In 1989, Allan Wilson and Svante Paabo analyzed DNA of the now-extinct Tasmanian tiger to demonstrate they could recover DNA From museum specimens via Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The Tasmanian tiger has been extinct since 1936.

This study validated the use of ancient DNA extracted from hair in combination with whole-genome shotgun sequencing even for samples that have a temperate storage history and for cases where no sequence data are available from a closely related species.