Basic Trope: In a work set in the future, species that are still alive today are extinct.
- Straight: In the year 3000, whales are extinct.
- Exaggerated: In the year 3000, all organisms except for humans are extinct. Humans themselves don't have too much time left, either.
- Downplayed:
- There is a single surviving whale.
- Whales are extinct in the wild but are thriving well enough in captivity.
- Whales are extremely endangered, and it's believed they'll be gone any day now.
- Justified:
- Humans had to kill all whales, either intentionally or accidentally, in order to make room for various forms of futuristic ocean-based technology.
- Some huge disaster occurred, and humans barely survived it. Most other species didn't have a chance.
- The species' prognosis is already below viable, this is simply the Logical Conclusion.
- Inverted: In the year 3000, many extinct species have been resurrected.
- Subverted: Whales were thought to be extinct, but a large group is discovered.
- Double Subverted:
- The group of whales is quickly hunted to make room for a new underwater city.
- The group of whales is actually a group of non-cetaceans heavily converged on whales.
- Parodied: The lack of National Football Leagues in the year 3000 due to concerns of traumatic brain injury is treated with all of the overtones and lament of a Gaia's Lament Green Aesop.
- Zig Zagged: Whales were mentioned as both having gone extinct and being brought back from extinction after there were issues with the ocean being far too dense with algae. They later wind up going extinct again because of a virus their genepool was ill prepared for. The next batch of whales have their immune system patched up.
- Averted: No mention is made of any extinct species.
- Enforced: The editor tells the author that message that humans are destroying life on earth isn't clear enough, and he should show all the animals that will no longer exist in 1000 years.
- Lampshaded: "You know it's really something how every future we visit has whales go extinct."
- Invoked: Alice has a sheer undying hatred of mosquitos and ensures that they go extinct.
- Exploited: Alice and Bob make people pay exorbitant amounts to see a live whale from their time.
- Defied: Charlie, a conservation biologist who was also a sci-fi fan, wants to make sure that today's life survives to the future (unlike in his books) and lobbies to increase conservation efforts for whales.
- Discussed: Upon arriving in the year 3000, Alice remarks that having a familiar species go extinct is straight out of a science fiction novel.
- Conversed: "Hey, what's going on in Tropers Through Time?" "They arrived in the year 3000 in this episode. Whales are extinct."
- Implied:
- Upon reaching the future, the first thing seen is a massive pile of whale bones in a completely drained ocean basin.
- A time-traveler mentions whales, and a future person doesn't seem to know what he's talking about.
- Deconstructed: The extinction of whales is shown to have a catastrophic effect on the ocean's food chain as many other animals soon follow them, putting humanity itself in danger.
- Reconstructed: Humans genetically engineer a new species to fill their ecological niche, and it goes fine.
- Played For Laughs: Ebola or smallpox is given a eulogizing tone.
- Played For Drama: Alice and Bob are sent on a mission to the past in order to collect enough whale DNA to be able to bring them back from extinction.
Back to Extinct in the Future
