The Great Auk: An Extinct Species
The Great Auk: An Extinct Species
The Great Auk: An Extinct Species
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong>: <strong>An</strong> <strong>Extinct</strong> <strong>Species</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> First <strong>Extinct</strong>ion in North America in Historical Times<br />
(1) <strong>The</strong> <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> was the first species of bird to disappear<br />
during historical times in North American. Its extinction was<br />
not a natural one like the disappearance of saber-toothed tigers<br />
or dinosaurs that once roamed parts of this continent too. <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> is lost forever because of human greed and a<br />
complete disrespect for nature.<br />
(2) <strong>The</strong> <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> was the only flightless bird in the Northern<br />
Hemisphere and the only flightless bird known to Europeans<br />
until the exploration of south Africa and <strong>An</strong>tarctica in the early<br />
1600's.<br />
Appearance<br />
(3) <strong>The</strong> great auk was a large bird, approximately 5 kg in mass<br />
and 70 cm in height. It had a black back and head. Because the<br />
word “penguin” means “white patches in front of it eyes”, the great<br />
auk was considered the original penguin. <strong>The</strong> auk’s bill was large<br />
and black. Its stomach and breast were white. <strong>The</strong> white belly<br />
protected the bird from predators swimming below it and the black<br />
back protected it against predators flying overhead.<br />
(4) <strong>The</strong> <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> was an excellent swimmer. It used its stubby<br />
featherless wings to “fly” through the water. But unlike gannets,<br />
which plunge into the sea while in flight, the auk dove from a<br />
floating position on the ocean’s surface to pursue prey like herring<br />
and caplin. On land, the auk was slow. Its waddle walk made it an<br />
easy target for hunters.<br />
© Prepared by Jim Cornish, Gander, Newfoundland, 2003. -1-
Distribution<br />
(5) <strong>The</strong> <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> nested in large groups<br />
called colonies. <strong>The</strong> female laid a single<br />
pear-shaped creamy white egg on the bare<br />
rock of some of the low lying islands that<br />
dot the north Atlantic off the coast of<br />
Newfoundland, Iceland, Scotland and<br />
Greenland. Since it was flightless, the<br />
female had to lay its egg near sea level and<br />
not on the high rock ledges in the cliffs like<br />
many other seabirds. That too made it<br />
vulnerable to hunters.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Exploitation Begins<br />
(6) Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the<br />
<strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> and its eggs were used as food by the<br />
Beothuks, the now extinct native people of<br />
Newfoundland. <strong>The</strong> Beothuks paddled their ocean<br />
going canoes to the Funk Islands just off the<br />
northeast coast of Newfoundland where the auk<br />
lived in great numbers. <strong>The</strong>y took only the birds<br />
they needed, leaving the population healthy.<br />
(7) <strong>The</strong> Europeans discovered the <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> in<br />
the early 1500s. At first, they used the bird to<br />
indicate the position of the Grand Banks, the rich<br />
fishing grounds off the east coast of<br />
Newfoundland. Later, they used the auk for food.<br />
Fishermen and sailors alike discovered that the<br />
birds were easy to catch. On trans-Atlantic<br />
voyages, their ships would stop at the auk’s<br />
© Prepared by Jim Cornish, Gander, Newfoundland, 2003. -2-
nesting islands and sailors would herd hundreds of them along a<br />
plank to the ships’ decks. Some of the birds were killed and eaten<br />
immediately. Some were killed and preserved in salt to be eaten<br />
later. Sometimes the auks were kept alive in the ships’ hulls to<br />
serve as fresh meat later in the voyages. <strong>The</strong> fact they were edible<br />
contributed to auk’s extinction too.<br />
Controlling <strong>The</strong> Slaughter<br />
(8) Although the <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> was hunted relentlessly and in great<br />
numbers from the beginning of 16th century, the effects of the<br />
slaughter were not noticed until two hundred years later –– and<br />
even then no serious efforts were made to protect them from<br />
jeopardy. In 1775, the government of Nova Scotia asked <strong>Great</strong><br />
Britain to ban the killing of auks. This was done. <strong>An</strong>yone caught<br />
killing auks for feathers or taking their eggs for food was whipped in<br />
public. Fishermen, however, were still allowed to use the bird as<br />
bait and so the auks’ numbers continued to decline.<br />
(9) Other large <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong><br />
colonies in Iceland were<br />
being raided for food, oil<br />
and feathers too. <strong>The</strong><br />
Icelanders harvested the<br />
birds in rotation. This<br />
means they killed large<br />
numbers of birds one year<br />
and then left the colony<br />
alone the next to enable<br />
their numbers to increase.<br />
Eventually, though, the<br />
hunting pressure became<br />
too great and Icelandic populations declined. Only when the birds<br />
© Prepared by Jim Cornish, Gander, Newfoundland, 2003. -3
were extremely rare on both sides of the Atlantic, did the world<br />
begin to recognize the plight of these great seabirds.<br />
(10) Surprisingly, the reaction to the decline in the <strong>Great</strong><br />
<strong>Auk</strong>’s population caused additional problems for the bird.<br />
Instead of protecting the auk and preventing the species from<br />
being wiped-out, museums and nature collectors all over<br />
Europe killed them for display specimens. In 1830, an auk<br />
skin sold for $16, nearly equal to the average monthly wage<br />
of a common worker at that time.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Last Birds<br />
(11) <strong>The</strong> final end to the <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> began in the early 19th<br />
century. During a war between England and France around<br />
1813, sailors eager to obtain fresh food once again harvested<br />
auks from colonies in Iceland. One colony was an unfortunate<br />
victim of nature. A volcano on a nesting island erupted and<br />
then sank into the sea, wiping out its entire population of birds. A<br />
bizarre event in Scotland in 1844 ended the auk there. A lone auk<br />
on the Hebrides Islands off Scotland was blamed for causing a<br />
severe storm. <strong>The</strong> local people put the bird on trial. A jury found the<br />
auk guilty of witchcraft and stoned it to death. <strong>The</strong> saddest story<br />
though belongs to the last known nesting pair. On June 3rd, 1844,<br />
three men set out in search of auks sighted off Iceland. <strong>The</strong>y found<br />
a male, female and one egg. Greedy for the money the birds could<br />
bring, they shot the two birds and crushed the egg. No auks were<br />
ever seen again. <strong>The</strong>y had become extinct.<br />
(12) Many other species of animals around the world are<br />
endangered because of overhunting. <strong>The</strong>y are doomed to<br />
extinction like the great auk if nothing is done to prevent this from<br />
happening.<br />
© Prepared by Jim Cornish, Gander, Newfoundland, 2003. -4
Visual Literacy: Using a Venn Diagram<br />
Student Activities: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong><br />
Study the picture of a penguin and the great auk, which was a penguin too. Create a<br />
Venn diagram to compare the two birds.<br />
© Prepared by Jim Cornish, Gander, Newfoundland, 2003. -5-
Was the <strong>Auk</strong> Really a Penguin? You Decide<br />
Use the Venn diagram below and the images on the previous page to compare and contrast the great auk and a penguin.<br />
© Prepared by Jim Cornish, Gander, Newfoundland, 2003. -6-
Comprehension Questions<br />
Directions: Highlight the keywords in the question. Use the keywords to find the topic<br />
containing the keywords. Locate the information to answer the question.<br />
Write the answer in complete sentences and in your very best handwriting.<br />
1. Why did the <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> become extinct?<br />
2. What three characteristics did the great auk have that contributed to its<br />
extinction?<br />
3. How was the great auk important to sailors and fishermen?<br />
4. Why did a ban on hunting great auks not save the species?<br />
5. What steps did the Icelanders take to keep hunting the great auk and yet keep<br />
the population of the colonies strong?<br />
6. In what ways did the great auk’s colouration protect it from natural predators?<br />
7. What is the purpose of the map on page two of the passage on the great auk?<br />
8. Based on the Venn diagram activity, do you think the great auk was a penguin?<br />
Why?<br />
Just the Facts<br />
1. Write five facts about the <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> you found the most interesting.<br />
Thinking About What You Have Learned<br />
1. <strong>The</strong>re is an expression that goes like this: “Those that ignore their history and<br />
doomed to repeat it?” What does this mean and how does it apply to the great<br />
auk?<br />
© Prepared by Jim Cornish, Gander, Newfoundland, 2003. -7-
Reading For Understanding<br />
Cause and Effect<br />
One thing happens that then causes something else to occur. This is what “cause and<br />
effect means.” For example, if tripping over a branch is the cause, the effect is falling<br />
down. Below are some cause and effect statements based on the passage on the great<br />
auk. Complete the statement that is missing from each pair.<br />
Cause Effect<br />
there was a lack of fresh meat on early<br />
sailing ships<br />
sailors discovered the birds couldn’t fly<br />
auk feathers made good hat decorations<br />
the auk was declared a threatened<br />
species<br />
numbers of great auk began to decline<br />
population on an island off Iceland<br />
destroyed<br />
© Prepared by Jim Cornish, Gander, Newfoundland, 2003. -8-
Backbone Puzzle: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong><br />
1 r<br />
2<br />
3 i<br />
4<br />
5<br />
6<br />
7 m<br />
8 c<br />
9<br />
10 o<br />
11 i<br />
12 e<br />
13 k<br />
14 i<br />
1. At risk. (8)<br />
2. Describes the walk of the great auk. (4)<br />
3. Name of the nesting population. (5)<br />
4. <strong>The</strong> seventeenth letter of the alphabet.<br />
5. Welsh word meaning “white patch around eyes”. (3)<br />
6. Number of eggs laid by a great auk female. (5)<br />
7. <strong>Auk</strong>s were collected to be used as these in museums. (10)<br />
8. <strong>The</strong>se individuals, working for museums, also caused the extinction of the auk. (10)<br />
9. This area of the great auk was largely white. (3)<br />
10. <strong>An</strong> animal that hunts another animal for food. (3)<br />
11. Occurs when no individuals of a species exist. (1)<br />
12. Birds with wings but do not fly. (2)<br />
13. <strong>The</strong>se native people hunted the auk and collected its eggs for food. (6)<br />
14. One of the reasons often cited for extinction of a animal species. (12)<br />
This french explorer first noticed the value of the great auk for sailors: ___________________________<br />
© Prepared by Jim Cornish, Gander, Newfoundland, 2003. -9-
<strong>The</strong> Globe<br />
<strong>The</strong> globe to the right shows two<br />
hemispheres of the earth and well as the<br />
imaginary line that separates them. Study<br />
the globe and complete the following.<br />
Jot down the information that completes the<br />
following.<br />
a. the two hemispheres pictured on the globe<br />
_____________________________________________________________________<br />
b. the line that separates the two hemispheres<br />
_____________________________________________________________________<br />
c. the continents that are completely above this line<br />
_____________________________________________________________________<br />
d. the continents that are present in both hemispheres<br />
_____________________________________________________________________<br />
e. the number of degrees from the equator to the north and south poles<br />
_____________________________________________________________________<br />
f. the number of degrees of the equator<br />
_____________________________________________________________________<br />
© Prepared by Jim Cornish, Gander, Newfoundland, 2003. -10-