The complete disappearance of a species, family, or larger group of living things, so that no members are left alive. It can also mean the ending or dying out of something such as a tradition or way of life.
From Latin *extinctio* ‘a quenching, putting out’, from *extinguere* ‘to put out (a fire), wipe out’. It originally described putting out flames and later came to mean wiping out entire species.
Extinction is like blowing out a candle, except the ‘candle’ is an entire branch of life’s family tree. Over 99% of species that have ever lived are now extinct, which means extinction is the rule in nature, and survival is the rare exception.
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