The headline is misleading. Rather, the analysis used as the basis for the article substantiates that the thylacine survived in isolated, remote pockets before finally going extinct around the 1980s.

" Dr. Brook’s analysis found there to be a very small chance that the thylacine is still around today. For that possibility, Mr. Mooney said that even if Tasmanian tigers did persist past 1936, the likelihood of their still being around shrinks all the time. Someone should have found one by now, given the high levels of roadkill in Tasmania and the increasing use of trail cameras in more remote parts. Dr. Brook agrees that we’re unlikely to discover surviving thylacines. "