The Tasmanian tiger is a marsupial - females have a pouch in which the young develop, attached to a teat. The young are born very under-developed, about the size of a jelly bean. They crawl up and into the pouch and attach to a teat, much like a kangaroo joey does.

A recent research paper concluded that young thylacines bred between April and September, and that young were in the pouch between May and December. During these latter months, pouch young may come and go from the pouch, but by about January they would be permanently independent of the mother.