I just read this passage written by Harley Shaw, in the 2002 introduction for The Wolf in the Southwest, the Making of an Endangered Species  (1983) by David E. Brown. Shaw  is a research biologist specializing in mountain lions  in SW NM:

“Eliminating species leads to intellectual dead ends. Once a creature is gone, we no longer have reason to understand it. Our world becomes simpler, and our minds simpler with it. Problem-solving is an open-ended activity. Interacting with a species provides a means for intellectual growth, eliminating it simply leaves another blank spot – on earth and in our minds.”