Particularly present in Australia, the thylacine, also known under the name of the Tasmanian tiger, disappeared in 1936. It was able to be reborn Tuesday thanks to the colorization of a video of 1933. The sequence was presented on the occasion of the commemoration of extinct or endangered species during National Threatened Species Day in Australia, reports

Numerama

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This restoration of images of the Tasmanian tiger is a great first.

And for good reason, with images from 1933, the technical challenges were numerous for the teams of the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), in charge of the operation.

This 80-second silent video was captured by naturalist David Fleay.

This is the longest known film footage of this species.

Incredible work by @ compositestudi0, led by Samuel François-Steininger, to color the last known Tasmanian tiger #NationalThreatenedSpeciesDay https://t.co/gXcWiCz1Zk

- NFSA -National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (@NFSAonline) September 7, 2021

"Pay tribute to the last representative of an extinct species"

“For thylacine, I had to take on a different kind of challenge and responsibility. I had to take care of the rare filmed sequences and pay tribute to the last representative of a species that disappeared 85 years ago, ”explained Samuel François-Steininger, who led this restoration work. Before proceeding with the colorization of the film, the NFSA restored the 35mm nitrate film to a digitized 4K version.

“The 4K scan provided by the NFSA was absolutely stunning for a 1933 35mm negative, although the colorization was very difficult, because apart from the animal there was little in the frame.

And due to the resolution and picture quality, there was a lot of detail.

The fur was dense and many hairs had to be detailed and animated, ”added the colourization specialist.

In order to know the true colors of this species and obtain a more than precise colorization, Samuel François-Steininger was able to go and contemplate the skins kept in the dark by various museums.

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  • Biodiversity

  • Planet

  • Animals

  • Video

  • Threatened species

  • Australia