Great AukCommon365

Art by Bence Beregi

Health

6

Threat

5

Cost

3

The great auk was a large, flightless seabird of the North Atlantic and the original creature people called a "penguin." It could not fly and moved clumsily on land, which made it easy prey for hunters, who took it in enormous numbers for its meat, eggs, fat, and feathers. The last known pair was killed on the Icelandic island of Eldey on 3 June 1844, and the egg the female had been keeping warm was crushed underfoot. The great auk was hunted out of the world completely, the rarest and saddest fate a real animal can meet.