The state of extinction, what we know about declining species, and why biodiversity is so important.
![Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island Tortoise. Image: putneymark [CC-BY-SA-2.0] via Wikimedia Commons](https://euanritchie.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/lonesomegeorge1248x772putneymarkviawikimediacommons.jpg?w=625&h=386)
Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island Tortoise. Image: putneymark [CC-BY-SA-2.0] via Wikimedia Commons
Despite my wife and I working as biologists, our five-year-old son came to make this statement independently.
He is highlighting what I and many others consider to be society’s biggest challenge, and arguably failure: the continuing loss of species from Earth.