plants

Extinction is a little different than we’ve been taught to conceptualize it. The term “extinction” is used to describe a species or subspecies that human beings know existed at one point, either from observation or the fossil record, but do not observe anymore. It essentially describes a type of living thing that we cannot find anymore anywhere we’re currently looking, but of course this doesn’t mean we’re able to look everywhere at all times. A species receiving the designation of “extinct” does not, as is claimed, necessarily mean that there are no members of that species left on Earth. Many of the species and subspecies we consider extinct seem to be observed again in nature (or possibly captivity) by someone sooner or later. The coelacanth is a classic example of this. Other animals are probably observing these species already, but they are usually very sparse, very remote, or otherwise hard to find, so we must resign ourselves to see them when we see them, if we ever get to see them again.

Of course, some species surely do go away, never to return unless their genes atavistically assert themselves to surge into a novel yet familiar niche, recalling the past, usually looking a little different. Failing that, over time those species usually became something much different and more suited to the present. Not even dog breeds stay the same over time.

But did any of those truly lost species live in the ocean? This is eminently doubtable.

There are entire ecosystems we’ve never seen out there. It is common today to discover new species, but it is also extremely common to rediscover known ones we thought were lost. Science describes things, but cannot actually define them within reality.

──── by Lync Dalton ────

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