Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
He associates the great auk with the mythical roc as a method of formally returning the main character to a sleepy land of fantasy and memory. [72] W. S. Merwin mentions the great auk in a short litany of extinct animals in his poem "For a Coming Extinction", one of the poems from his 1967 collection, "The Lice". [73]
The great auk was later included, among other endangered and extinct animals, in a report by Lucas assessing representation of the animals in the collection of the National Museum. He also decried the mass death of animals from manmade causes and argued for protective measures to prevent extinction within the report.
Pinguinus alfrednewtoni was the closest known relative of the great auk (P. impennis). Although P. alfrednewtoni had been considered a sister taxon to the more recent great auk since its description in the 70s, it and many other extinct auks had not been included in phylogenetic analysis until 2011.
The great auk was a large flightless bird that lived in the Northern Hemisphere. It had a large, intricately grooved beak. When the first settlers arrived in Iceland, the auk population was probably in the millions. However, the settlers found the auks to be “very good and nourishing meat.”
Auks are monomorphic (males and females are similar in appearance). Extant auks range in size from the least auklet , at 85 g (3 oz) and 15 cm (5.9 in), to the thick-billed murre , at 1 kg (2.2 lb) and 45 cm (18 in).
Ornithology, formerly The Auk and The Auk: Ornithological Advances, is a peer-reviewed scientific journal and the official publication of the American Ornithological Society (AOS). It was established in 1884 and is published quarterly. The journal covers the anatomy, behavior, and distribution of birds.
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 ...
Main page; Contents; Current events; Random article; About Wikipedia; Contact us; Donate