How Some Species Can Go Extinct Twice And Why We Should Care
Some species go extinct twice – one time when the last individual stops breathing, and a second time when our collective memory about the species disappears
An extinct Thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger or the marsupial wolf, Thylacinus cynocephalus, at Beaumaris Zoo in 1936. (Credit: Ben Sheppard, public domain)
An international team of scientists recently published a study arguing that species can go extinct twice: there is the biological extinction event, that tragic moment when the last member of a species lives no more, but there’s also societal extinction, which occurs when that species is expunged from our collective memory and cultural knowledge. Species can disappear from our societies, cultures, and even our consciousness at the same time as, or even before, human actions push them over the edge into oblivion.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Words About Birds to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.