Great Auk

  • Last flightless bird in the Northern Hemisphere
  • Referred to as Penguins
  • Closely related to Razorbills, Murres and Puffins
  • No relation to Antarctic penguins
  • About 1 m tall and weighed about 5 Kg (12 pounds)
  • Funk Island was largest known colony
  • Beothuk canoed to Funk Island to collect their eggs
  • Basques used them as indicators of New World fishing banks
  • Exploited for food and bait from 1500s through 1700s
  • Slaughtered for down for mattresses and quilts in late 1700s
  • Gone from Newfoundland about 1800
  • Extinct in 1844 when last known breeding pair killed in Iceland
  • Today Great Auks are international conservation symbols