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Overview
... great auk ' guano ' and bones . Lucas was struck by the differential survival of different bones , but was ... great auks , as they are in guillemots , and are clearly visible in some blown eggs in museums . In life , these robust ...Synopsis
The life, death and afterlife of one of the true icons of extinction, the Great Auk The great auk was a flightless, goose-sized bird superbly adapted for life at sea. Fat, flush with feathers and easy to capture, the birds were in trouble whenever sailors visited their once-remote breeding colonies. Places like Funk Island, off north-east Newfoundland, became scenes of unimaginable slaughter, with birds killed in their millions. By 1800 the auks of Funk Island were gone. A scramble by private collectors for specimens of the final few birds then began, a bloody, unthinking destruction of one of the world's most extraordinary species. But their extinction in 1844 wasn't the end of the great auk story, as the bird went on to have a remarkable afterlife; skins, eggs and skeletons became the focus for dozens of collectors in a story of pathological craving and unscrupulous dealings that goes on to this day. In a book rich with insight and packed with tales of birds and of people, Tim Birkhead reveals previously unimagined aspects of the bird's life before humanity, its death on the killing shores of the North Atlantic, and the unrelenting subsequent quest for its remains. The great auk remains a symbol of human folly and the necessity of conservation. This book tells its story.Book Details
Published
March 13, 2025
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing
Pages
298
ISBN
9781399415712