#2000th

2,000 posts!

July 9, 2019 - Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis)

2,000th Bird

Once found in the North Atlantic, these flightless auks bred on various islands, including those off the coasts of Canada, Scotland, Iceland, and possibly Norway and Greenland. Weighing about 11 pounds (5 kilograms) and standing almost three feet (.9 meters) tall, their large size helped them dive deeper. Although the specifics of their diet and feeding behavior are not known, they probably ate large fish and may have fed crustaceans to their chicks. Nesting in colonies, females laid a single egg directly on rocks. Overexploitation by humans for feathers, meat, fat, oil, eggs, and bait led to their extinction. Though penalties for hunting them for feathers and taking their eggs were instituted by Great Britain in 1775, fishermen could still use them as bait and as they became scarce demand from collectors grew. The last pair was killed on Eldey Island off Scotland in 1844 as specimens for European collectors.

Bernie Wolfe/Serena Campbell/Leah Faulkner, Fleur Fanshawe (Holby City), 7k Explicit cw: Explicit Sexual Content, oh the joys of technology and clear communication