Great Auk Temporal range: Neogene – Late Holocene[1] | |
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Specimen No. 8 and replica egg in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Clade: | Aequorlitornithes |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Suborder: | Lari |
Family: | Alcidae |
Genus: | †Pinguinus Bonnaterre, 1791 |
Species: | †P. impennis |
Binomial name | |
Pinguinus impennis (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
Approximate range (in blue) with known breeding sites indicated by yellow marks[3][4] | |
Synonyms | |
List
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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.
The Great Auk was the original "penguin" -- a massive, flightless, black-and-white Atlantic alcid. It was hunted to extinction by the middle of the 19th century. It had a rapid, wing-propelled underwater flight.[5]
Taxonomy[]
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The Great Auk resembled a larger Razorbill.
Behaviour[]
Diet[]
Calls[]
Reproduction[]
Distribution/habitat[]
References[]
- ^ Finlayson, Clive (18 December 2011). Avian survivors: The History and Biogeography of Palearctic Birds. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 157. ISBN 9781408137314.
- ^ BirdLife International (2012). "Pinguinus impennis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ^ Grieve, Symington (1885). The Great Auk, or Garefowl: Its history, archaeology, and remains. Thomas C. Jack, London.
- ^ Parkin, Thomas (1894). The Great Auk, or Garefowl. J.E. Budd, Printer. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
- ^ Dunn, Jon L. and Alderfer, Jonathan (2011). National Geographic Completely Birds of North America. National Geographic Society. ISBN 9781426213731.
External links[]
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