Q.What is co-extinction? Explain with a suitable example?

Co-extinction is the phenomenon where the extinction of one species directly causes the extinction of another species that depends on it in an obligatory way. This happens because of a tight ecological link — a parasite with its sole host, or a pollinator locked into a coevolved mutualism with one plant. When the host or partner species vanishes, the dependent species loses its only source of food, shelter, or reproduction, and cannot survive on its own. …

Co-extinction reveals how deeply interconnected life on Earth really is. The NCERT textbook explains co-extinction as the extinction of a species that occurs because another species on which it depends in an obligatory way has already gone extinct.

A textbook example is the relationship between a parasite and its host. Many parasites are so specialised that they can live only on one particular host species. If that host becomes extinct, the parasite loses its only source of food and shelter, and it too will vanish. The same logic applies to a coevolved plant-pollinator mutualism.

Define co-extinction as a species going extinct BECAUSE a species it obligately depends on already vanished — reach for the textbook's own worked example (a host …