Dispite how effective these things ambush is, it abides by a few simple rules that allows you to dodge a thylacoleo attack.

1. Wild thylos in ambush position have no gravity. When a wild thylo jumps at you it can go forever at a constant speed and can even jump at things flying above it. When a thylo is tamed it cannot do this and will eventually fall to the ground. Flying away in the same direction that the thylo is jumping is not an option as this zero gravity affect will last until you are out of range of the thylo.

2. Thylacoleos lead their targets. If you are moving fast through a thylo's targeting range it will jump ahead of you to compensate for the time it takes for them to get to you.

3. Thylacoleos cannot change speed or direction of a jump. The only movement a thylo can make while airborn is a rotation. Since it leads targets, stopping as soon as you hear a thylo causes it to miss as it plummets to the location it thought you would go to. This wont work if your tame is slow.

4. Thylacoleos prioritize the closest prey in this order: player/small wild dino, small tamed dino, passenger. Sitting in the passenger seat of a dino won't usually help as the thylo can rip the mount from under you and target it instead.

5. Thylacoleos can share trees. It is rare but thylacoleos can be in the same tree or in adjacent trees. This is the worst thing to happen to you in a redwood forrest as both thylos can jump at you, one snagging you and the other grabbing your tame. That being said, if one jumps at you don't relax because there could be another one close by.

6. Thylacoleos will only be in ambush position on the bark parts of large redwood trees. You will never see a thylacoleo climb a tree or ambush you from the leaves of a tree. They will also only climb a tree when out of render distance.

With these rules in mind: if you have a slower tame, a thylo will not lead enough where you can dodge it. Have your flyer on passive and come back to collect it. If your tame is relatively fast you can dodge it by flying out of its path (under, over, strafe). Make sure to not fly directly at trees so that they don't have a straight shot to you. Any land based tames have on neutral and be sure they can kill a thylo in two hits or so.

Stay safe.

More Thylacoleo Encountering Tips