Before dying 85 years ago, the Tasmanian Tiger roamed Australia and New Guinea.
Colourization has brought back century-old footage of the Tasmanian Tiger in Captivity, giving us a glimpse at the extinct animal.
The Tasmanian Tiger, a wolf-like thylacine, was formerly a wild animal. It died in New Guinea 85 years ago.
The elusive beast left behind only a few snippets of footage, totalling around three minutes of black-and white silent film.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia stated that the longest of these rare clips was an 80-second video of the last Tasmanian tiger known, Benjamin. It has been colourized.
The footage was given by the government agency to Samuel Francois-Steininger of Composite Films in Paris, who then completed the tedious colourization process in over 200 hours.
Francois-Steininger stated that the footage was "stunning" given its age, but it was "very difficult to colourise, because, aside from the animal in the frame, there were very few elements in it," in a post on the archive’s website.
He said that the quality and resolution of the image meant there were many details. The fur was dense so a lot hair had to be animated and detailed.
Colourization has brought to life centuries-old footage showing the last Tasmanian tiger captured in captivity.
The video shows the marsupial, a carnivorous marsupial, pacing about a small enclosure and lying down, sniffing, and scratching its sandy brown coat with thick dark stripes.
The release was made Tuesday in Australia to commemorate National Threatened Species Day. This day is observed each year on September 7, to remember Benjamin's 1936 death.
David Fleay shot the footage in December 1933 at Hobart's Beaumaris Zoo. The naturalist was said to have been bitten while filming.
Further exploration of NFSA's 'New' footage featuring extinct Tasmanian tigers
2021 AFP
