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Endling

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"Benjamin" was an endling, the last known thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), photographed at Hobart Zoo in 1933.

An endling is an individual that is the last of its species or subspecies. Once the endling dies, the species becomes extinct. The word was coined in correspondence in the scientific journal Nature. Alternative names put forth for the last individual of its kind include ender and terminarch. The word relict may also be used but usually refers to a group that is the last of the species.[1]

Use

The April 4, 1996 issue of Nature published a correspondence in which commentators suggested that a new word, endling, be adopted to denote the last individual of a species.[1][2] The May 23rd issue of Nature published several counter-suggestions, including ender, terminarch, and relict.[1][3]

The word endling appeared on the walls of the National Museum of Australia in Tangled Destinies, a 2001 exhibition by Matt Kirchman and Scott Guerin about the relationship between Australian peoples and their land. In the exhibition, the definition as it appeared in Nature was printed in large letters on the wall above two specimens of the extinct Tasmanian tiger: "Endling (n.) The last surviving individual of a species of animal or plant." A printed description of this exhibition offered a similar definition, omitting reference to plants: "An endling is the name given to an animal that is the last of its species."[4][5]

In The flight of the emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901-2001, author Libby Robin states that "the very last individual of a species" is "what scientists refer to as an 'endling'".[6]

In 2011, the word was used in the Earth Island Journal, in an essay by Eric Freedman entitled Extinction is Forever: A Quest for the Last Known Survivors. Freedman defined endling as "the last known specimen of her species."[7]

As of 2014, the word does not appear in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary or the Oxford English Dictionary.

Response

In The sense of an endling, author Helen Lewis describes the notion of an endling as poignant, and the word as "wonderfully Tolkien-esque".[8]

In Cut from history, author Eric Freedman describes endling as "a word with finality." He opines, "It is deep-to-the-bone chilling to know the exact date a species disappeared from Earth. It is even more ghastly to look upon the place where it happened and know that nobody knew or cared at the time what had transpired and why."[9]

Notable examples

Martha, the last passenger pigeon, died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914

The passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) became extinct on 1 September 1914, when the endling Martha died at the Cincinnati Zoo.[10][11]

Incas, the last Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis), died at the Cincinnati Zoo on 21 February 1918.[11]

Booming Ben, a solitary heath hen (Tympanuchus cupido cupido), was last seen 11 March 1932 on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.[12]

On 7 September 1936, Benjamin, the last Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) died in Hobart Zoo.[13]

Celia, the last Pyrenean ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica), was found dead on 6 January 2000 in the Spanish Pyrenees.[14]

The quagga (Equus quagga quagga) became extinct in the wild in the late 1870s, and the subspecies' endling died in captivity on 12 August 1883 at the Artis in Amsterdam.

On 24 June 2012, Lonesome George, who was the last known Pinta Island tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii), died in his habitat in the Galápagos Islands.[15]

Potential Endlings

The University of Hawai'i has, in captivity, the last known individual of the snail species Achatinella apexfulva. No other members of this species have been found in over a decade of searching.[16]

As of February 2012, the Atlanta Botanical Garden is home to last known surviving Rabbs' fringe-limbed treefrog (Ecnomiohyla rabborum), named Toughie.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Jorgensen, Dolly (April 13, 2013). "Naming and claiming the last". Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  2. ^ Robert M. Webster & Bruce Erickson (April 4, 1996). "The last word?". Nature. 380 (386). {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  3. ^ Elaine Andrews (April 4, 1996). "The last word". Nature. 381 (272). {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ "Tangled Destinies" (PDF). National Museum of Australia. 2002. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  5. ^ Smith, Mike (2001). "The Endling exhibition, Tangled Destinies gallery, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, 2001" (PDF). National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  6. ^ Robin, Libby (2002). The flight of the emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901-2001. Melbourne University Press. p. 260. ISBN 978-0522849875. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  7. ^ Freedman, Eric (2011). "Extinction is Forever: A Quest for the Last Known Survivors". Earth Island Journal. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  8. ^ Lewis, Helen (June 27, 2012). "Sense of an endling". The New Statesman. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  9. ^ Freedman, Eric (July 5, 2008). "Cut from history: An abandoned Tasmanian zoo tells the haunting tale of an ending". EJ Magazine. Archived from the original on 2008-07-05. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  10. ^ "Endangered Species Handbook" (pdf). Animal Welfare Institute. 1983. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  11. ^ a b Blythe, Anne (August 27, 2012). "Extinct Carolina Parakeet still fascinates". www.newsobserver.com. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  12. ^ "Heath Hen (Extinct)". BeautyOfBirds (formerly Avian Web). Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  13. ^ Lewis, Robert; Arnold, David (2002). "Tangled Destinies: Exploring land and people in Australia over time through the National Museum of Australia" (PDF). ISBN 0-949380-41-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archivedate= (help)
  14. ^ Richard Gray and Roger Dobson (January 31, 2009). "Extinct ibex is resurrected by cloning". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  15. ^ Valencia, Alexandra; Garcia, Eduardo (24 June 2012). "Lonesome George, last-of-his-kind Galapagos tortoise, dies". Reuters.
  16. ^ van Dooren, Thom. "The last snail: conservation and extinction in Hawai'i". http://thomvandooren.org/2013/02/28/last_snail/. Retrieved 6/01/2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |website= (help)
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