@extinctera.org: The Tecopa pupfish was a tiny fish found only in two hot springs in California’s Death Valley, having adapted over thousands of years to survive water temperatures of up to 43 degrees Celsius, conditions that would kill almost any other vertebrate. In 1965 the US government merged the two springs into a single bathing facility, altering the water temperature and chemistry beyond what the pupfish could tolerate. The fish was gone within years. It was formally declared extinct in 1981, the first vertebrate ever to be officially declared extinct under the US Endangered Species Act. A fish that had survived Death Valley’s extreme heat for thousands of years was killed by the construction of a place for humans to bathe. Illustration by E. Theriot / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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Tuesday 11 August 2026 02:45:44 GMT