The great auk (Pinguinus impennis), also known as the penguin or garefowl, is an extinct species of flightless alcid that first appeared around 400,000 years ago and became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus.

Mar 7, 2025 · Great auk, flightless seabird extinct since 1844. It belonged to the family Alcidae (order Charadriiformes) and bred in colonies on rocky islands off North Atlantic coasts. Utterly defenseless, great auks were killed by rapacious hunters for food and bait.

The great auk was a large bird, that could not fly. People hunted it for meat and feathers. It grew rare, because it was too easy to kill, and the ones left could not breed fast enough to make up for the lost ones. The last known great auks (there were two auks) were killed on June 3, 1844 in Iceland. [1] It lived mostly in the water, like a duck.

Jul 13, 2023 · The Great Auks (Pinguinus impennis) is an extinct bird. It was the only species in the genus Pinguinus, flightless giant auks from the Atlantic, to survive until recent times, but is extinct today. It was also known as garefowl (from the Old Norse geirfugl), or penguin (see etymology below).

Great auks were native to the Arctic and sub-Arctic, and became extinct in 1844. On July 3, 1844, fishermen killed the last confirmed pair of great auks (Pinguinus impennis) at Eldey Island, Iceland. The great auk, was a large flightless bird native to the North Atlantic. It once had a population in the millions.

The great auk (Pinguinus impennis ) is a species of flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus.

It is a lesson in what can happen to an ocean-dwelling species when human greed runs rampant. Great auks were once common in the waters of the North Atlantic. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports that the birds lived in scattered colonies across the ocean.

Feb 28, 2019 · We all know about the Dodo Bird and the Passenger Pigeon, but for a large portion of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Great Auk was the world's most widely known (and most-lamented) extinct bird. On the following slides, you'll discover ten essential Great Auk facts.

Dec 4, 2019 · Like the passenger pigeon and the moa, the great auk was driven to extinction by human activity, a new study found. The Natural History Museum, London/Science Source. Not so long ago, the...

The Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis) was a remarkable species of flightless bird belonging to the alcid family. Native to the North Atlantic region, this penguin-like bird was characterized by its distinctive black and white plumage, with a large white patch on its belly.