British collector snaps up rare Tasmanian tiger head for £62,000

A British taxidermy enthusiast has made the purchase of a lifetime, snapping up what’s believed to be the only surviving Tasmanian tiger head in existence for £62,000 ($A119,000) at auction.

The rare specimen of the extinct Australian marsupial was initially mistaken for a stuffed fox and listed with an estimated value of just £30 to £50.

But two eagle-eyed bidders quickly realised they were looking at something far more valuable, sparking a fierce bidding war.

James Cranfield, the successful buyer and taxidermy enthusiast, couldn’t contain his excitement over the extraordinary find.

“I’ve sort of peaked in my career. It won’t get any better than this,” Cranfield said.

“And as goofy and as silly as it looks, this is so special. This might be able to unlock something that we previously didn’t know about an extinct species.”

The Tasmanian tiger, also known as the thylacine, disappeared almost a century ago, making any surviving specimens incredibly rare and scientifically valuable.

The discovery has excited collectors and scientists alike, with hopes the specimen could provide new insights into the extinct marsupial.

Cranfield’s auction purchase comes more than a year after a US biotech and genetic engineering company worth billions of dollars announced it had brought back the long extinct dire wolf.

In April last year, Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences said it had “de-extincted” the animal, which died out over 10,000 years ago, using ancient DNA, cloning and gene-editing technology to alter the genes of a grey wolf.

The news caused a buzz of excitement within the science community and created a flurry of questions about how the technology worked.

Closer to home, scientists in Melbourne, led by Professor Andrew Pask, were on a journey towards a similar scientific breakthrough — this time resurrecting the infamous Tasmanian tiger.

With Colossal’s backing, Pask said in May 2025 that he was confident we could see the animal roam the island again in the not-too-distant future.

Pask has always been enthralled by the Tasmanian tiger, also known as the thylacine, and has spearheaded efforts to bring back the animal for the past 25 years.