Anendling is the last known individual of aspecies orsubspecies. Once the endling dies, the species becomesextinct. The word was coined in correspondence in the scientific journalNature.

The 4 April 1996 issue ofNature 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 23 May issue ofNature published several counter-suggestions, includingender,terminarch, andrelict.^[1][3]

The wordendling appeared on the walls of theNational Museum of Australia inTangled 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 extinctTasmanian 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]

InThe Flight of the Emu: A Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001, author Libby Robin stated that "the very last individual of a species" is "what scientists refer to as an 'endling'".^[6]

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

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]

Author Eric Freedman describesendling as "a word with finality", stating, "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]

This is not a comprehensive list ofcontemporary extinction, but a list of high-profile, widely publicised examples of when the last individual of a species was known.

• Thepassenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) became extinct at 1 p.m. on 1 September 1914 with the death ofMartha, the last surviving member of the species, at theCincinnati Zoo.^[10][11]
• Incas, the last knownCarolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis), died, also at the Cincinnati Zoo (and in the same cage as Martha), on 21 February 1918.^[11][12][13] He died within one year of his mate, Lady Jane.^[14] The species was officially declared extinct in 1939.
• Booming Ben, a solitaryheath hen (Tympanuchus cupido cupido), was last seen 11 March 1932 onMartha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.^[15]
• Orange Band was the last knowndusky seaside sparrow (Ammospiza maritima nigrescens), who died on 17 June 1987 at theDiscovery Island zoological park atWalt Disney World Resort.^[16]
• The last knownKauaʻi ʻōʻō (Moho braccatus) was recorded singing a mating call onKauai in 1987 byDavid Boynton. The bird is believed to have been killed byHurricane Iniki in 1992, and the death of this individual also marked the extinction of the entireMohoidae family.^[17][18]

• In 1627, the lastaurochs (Bos primigenius), an ancestor of bovine and cattle, died in a forest near what is nowJaktorów in modern-day Poland.^[19]

  

• Thequagga (Equus quagga quagga) became extinct in the wild in the late 1870s due to hunting for meat and skins, and the subspecies' endling died in captivity on 12 August 1883 at theArtis inAmsterdam.^[20]
• The finaltarpan (Equus ferus ferus) died in captivity in theRussian Empire in 1903.^[21]
• On 7 September 1936, the last known captivethylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), also called Tasmanian tiger, died inHobart Zoo, following persecution of the species through hunting and trapping. Information published about this individual has been conflicted throughout the decades following its death.^[22] An individual named Frank Darby invented the myth that it was named "Benjamin", and the claim was rapidly circulated by media and persists until today, even being repeated by Wikipedia itself.^[23] Other areas of contention include where it was captured and by whom, by whom it was captured, whether it was neglected in its zoo enclosure and even whether it was the last known surviving thylacine.^[22] Researchers Robert Paddle and Kathryn Medlock argue that the endling was female and died of neglect, while Gareth Linnard affirms that it was male (despite not being named Benjamin) and died of old age, citing its valued status in the zoo's collection.^[22] Regardless, the thylacine at Hobart Zoo is the last reputably-verified specimen of not only its species and genus, but also the entire familyThylacinidae. However, some individuals, suchBarry Brooks and his colleagues, argue the thylacine probably persisted in the wild for several decades following the captive individual's death in 1936.^[24]
• The last knownMexican grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), also calledoso plateado (silver bear) in Spanish, was shot in 1976 inSonora, Mexico.^[25]

• Celia, the lastPyrenean ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica), was found crushed by a tree on 6 January 2000 in theSpanish Pyrenees, after hunting and competition from livestock reduced the population to one individual.^[26]
• The finalVietnamese Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus), was shot by a poacher at theCát Tiên National Park in 2010, after habitat loss,poaching, and theVietnam War reduced the population to one individual.^[27]

• On 24 June 2012,Lonesome George, the last knownPinta Island tortoise (Chelonoidis niger abingdonii), died in his habitat in theGalápagos Islands.^[28]
• On 26 September 2016,Toughie, the last knownRabbs' fringe-limbed treefrog (Ecnomiohyla rabborum), died in theAtlanta Botanical Garden.^[29]

  

• After being considered possibly extinct for 113 years, aFernandina Island Galápagos tortoise named Fernanda was found in 2019 for theAnimal Planet series,Extinct or Alive. However, she is the only living individual known, making Fernanda an endling.^[30]

• Turgi was the lastPartula clarkei, a Polynesian tree snail, who died on 31 January 1996 in theLondon Zoo.^[31]
• A tank in the Bristol Zoo was the last refuge ofPartula faba, a land snail from Ra'iātea in French Polynesia. The population dropped from 38 in 2012^[32] to one in 2015.^[33] The last individual died on 21 February 2016.^[33]
• George was the last known individual of the Oahu tree snail speciesAchatinella apexfulva. He died on January 1, 2019, in captivity nearKailua, Hawaii.^[34]

• TheCurepipe Botanic Gardens inMauritius have housed the last specimen of thepalmHyophorbe amaricaulis since the 1950s.^[35]
• Only one living specimen of the tree speciesMadhuca diplostemon is known to exist.^[36]
• Some seeds were found in an archaeological excavation in theJudean desert in 1986–87. In 2009, a specimen of an unknown species ofCommiphora was successfully sprouted from one of these ancient seeds (dated 993 CE – 1202 calCE^{[clarification needed]}). The tree was namedSheba. In 2024, it was tentatively identified astsori or Judean balsam, on the basis of taxonomy and resin properties matching ancient descriptions. Similar to Fernanda, Sheba is the only known individual of its species despite recent discovery or rediscovery.^[37]

• What Do You Call the Last of a Species? by Michelle Nijhuis forThe New Yorker
• Cut from history by Eric Freedman forKnight Center for Environmental Journalism
• Bringing Them Back to LifeArchived 2013-04-11 at theWayback Machine byCarl Zimmer forNational Geographic Magazine.

• Animals by conservation status
• Endlings
• Extinction

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