Extinct in the wild George on the Galapagos island of Pinta on 1 December 1971. Since then, Lonesome George has been a powerful symbol for conservation efforts in general and for the Galapagos Islands in particular. With his death on 24 June 2012, the subspecies is again believed to be extinct. With the discovery of 17 hybrid Pinta tortoises located at nearby Wolf Volcano a plan has been made to attempt to breed the subspecies back into a pure state. Not all species that are extinct in the wild are rare. For example, "Ameca splendens", though extinct in the wild, was a popular fish
Extinct comet the Hubble search for transition comets. Comets such as C/2001 OG108 (LONEOS) may represent the transition between extinct comets and typical Halley-type comets (periods of 20–200 years) or long period comets (periods longer than 200 years). Minor planets of the group of damocloids have been studied as possible extinct cometary candidates due to the similarity of their orbital parameters with those of Halley-type comets. Dormant comets are those within which volatiles may be sealed, but which have inactive surfaces. For example, 14827 Hypnos may be the nucleus of an extinct comet that is covered by a crust several centimeters thick