Endlings

How do we describe the last of any living thing, plant or animal? Is there even a word for something, some individual that is the last of its kind?  And does it matter? According to scientist and historian, Dr. Lydia Pyne, one useful word may be, "Endling." In her new book, Endlings: Fables for the Anthropocene, she explains why these “last individuals” are poignant characters in the stories that humans tell themselves about today’s Anthropocene.  From Benjamin the thylacine to Celia the ibex to Lonesome George the Galápagos tortoise, endlings, Pyne argues, have the power to shape how we think about grief, mourning, and loss amid the world’s sixth mass extinction.

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