The great auk was the last of the flightless sea birds that lived in the Northern Hemisphere. This bird was the original penguin and its southern cousins were named after it. Adults weighed about five kilograms and the chicks weighed about two hundred forty grams after hatching. It is suggested that the adults ate large fish and the chicks had regurgitated crustaceans. In case you are wondering what regurgitated means, it is when the food is digested by the adult and then thrown up into the chick’s mouth.

The great auk was pushed back due to people pressure to the northwestern Atlantic. The most southern place auks were known to live was New England. The map that you saw above is of known breeding sites of the great auk. The largest breeding colony was on Funk Island if the coast of Newfoundland. The estimated lying times differed from what longitude the auk site was. Each female laid one egg but eggs found out of date suggested a replacement if the first was lost. The eggs were laid right on the rocks and were incubated by both adults. Eggs were shaped like that of a murre and creamy white with a pale bluish.

This bird was killed because collectors wanted the eggs and bird itself. Also it was hunted for food, bait, feathers, and fat. The last two known adult living specimens were killed for collectors’ private museums in Europe on 1844 at Eldey Island, Iceland. This was another extinction caused by humans that could have been avoided.