The Prevent Extinctions Prompt

Hello Vocal Creators! Do you guys remember that one Vocal challenge about time travel?

Here it is.

I didn’t enter this challenge, but I had wanted to. I thought about writing a story where the main character worked for a time-travel agency and went back in time to prevent one of the last thylacines—the Tasmanina tiger—from dying of neglect or exposure in 1936 in Australia’s Beaumaris Zoo (according to the National Museum of Australia’s article “Extinction of thylacine”). I was thinking about this story idea today when it jumpstarted a prompt I thought I’d share with you!

Write a story about an extinct species in which the extinction is delayed or entirely prevented.

The extinct species can be anything: eukaryote, prokaryote, animal, plant, fungus, (beyond? More about that later!), single-celled, multi-celled. You name it.

Literally, if you like! The species can be based in our reality or entirely fictional! Create a species of animal here on our earth, a plant in a sci-fi world, a fungus in a fantasy realm.

Or, look at history and speculate how a species could have been aided to prosperity.

Would these worlds look different? How would the preservation of these species impact other species? Are there positive or negative consequences?

I imagine this as a fiction prompt, but if you can make a poem out of it, that’d be super cool! I might try it in both genres.

If you try this prompt and want to drop your piece in the comments, I’ll update this story to include a list!

Hope you have fun with the prompt!