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