The flying bird that looks like a penguin is the great auk. The great auk was a flightless seabird that became extinct in the mid-19th century. Despite not being able to fly, the great auk had a visual resemblance to penguins with its black and white plumage and upright stance. The great auk inhabited the rocky shores and islands of the North Atlantic and was an important part of local ecosystems and cultures before being hunted to extinction.
Appearance and Characteristics
The great auk stood around 75-85 cm tall and weighed approximately 5 kg. Its plumage was primarily black on the back and head with a white underside. During the summer breeding season, the great auk developed white patches over each eye. Its large black beak was heavy and hooked for grasping fish, its primary food source. The great auk had tiny wings relative to its body size that rendered it unable to fly. Its legs set far back on its body enabled an upright stance similar to penguins. Overall, the black and white coloring, heavy build, and upright posture created a visual resemblance between the great auk and penguins.
Habitat and Range
The great auk was found across the North Atlantic on both the European and North American coasts. Its range extended from Northern Spain to Iceland in the east and from New England to Greenland in the west. The great auk inhabited rocky, isolated islands with sloping shorelines. These islands provided protection from land-based predators and ideal locations for nesting colonies. Major great auk breeding colonies were found in Iceland, Newfoundland, and the St. Kilda islands off the coast of Scotland. Outside of breeding season, the great auk migrated south and dispersed over wider coastal areas in search of fish. However, it always returned to its established island breeding colonies.
Behavior and Ecology
The great auk was a highly social bird that nested in dense colonies numbering over 100 pairs during the summer breeding season. Nesting areas were marked with guano and defended from intruders and predators. The female great auk laid a single large egg directly onto bare rock. Parents took turns incubating the egg for around 6 weeks before the chick hatched. Chicks were tended to by both parents until able to fend for itself after 2 months.
The great auk was a powerful swimmer and exceptional diver, plunging depths up to 75 meters in search of fish, its primary food source. Great auks also fed on crustaceans, mollusks, marine worms, and other invertebrates. The shape of its strong, hooked beak likely helped the great auk grasp slippery prey underwater. Great auks were agile and speedy when swimming and could cover large distances, but moved slowly and awkwardly on land.
Relationship with Humans
The great auk was hunted by Native Americans and European settlers for its meat, eggs, and feathers. Coastal tribes used great auk skins to make clothing and fishing lures. European settlers used the down feathers for pillows and quilts. Great auk eggs and meat provided an important source of food for seafarers.
As great auk numbers dwindled due to overhunting in the late 18th century, specimens became highly sought after by museums and collectors. Scientific drawings and descriptions helped cement the great auk’s image as a peculiar, penguin-like bird from the north. The last known pair of great auks was killed on June 3, 1844 on Eldey Island, Iceland. A few birds may have survived longer in remote areas, but the species was extinct by the mid-1800s.
Reasons for Extinction
The great auk went extinct for several key reasons:
Overhunting
The great auk was heavily hunted by humans for food, eggs, and feathers over centuries. They were easy targets on their island nesting colonies for coastal settlers. Their flightlessness made them unable to escape rapidly increasing hunting pressures.
Habitat Loss
Expanding human populations encroached on the remote islands where great auks nested. Human disturbance caused colony abandonment. Fishing operations also disrupted feeding areas.
Climate Change
The Little Ice Age cooled ocean temperatures and caused habitat loss at the great auk’s southern range, pushing the birds northward. This concentrated them into smaller areas.
Collection for Museums and Research
As the great auk became rarer in the 19th century, naturalists and museums sought specimens for preservation and display. Collection of birds and eggs accelerated the species decline.
Inability to Adapt
The great auk’s low reproductive rate, specialized ecology, and flightlessness meant it could not adapt quickly to extensive human persecution. These intrinsic biological factors made the species vulnerable to external threats posed by humans.
Significance of Extinction
The extinction of the great auk is considered one of the earliest human-caused extinctions of a species. The demise of the great auk signified that humans had gained the capacity to cause irreversible impacts on the natural world.
The great auk also held symbolic significance and spiritual meaning for Aboriginal cultures in the North Atlantic. The Beothuk people of Newfoundland, for example, used great auk skulls in burial rituals. The extinction of the great auk thus represented a loss of cultural heritage.
Ecologically, the great auk’s disappearance likely caused impacts on the structure and function of marine food webs. The large predatory bird had filled an important niche in these ecosystems over tens of thousands of years.
Ultimately, the fate of the great auk highlighted that human actions could have irreversible consequences and drive a species permanently extinct. Its extinction marked an early warning about the enormous impacts our species could have on biodiversity.
Could Great Auks Return?
Some scientists have suggested “de-extinction” programs to use genetic techniques to bring back extinct species like the great auk. However, most conservation biologists argue this would be highly difficult, expensive, and divert focus away from preventing extinctions and maintaining ecosystems. Even if great auk clones were created, the habitats they depended on have changed significantly since the 19th century. “De-extinction” remains controversial and speculative. Realistically, the great auk’s extinction will likely never be reversed.
Legacy and Remembrance
Though extinct for over 175 years, the great auk continues to captivate human imagination through early sketches, paintings, and written descriptions. It represents one of the most poignant symbols of humanity’s ability to drive extinction. The great auk’s image continues to inspire conservation efforts for species facing similar threats today. Protecting contemporary seabirds that nest on islands and suffer from human impacts, such as penguins, puffins, and murres, is one way to honor the memory of the great auk. Though gone, the ghost of this awkward yet remarkable bird still looms over the Northern Atlantic 150 years later as both an admonishment and inspiration for conservation.
Conclusion
The extinct great auk was a flightless seabird that evolved to fill a North Atlantic niche very similar to penguins in the Southern Hemisphere. With its black-and-white coloration, upright stance, and penguin-like shape, the great auk appeared notably similar to its Antarctic cousins. However, as a species that diverged from penguins over 60 million years ago, the great auk represented an example of convergent evolution rather than close ancestry. Tragically driven extinct by human overexploitation in the 19th century, the great auk endures as one of the most famous cautionary tales of mankind’s ability to wipe out species. The story of this awkward, penguin-like bird continues to inspire conservation efforts worldwide.
