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Feb 26, 2023

Extinct-in-the-wild species in conservation limbo

Posted by in categories: existential risks, genetics

For species classified as “extinct in the wild”, the zoos and botanical gardens where their fates hang by a thread are as often anterooms to oblivion as gateways to recovery, new research has shown.

Re-wilding what are often single-digit populations faces the same challenges that pushed these to the cusp of in the first place, including a lack of genetic diversity. But without , experts say, chances of these species surviving would be even smaller.

Since 1950, nearly 100 animal and plant species vanquished from nature by hunting, pollution, deforestation, invasive lifeforms and other drivers of extinction have been put into by scientists and conservationists, according to the findings.

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