Amid the historical decimation of species around the globe a new way into the language of loss
An endling is the last known individual of a species when that individual dies the species
becomes extinct. These last individuals” are poignant characters in the stories that humans
tell themselves about today’s Anthropocene. In this evocative work Lydia Pyne explores how
discussion about endlings—how we tell their histories—draws on deep traditions of storytelling
across a variety of narrative types that go well beyond the science of these species’ biology
or their evolutionary history. Endlings provides a useful and thoughtful discussion of species
concepts: how species start and how (and why) they end what it means to be a charismatic”
species the effects of rewilding and what makes species extinction different in this era.
From Benjamin the thylacine to Celia the ibex to Lonesome George the Galápagos tortoise
endlings Pyne shows have the power to shape how we think about grief mourning and loss amid
the world’s sixth mass extinction.
