Extinction is the final phase of a sort of creature or a taxon—typically a species.

Although the
ability to reproduce and bounce back may have been lost earlier, the death of the last member
of the species is typically regarded to be the moment of extinction. Determining this point is
challenging since a species' potential range may be quite wide, and is typically done after the
fact. Due to this problem, there are events like Lazarus taxa, in which a species that was
thought to be extinct suddenly "reappears" after a period of apparent absence (usually in the
fossil record).

There are currently thought to be 8.7 million eukaryote species worldwide,[6] and there may be
many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included.[7] Notable extinct animal
species include non-avian dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, dodos, mammoths, ground sloths,
thylacines, trilobites, and golden toads. More than 99% of all species that ever

Through the process of speciation, new types of organisms emerge and flourish when they are
able to locate and exploit an ecological niche. Species become extinct when they are unable to
survive under shifting environmental conditions or against stronger competition. Animals and
their ecological niches have a well-established link.

While localized extinctions are rather frequent, mass extinctions are very uncommon.
Extinction rates have just recently been studied, and scientists are disturbed by the present
high rate of extinctions. The majority of extinct species never get formal scientific
documentation. According to some scientists, up to 50% of currently existing plant and animal
species may go extinct by the year 2100. A 2018 study found that it would take 5–7 million
years for the 300 mammalian species whose phylogenetic diversity has been lost due to human
activity since the Late Pleistocene.
IPBES's 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services states that, in
large part due to human activity, the biomass of wild animals has decreased by 82%, the size of
natural ecosystems has decreased by nearly 50%, and a million species are at risk of extinction.
25 percent of plant and animal species are in danger of being extinct. IPBES later identified
excessive fishing, hunting, and logging as some of the main causes of the global extinction
catastrophe in a study.