closest call

Edward O. Wilsonの "The Creation" を読んでいます。
The most spectacular example is the black robin of the Chatham Islands, an archipelago east of New Zealand. By 1980 rats and feral cats introduced by settlers had had reduced the once abundant robins to just one breeding pair. Kept in caaptivity, "Old Yellow" mated and reared young, and their descendants have now been used to repopulate some of the original habitat on two of the islands. That was the closest call in conservation history.
"closest call" ですが、辞書で "close call" の説明を探します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A narrow escape from danger or disaster.: the team had a close call in the preliminary group games

・Collins Dictionary: another expression for close shave

・Cambridge English Dictionary: a situation in which something bad, unpleasant, or dangerous almost happens, but you manage to avoid it: It was a close call for residents when a tornado swept through just west of the town.
なるほど、危機一髪でなんとか絶滅を逃れたのですね。