Extinction

Trevi had to decide on a treasured object to bring to school tomorrow, and he decided on a Woolly Mammoth toy that is among his favorite stuffed animals. Part of his homework was to put Woolly Mammoth in a paper bag, and then write three clues to help his classmates guess what it was. Trevi wrote his clues:
1. It has a trunk.
2. It has tusks.
3. It has big ears.
After finishing, it suddenly occurred to him that his classmates would guess it was an elephant, so he asked me to help him come up with another clue. After an unfruitful brainstorming session, I finally just handed him the idea of telling the class that the thing was extinct.
Big mistake.

What followed was a solid hour of woe, as Trevi mourned the extinction of the Woolly Mammoth, and lamented the fact that he will never, ever see a real, live one. He was seriously sad. I even took pictures.
It was kind of heartbreaking to see this whole thing happen, even though earlier in the evening he had burst into tears when he heard us talking about replacing our broken microwave. If only we could peer into their little heads sometimes...

As Trevi worked through his feelings of loss regarding the Mammoth, he came out with some doozies. Among them were these (must be read tearfully for full effect):

"I wish I was already a scientist, because then I would already know about Woolly Mammoths being extinct, and you wouldn't have to tell me and make me sad!"
"At least I saw a Woolly Mammoth statue in the desert! Some people never even get to see that!"
"Do you think there's even a tiny chance that they might be able to find one that's hiding somewhere? The world is really big."
"But cats will never be extinct, right?"