This is the state of a species in a particular geographical location, such as an island, state, country or other specific zone. 

Organisms that are native to a place are not endemic to that place if they are also found in other places. 

An endemic species may also be called an endemism or, in scientific literature, an endemite. Some endemics are restricted to very small areas. 

The opposite of an endemic species is a cosmopolitan species, which has a global or widespread range. 

A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is 'precinct', which is applied to species (and other taxonomic levels) that are restricted to a particular geographical area. 

Other terms that are sometimes used interchangeably, but less frequently, include autochthonous, native and indigenous, but these terms do not reflect the status of a species that is specific to a particular location. 

Endemic species are likely to develop in geographically and biologically isolated areas, such as islands and remote archipelagos, including Hawaii, the Galapagos Islands and Socotra, because of the possibility of isolation and hence evolution through allopatric speciation. Large bodies of water remote from other lakes, such as Lake Baikal, can also have high levels of endemism.