Great auks (Pinguinus impennis) were large flightless birds that thrived on rocky islands in the North Atlantic for thousands of years. However, humans hunted them to extinction within just a few ...

Analysis of ancient DNA from the North Atlantic penguin driven extinct during the 19th century reveals that even abundant and widespread species can be vulnerable to intense localized exploitation ...

In June 1844, farmers Jón Brandsson and Sigurður Ísleifsson, along with 12 others, made the perilous journey by boat from Iceland to the island of Eldey. They were searching for great auks: black and ...

Sailing near the remote Scottish island of St Kilda, Laughlan McKinnon sighted a strange bird napping on a rocky sea stack. It didn’t resemble most other birds he’d seen near these waters. It wasn’t a ...

In celebration of The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk, we bring you four more little-known facts about the once thriving Atlantic bird. Thornhill recently spoke to CBC Books about the rigorous research ...

During summers of my college years, I was a counselor at Camp Keewaydin near Middlebury, Vt., where pranks were attributed to the “Great Auk.” For instance, some of us, under cover of dark, rolled a ...

The whereabouts of the skin of the last female great auk, which has puzzled experts for 180 years, has been confirmed, according to a study. Sandra Toombs Image first published in Explorers Journal ...

Great auks were flightless birds believed to have existed in millions throughout the North Atlantic, on islands off the coasts of Iceland and Scotland, as well as in Scandinavia. Unfortunately, the ...

A replica of a bird which became extinct nearly 200 years ago has sold at auction for £25,000. The great auk, which was hunted to extinction in the mid-19th century for its feathers to make pillows, ...

From all over Britain they came, dealers, collectors, scientists, tweedy oölogists, pale studious curates. On the auctioneer’s pulpit were bids from all over the world, for here was an occasion that ...