How are scientists able to say that a random species is extinct? Did they have to look everywhere?
In: 14
Evidence of absence is evidence. If we know a species makes nests in certain areas and they don’t anymore, then we don’t find the species there anymore. The lack of evidence for it’s continued existence is a type of evidence that helps form our conclusions.
Like if the police want to make sure nobody is in a house, they may stake it out. If nobody comes and goes from the house for a few weeks, they can be reasonably confident that the lack of evidence suggesting a presence means there isn’t a presence.
Of course, should a species be rediscovered because it was forced to relocate deep into say, the rainforest, it’s status would simply change when we got that new information proving they aren’t all gone.
Extinct isn’t so much a declaration of what is, as much as what we can currently find. Extinct means, “We done looked and didn’t see hide nor hair of it. Fuck knows.”
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