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The last colony of great auks lived on Geirfuglasker (the "Great Auk Rock") off Iceland. This islet was a volcanic rock surrounded by cliffs that made it inaccessible to humans, but in 1830, the islet submerged after a volcanic eruption, and the birds moved to the nearby island of Eldey , which was accessible from a single side.
18th-century sketch of Geirfuglasker Former location of Geirfuglasker among the Fuglasker islands. Geirfuglasker (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈceirˌfʏklaˌscɛːr̥] ⓘ, "Great Auk Rock") was a small islet near Reykjanes, Iceland. It was volcanic rock with steep sides except for two landing places.
' Great Auk Stack '), [2] or Freykja (), [citation needed] is a small, uninhabited island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago. [1] [2] Geirfuglasker is located approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) off Iceland's southwestern coast. [1] [2] The island hosted one of the last known colony of great auks, which thrived given its inaccessibility to humans.
Pinguinus alfrednewtoni is an extinct species of auk related to the great auk known from fossils that were discovered in the Pliocene Yorktown Formation of North Carolina.Like the great auk, it was a large flightless diving bird that used its wings to propel itself forward underwater.
The Great Auk. Southborough, Kent: Errol Fuller. ISBN 0-9533553-0-6. The book of more than 450 pages is entirely devoted to the extinct great auk (Pinguinus impennis). It holds, apart from detailed descriptions of the history, ecology, habits and distribution of the "garefowl" (an old English name), a great many illustrations – often dating ...
Auks or alcids are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. [1] The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets.The family contains 25 extant or recently extinct species that are divided into 11 genera.
It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (Pinguinus impennis). [4] Historically, it has also been known as "auk", [5] "razor-billed auk" [6] and "lesser auk". [7] Razorbills are primarily black with a white underside. The male and female are identical in plumage; however, males are generally larger than females.
Mounted great auk, Natural History Museum, London. On Stac an Armin, in July, 1840, the last great auk (Pinguinus impennis) seen in Britain [17] was caught and killed. A then 75-year-old inhabitant of St Kilda told Henry Evans, a frequent visitor to the archipelago, that he and his father-in-law with another man had caught a "garefowl ...