Gísli Pálsson: The great auk was a tall bird — 80 centimeters [31 inches] and quite thick with lots of meat — and it was flightless so would nest on skerries [small rocky islands] where it ...

An auk, after all, was worth more dead than alive. Locals valued its meat, which fishermen used as food and bait. Sailors coveted the oil rendered from the bird’s fat.

Two preserved specimens of great auk birds mounted in display cases with eggs at a museum in 1971. (Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) ...

The tale of the Great Auk is both a haunting reminder and a compelling narrative of how human exploitation can lead to the ...

The great auk has now become a powerful symbol of the damage humans can cause. Douglas Russell, Senior Curator of Birds at the Museum, says, 'The threats facing our flora and fauna are as great, if ...

Since the bird couldn’t fly, catching it was easy. Last birds killed in 1844. Before the last two known birds were killed in 1844 – 180 years ago – it was well known in the world of academia that the ...

In his mesmerising study of the great auk and its afterlife, Tim Birkhead asks how far science itself was to blame for the bird’s extinction. Jump to content. UK News Website of the Year 2024 ...

The U.S. even had a bird resembling a penguin, called the Great Auk, which is now gone as well. An incredible characteristic of birds is their ability to warn us before they go extinct.

There were even birders congregated around the lake from Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama to see the diving bird, she said. The ancient murrelet is an agile auk bird that has the ability to fly ...