave.     In 1990, a desiccated thylacine head was found in Murra-el-elevyn Cave.  There are numerous other caves (many unexamined) on the Nullarbor which could possibly contain similar remains.

    Lastly, T. cynocephalus material is also known from Papua New Guinea.  In the course of an archaeological expedition, the left half of a thylacine mandible was excavated by Susan Bulmer from a rock shelter at Kiowa, in the Eastern Highlands (Van Deusen 1963).