The extinction of the Great Auk
- Yen Yi Loo
- May 8, 2018
- 7 min read
“God made the innocence of so poor a creature to become such an admirable instrument for the sustenation of man.” - Richard Whitbourne
Timeline of extinction
Perhaps the best way to begin the story about the peril of the Great Auk is from the very end. In the month of June, 1844, the last pair of Great Auk was killed on the Island of Eldey by a group of Icelandic fishermen, including Sigurdr Islefsson, Ketil Ketilson, and Jón Brandsson, who tried to capture them. They accidentally damaged the egg in the process, marking the extinction of the species [1,2]. Four years ago, in July 1840, a group of five men were able to possess one in captivity for several days on the Stac-an Armin sea stack before, having spooked by its witch-like cry, beating and killing it with a stone. But long before that, the relationship between man and the Great Auk was entwined, for it has been exploited for its feathers, fat, oil, and meat [1].
In winter 1815, the last Great Auk in Greenland was captured by an Inuit kayak hunter [3]. This was the one of the rare winter plumage adult specimens. On either 7th or 8th August, in the early 1800s, a British 22-gun privateer, named The Salamine, which served during the Napoleon war between England and Denmark, chanced on the Faroe Islands while leaving Icelandic waters. The men killed as many of the Great Auks they could manage, before travelling home. During this time, the colonies in Faroe Islands were already the only ones left, and the species was already committed to extinction.
It was not before the mid-1500s that the Great Auk was officially protected, although the young was still sometimes used as bait [1, 4]. In 1794, the killing of the Great Auk for its feathers was banned in the Great Britain. However, these were vain attempts to control the human greed. As of today, the Great Auk has vanished from the face of the Earth for good.
Why did the Great Auk disappear?
The Great Auk is the only known extinct species of the Auk family, or Alcidae. This is probably due to its size, which is about 75cm in length and weight about 5kg. It was crowned as the largest and the only flightless species in the Alcidae family [2], rendering with high extinction risk. In the words of Richard Whitbourne, “God made the innocence of so poor a creature to become such an admirable instrument for the sustenation of man.” [5].
The bone structures reconstructed using fossils showed that the narrow keel did not support strong flight muscles. The marine bird abandoned its flight to streamline its body and specialize as a piscivore. Long ago, their numbers were huge during the short breeding season from early May to early July. Jón Brandsson, when interviewed by Great Auk specialist Alfred Newton, described that all the birds would sit upright, packed tightly shoulder to shoulder on and under the rocks during the breeding season. By living most of their lives in the open waters, they sacrificed their agility on land, making it an easy prey for humans with even the rudest tools. Furthermore, the female lays only one egg per breeding season [1]. So, if their egg was damaged or taken away by humans, they would not breed again until the next season. These are some of the ingredients for a large, flightless bird to be so vulnerable and irresistible to man. Being large and flightless and accessible to man made them the first casualties of extinction in the Auk family.
Where were they found?
Their biogeography ranged from Newfoundland in the west and Norway in the east, right below the Arctic Circle. There were also reports of its range reaching southward into western Europe [2]. Almost all the fossil remains retrieved to date were from Funk Island, including a fossilized mummy. This is believed to be the main site of the Great Auk’s mass killing in the 16th and 17th centuries [7]. The Great Auks favoured the ice-free rocky islands and sea stacks of cold-temperate regions in North Pacific, North Atlantic and Icelandic waters, although they were also discovered as far north as the Nuuk regions in Greenland.
The adaptations of the Great Auk
Because photography was only commercialized in 1839, much of what we know about how the living Great Auk looked like is based on paintings, lithographs, engravings, and descriptions by people who have seen or hunted them. The striking appearance of oddly named creature attracted enough attention to cause its ill-fate. The most defining feature of this bird is its similarity with the penguins in Antarctica. Although they are not remotely related genetically, they have the same black and white body. This is an example of a convergent evolution where distinct species evolved to have similar traits and adaptions after being subjected to similar environmental pressures [9].
Much of the study of the Great Auk’s morphology and adaptations is being done using specimens. There was no evidence of sexual dimorphism and the two sexes looked alike. Under the wings and tail feathers were grey, almost lilac, in colour [1]. During moulting, the flight feathers are shed one at a time to not impair its diving ability [10]. The wings are reduced because they do not fly, but kept the shape of a wing rather than the bony appendages alike those of penguins. This may suggest that the Great Auks are one step behind the penguins in the timeline of evolution for adaptation in the water.
The adaptation of a black and white body of Great Auks is helpful to camouflage from flying predators as it blends with the dark waters when viewed from above, and from swimming predators from below as it blends with the bright sky when viewed from below. Also, it can also be a useful trait to help them conserve (black side) or reflect (white side) heat according to their needs. Another defining characteristic of the Great Auk is the large, white, lozenge-shaped patch on either side of its face between the eyes and the beak. This may be used as a sexual selection trait, but since Great Auks only have one mate in their lifetime, it may be more of a signal for the mating season. However, this remains to be elucidated.
The grooved, black beak is about 40mm in depth, used to catch fish and feed on marine plants [11]. The bill-width to gape ratio suggested that its prey was 70mm to 300mm long [2]. The inside of the beak was argued to be a light yellowy orange, but differing accounts between Great Auk researchers make it hard to be sure [1]. This bright colour may be an adaption to increase the reflection of light so that fishes are attracted to it. There are many egg specimens that provide close inspection of the egg patterns. It was observed that the patterns range from hardly any streaks at all, to thin lines, and blotches, that seemed to be painted by a Chinese brush. Furthermore, no two eggs are similar and this is used for the parents to identify their own eggs [1]. The eggs had also evolved to be pyriform shaped to lower the chances of rolling away.
The on-going search for the truth
Little is known about their ecology and life during their non-breeding season, let alone how they came into being. This is because the fossil records and evidence from kitchen refuse only revealed where they were used by man, and not where they came from. Among those who studied this species were Alfred Newton, John Wolley, John Hancock, Symington Grieve, James Fisher, Wihelm Balsius and Japetus Steenstrup, to name a few. Apart from observations by Ole Worm, John Fleming, and Martin Martin, information about the ecology and behaviour of the species is still scarce [2]. It is believed that the Great Auks used ocean currents to aid migration. During the breeding season, James Fisher noted that ‘they made no nest, but laid their eggs upon the bare rocks.’ From knowing the species spent only a short two months during the breeding season, they must have laid their eggs as soon as they landed and left as soon as their young could swim. This might be an adaptation to escape human predators and to find food in the sea. After studying the specimens, it was suggested that the throat structure was strong enough to feed the young by regurgitation [12].
While the ultimate cause of extinction was hunting by man, the change in pre-historic (c. 1500 BC) ranges might have also been influenced by other factors [2]. For instance, there is a correlation advancing of ice sheets southwards and evidence in a southerly movement of range in the fossil records. This might suggest that the decline of population was affected by climatic drivers. However, there are too much uncertainties to yet confirm this is true. Unfortunately, the threats the Great Auks faced at the brink of extinction was more so the need to collect specimens for bird dealers, museums and scientific studies than the need to fill an empty stomach. The survival of this species depended on large groups, to fulfill their emotional and ecological needs [2]. This is because they rely on social interactions as well as sheer number to ensure their survival when a predator attacks. When the population size lowered to a certain threshold, the decline of the species will have reached the point of no return.
I hope you enjoyed this little history write-up about the Great Auk. Although it is already a well-known extinction, I felt that I had to include it in my blog just for the record. It was the first extinct bird that I felt a connection with as I read it in the book, The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen. Since then I am in awe of its incredible life history. Recommended further study: The Passenger Pigeon.
References
Fuller, E. (1999) ‘The Great Auk.’ England. ISBN 0 9533553 4 9.
Bengston, S. (1984) ‘Breeding Ecology and Extinction of the Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis): Anecdotal Evidence and Conjectures.’ Auk, 101(1) pp. 1-12.
Meldgaard, M. (1988) ‘The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis (L.) in Greenland.’ Historical Biology, 1 pp. 145-178.
John James Audubon Centre at Mill Grove. ‘The Extinction of the Great Auk.’ Retrieved February 25, 2017, from: http://johnjames.audubon.org/extinction-great-auk
Whitbourne, R. (1622). ‘A discourse and Discovery of Newfoundland.’ Felix Kinston, London.
‘Der Riesenalk, Alca impennis, L.’ Sonderubdruck aus Naumann, Naturgeschichte der Vogel Mitterleuropas, Band XII.
Grieve, S. (1885) ‘The Great Auk, or Garefowl (Alca impennis Linn.): Its history, archaeology, and remains.’ Edinburgh: Grange Publishing Works.
Montevecchi, W. A. and Kirk, D. A. (1996). ‘Great Auk.’ Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved May 8, 2018, from: https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/greauk/introduction
Fuller, E. (2003) ‘The Great Auk: The Extinction of the Original Penguin.’ USA: Bunker Hill Publications Inc.Salomonsen, F. Gejrfuglen, et hundredaars Minde. Dyr i Natur og Museum, pp. 99-110.
Orton, J. (1869) ‘The Great Auk.’ The American Naturalist, 3(10) pp. 539-542.
Bourne, W. (1993). ‘The Story of the Great Auk.’ Archives of Natural History, 20(2) pp. 257-278.
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