There are different types of value you can derive from these stories. There is the practical: crops that defend themselves from predators. Then there is entertainment value.
Arguing that practical value to be found in species past and present is akin to stating that all information can be found by in the digits of pi. Sure enough there are valuable things to find, but only amongst uninteresting things. Unless there is a mechanism to roughly draw out the interesting, such as evolution.
On the other hand, entertainment doesn't have a need to be fixated on anything particular. Details on the Dodo are lost, so you turn to the wasps. If the wasps are gone you turn to the snakes.
As for other types of value, I may miss something. Or our beliefs may fundamentally differ such that we cannot argue in terms of each others.