THE LAST OF ITS KIND
This takes place during chapter 3 of my story 'It Washed Ashore'
In order to paint the dummy that Gilligan found they would need berries that stained well. A few hours after they had left they were walking alongside the bottom of the mountain when they came upon an amazing old looking makeshift staircase built right into the mountain. From what they could tell the stairs were made of stones, bark and bamboo while the railing was made of old logs, vines, and bamboo. It looked ancient but still well built.
"Fascinating!" The Professor replied as he climbed a couple of steps. "This must've been built by the people who once lived here long ago. Would you like to go up?"
"Of course!" Gilligan replied excitedly as they began to climb.
They climbed for the next few hours with the occasional twist and turn. At one point the mountain leveled off. They walked several feet and came upon another set of stairs and began to climb those. This time it was like climbing up through a tunnel because the trees were so thick. Eventually the mountain leveled off again and they came upon a heavily wooded area. They looked at each other and began walking again.
Occasionally they came upon some berry bushes and they picked them. They continued walking until they came up to a small lake right as the sun was beginning to set. The Professor was about to kneel down to fill his canteen when Gilligan tapped him on the shoulder.
"Professor look over there!" He whispered pointing. "Is that a dingo?"
The Professor looked to where he was pointing to. On the other side of the lake poking out of a bush was a yellow brown dog-like creature with short round bat like ears. When it hopped out of the bush they gasped because they realized it wasn't a dingo.
It had dark stripes running across half of it's back and running down it's long stiff tail. It seemed to look back into the bush and let out a guttural yip. A second later it was joined by three others with two being a little bigger than the first. The first one seemed to squat down and two little ones with even darker stripes hopped out of a pouch.
"Professor I think those are Tasmanian Tigers!" Gilligan whispered as one of Tasmanian Tigers opened his mouth wide to yawn. "Whoa that's the widest yawn I've ever seen!"
"Indeed!" The Professor replied as they watched the unusual creatures drink. "I thought they were supposed to be extinct though!"
The bigger ones stared across the lake at them and gave out another guttural yip just as they heard a rustling behind them. They turned around just in time to see another two Tasmanian Tigers coming out of the bushes. Gilligan knelt down and extended his hand.
"Gilligan I wouldn't do that!" The Professor replied as the smaller of the two allowed Gilligan to pat her head.
"Good girl Ally!" Gilligan whispered then patted the bigger one. "Good boy Gator!"
The Professor smiled and shook his head.
A/N: The Tasmanian Tiger was a medium to large dog like creature with a pouch like a kangaroo that faced backwards like a wombat's. The males had pouches as well.
It was shy and nocturnal. Their short haired coat ranged from light fawn to dark brown. The dark tiger-like stripes that ran along their back faded as they got older. They are able to open their jaws 80 degrees.
The last known wild Tasmanian Tiger was killed in 1930. It wasn't officially declared extinct until 1986 although sightings of the species are still being reported to this day.
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