Great+Auk!

---> ****Emperor Penguin**** **__ The Great Auk __** Kingdom: [|Animalia] Phylum: [|Chordata] Class: [|Aves] Order: [|Charadriiformes] Family: [|Alcidae] Genus: Pinguinus - [|Bonnaterre], 1791 Species: P. impennis

Great Auk is also known as the Pinguinus Impennis, a large, flightless alcid that became extinct during the 19th century. These birds were found around the Atlantic Ocean region which is isolated and can have easy supply to both the ocean and plentiful food supply. The Great Auks could grow up to 75 to 85 centimeters and can weigh around 5 kg. The wings were 15 centimeters long but they are flightless, instead this trait made them powerful swimmers and can benefit when hunting down preys. They have very similar physical features to penguins nowadays, white their glossy black back, white stomach, short neck and legs, small head and wings to help them survive. Great auks were very similar to the penguins, although they were very agile in the water, they were very clumsy on land. The main predators of Great Auks were Orcas, Whit tailed eagles, polar bears and humans. They nested in very dense and social colonies just like the Emperor penguins. Their incubation duration is a bit less than the Emperor penguins, for about 6 weeks before the young chick hatches. The fossil record of the Pinguinus Impennis and molecular evidence show that they have very close traits to the stout [|Xantus’s Murrelet], but soon diverged after their common ancestor, and spread to the Atlantic alcids. The earliest fossils were recorded from the Pliocene (5.2 to 1.64 million years ago), and they were depicted in the late Stone Age cave paintings at 185,000 years old near Marseilles.



**Habitat and Ecology**
These Great Auks could be found in around the coast of Canada, along the cold North Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Norway, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Great Britain, France and around Northern Spain. Their diet was mainly food from shallow water. Their favourite food was believed to be Atlantic Menhaden and Capelin. Other preys including [|Lumpsuckers], Shorthorn Sculpins, Cod, Crustaceans, and [|Sand Lance]. Young Great Auks are also believed to feed on Plantonns and maybe fish and crustaceans regurgitated by adult Great Auks.

**[[image:bowataukgreatbbi.jpg width="344" height="496" align="left"]][[image:biri_grau_th.jpg width="218" height="177" align="left" caption="Eye of Great Auk"]]Structural 1 – Eyes**
The Great Auks were very similar to the penguins nowadays. They spend 90% of their life in the water. Over evolution their eyes have been adapted to provide better vision underwater than on land. Their large flat eyes could maximize the light intake in the gloomy depths and their strong muscle in the eye could allow them to contract the lens of the eye. Being able to do that they could see well on land and even better underwater. Besides the physical builds of the eye, they had also adapted to sight better underwater by having increased sensitivity to blue, green and near UV light that enhanced their vision. The pressure that might have caused the Great Auks to have such great vision could possibly be the time they spent on water. These improved eye sights underwater could help them hunt better, interact better and survive better in the wild.

**Structural 2 – Wings** The Great Auks were flightless just like the penguins, and were recorded by Captain Taverner, an English sailor in the early 18th century “ They were as large as any Tame Goose, their wings are so small that they can never fly, they get their food by diving in the sea”. Having a streamlined body like the penguins made them excellent swimmers, although they were flightless and inconvenient on land, they used their strong wings for propulsion through the water. Their wings were 17cm long on average, each feather on the wing had its own special muscle, enabling the Great Auk to flatten it’s feathers close to its body, trapping the water from touching the body. The pressure that caused the Great Auks to evolve into having such clumsy wings is the environment that they lived in. The terrain that they lived in was lacking of predators, so they became flightless and the wings developed into great swimming tools.

**Behavioural 1 – Reproduction** The Great Auks only reproduced with another throughout their whole life. Once paired, they would nest near the base of cliffs in colonies, many believed that’s where they copulated. Before mating, they would bob their heads, showed off their white eye patches, bill markings and yellow mouths as social display. The density of the colonies was very similar to the Emperor penguins, nearly a nesting auk for every 1 square meter. Remarkably, the female Great Auks only laid one egg each year, though they could lay another one if the first one was lost. They would not breed if there was a shortage of food. Each egg has special markings on them and it is believed that the parents used the distinct markings to recognize their eggs. The pressure that might have caused them to lay only one egg could be the scarcity of food in shallow water and the lack of suitable breeding ground. Recent researches has shown that the overall population never exceeded over 400,000 in recorded history. The mini Ice Age from A.D 1550 to A.D 1850 is also responsible for the low population of the Great Auks.

**Behavioural 2 – Migration** During the late fall and winter, the Great Auks would migrate north and south away from the breeding colonies, usually after the chicks had fledged and tended to go southward. They left the Iceland colonies in July and travelled 20 km per day to reach Greenland by September. Though they were animals that lived in groups, they never left Iceland as a whole colony, instead they travelled in little groups. The pressure that might have caused them to move southward is because during winter, the temperature of northern European countries would be too cold for them, so it would be a better choice to leave Iceland to survive.

**Physiological – 1** These Great Auks have very similar bones to the penguins nowadays. They have very heavy, solid bones that act like a diver’s weight belt, to let them stay underwater. While the bones of most airborne birds are hollow for lightness, these Great Auk bones were very solid for ballast when they dive into the water. It is the increased osteosclerosis that improved the density of the bones. They developed this bone structure from their life span in water. Their light bones have established into heavy bones due to the lack of flying and increased swimming needs, this improved their survivability in the water.

**Extinction**
Record shows that humans had been hunting the Great Auks for over 100,000 years. It was shown as an important part of the Native American cultures that related to the bird, both as symbolic item and sometimes food. Early European explorers in the mid-16th century also used the Auk meat as food source and fishing bait, as they were very convenient. Besides the extensive killing of the Great Auks, the destruction of their nests along the east coast of North America was also a great threat done to them that led to their extinction Also scientists began to realize that the Great Auks were disappearing due to the over capturing, so they set out some environmental laws for these birds but the laws were not enough to save them. The last record of a living Great Auk was on 3rd of July, 1844 on Eldey, Iceland.