Great Auk

• GeneralA flightless northern seabird; the last known pair was killed in Iceland in 1844.
• It was the original penguin: European sailors called it "penguin", and when explorers in the south found similar birds they applied the same name to them, although they were not related at all.
• The last two known individuals were strangled on the Icelandic island of Eldey on 3 June 1844 at the request of a collector, and one of them was incubating an egg that was broken in the struggle.
• Its extinction was one of those that prompted the first bird protection laws in the United Kingdom, back in the nineteenth century.
• It was the original "penguin": European sailors applied that name to this auk centuries before reaching the southern hemisphere, and the Antarctic birds were named after it for the resemblance, despite not being related. The last known pair was strangled on the islet of Eldey (Iceland) on 3 June 1844, and the egg the female was incubating broke in the struggle. About 80 mounted specimens and about 75 eggs survive in museums.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Cold waters of the North Atlantic; it bred on rocky islets with easy access from the sea

Size at birth

The chick may have developed exceptionally fast and left the colony at barely nine days old

Gestation / incubation

About 44 days of incubation, by both parents

Litter / clutch size

1 egg

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Pinguinus impennis