Reviving the Paris Thylacines

Museums, Extinction, and Public Environmental Sentiments

Abstract

As we grapple with human impact on the environment in the period now referred to as the Anthropocene, natural history collections are accruing new meaning. Nowhere is this more relevant than in relation to the display of extinct species. In this article I consider the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) and will examine what the display of this carnivorous marsupial in Paris tells us about the potentialities of natural history collections inengaging the public to confront extinction. This article will follow the thylacine through the various spaces of the Natural History Museum in Paris. It will first consider the historical display of the thylacine in the Ménagerie and the Jardin des Plantes La Salle des Espèces Menacées et des Espèces Disparues (Room of Extinct and Endangered Species). I will then turn to newer modalities of diaplay such as the augmented reality experience, Revivre, in which extinct animals are reanimated, and the Dodo Manège, a carousel where you can ride on extinct and endangered animals. Arguing for a complex affective repetoir, this article examines the value of a range of emotions for confronting extinction in museum spaces.