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A great auk is collected by fictional naturalist Stephen Maturin in the Patrick O'Brian historical novel The Surgeon's Mate (1980). This work also details the harvesting of a colony of auks. [74] Farley Mowat devotes the first section, "Spearbill", of his book Sea of Slaughter (1984) to the history of the great auk. [75]
The rough surf around the island usually made it inaccessible to humans, and one of the last refuges for the flightless bird the great auk (which was also called "garefowl" — "geirfugl" in Icelandic). In a volcanic eruption in 1830 this rock submerged. The surviving great auks moved to a nearby island called Eldey and were wiped out by humans ...
Little auk or dovekie, Alle alle; Pinguinus. Great auk, Pinguinus impennis (extinct, c.1844) Alca. Razorbill, Alca torda; Tribe Synthliboramphini – synthliboramphine murrelets Black guillemot (Cepphus grylle, a true guillemot) in summer (front) and winter plumage. Synthliboramphus
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.
' 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.
The great auk went extinct in the 1800s due to overhunting by humans for food. The last two known great auks lived on an island near Iceland and were clubbed to death by sailors. There have been no known sightings since. [95] The great auk has been identified as a good candidate for de-extinction by Revive and Restore, a non-profit organization.
The great auk was an important part of many Native American cultures, both as a food source and as a symbolic item. Many Maritime Archaic people were buried with great auk bones. One burial discovered included someone covered by more than 200 great auk beaks, which are presumed to be the remnants of a cloak made of great auks' skins.
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 ...