Wingless auk. Great Razorbill - a bird exterminated through the fault of human stupidity and greed
A. Lebedev
The article is devoted to the extinct flightless bird - the great auk.
Everyone knows the penguins that inhabit the southern hemisphere, but few people know that the word "penguin" itself came from the north (however, some people probably still think that penguins live in the Arctic along with Polar bears). But before that they called a completely different bird (albeit a little similar) a wingless auk. There are various versions of the origin of this word. According to one of them, it comes from the phrase "pen gwyn" (white-headed), according to another version, it comes from the words "pin wing" (pin-winged), finally the third version from the Latin "pingus" (thick). Over time, this name passed into many languages, and then generally changed the object that was called this word.
The wingless auk was well known to European sailors, and when they saw similar birds in the southern seas, they were immediately named penguins. Although it is worth noting that these systematically distant birds, due to similar living conditions, are really very similar in appearance. The wingless auk had lost the ability to fly and had only underdeveloped wings. On land, she walked clumsily, stretched vertically and waddling from foot to foot. But in the sea, no one would have recognized these clumsy birds: like penguins, the auk swam and dived excellently, flapping its wings under water. A thick layer of subcutaneous fat served as a reliable thermal insulation during a long stay in the water.
This bird had many other names, which suggests that people have known this bird since ancient times. The ancient Scandinavians called the auk "geirfugel" (spear bird), and the Basques - "arponaz" (spear nose). Both of these names arose from the powerful elongated beak of the auk. The modern English name great auk (great auk) appeared only in the 18th century.
In historical times, the great auk was widely distributed along the coasts and islands of the entire northern Atlantic (from Labrador and Newfoundland to Greenland and Iceland, and from Norway to the British Isles). It was a large, goose-sized bird. The height of an adult Razorbill was 75–85 cm. The length of the wings was only 150–170 mm. Due to constant persecution by people, the distribution area of the poor bird was rapidly shrinking. Even before the beginning of the 10th century, people tried to make the wingless auk disappear on the coast of the continent, finding refuge on hard-to-reach, rocky islands. But even this could not save these birds. By the 10th century, miners were no longer interested in spearfish meat, but in fat and soft elastic feathers, which became a valuable commodity in many places in Europe. Gradually, the wingless auk became an inhabitant only of the northern impregnable islands. But with the development of navigation, a person was able to get there.
The wingless auk was perfectly adapted to living in the water. She nested on rocks and islands remote from the coast, along with other birds,
the number of seabirds in the colonies around the island of Newfoundland shocked the first European travelers. In such impregnable conditions, land-based predators, except for one, could not get the auk. The wingless auk has been an object of fishing for coastal residents since ancient times. Inability to fly, gullibility, huge concentrations on nesting made it an easy prey. It was not difficult to get a wingless auk. They were killed with clubs, oars, sticks, driven into boats on a board thrown over the side as many as they could fit there. Sailors, stocking up on provisions for a long voyage, salted large fat birds in barrels. Ships with holds full of auks departed from the islands. Eggs have also been fished for a long time.
For sailors forced to eat corned beef and breadcrumbs for a long time, seabird colonies were a salvation. The most profitable and easy prey were wingless auks, so they got the most. Birds nesting in the Newfoundland area were not lucky, they were just on the way from Europe to the New England colonies. Every now and then ships approached the bird islands to replenish supplies of provisions and left with fully stuffed holds. Later, settlers also joined the fishermen. For many of them, birds were the main food. With the growth of the population on the Atlantic coast of America, the procurement of meat and eggs of seabirds became an increasingly profitable business. No less devastating than the procurement of meat and eggs, the extraction of fat also produced, the demand for it at that time was very high. The great auk was the perfect subject for this.
And, despite this insane incessant extermination, wingless auks held out for several centuries, their numbers were so colossal before that. The demand for feathers and down, which increased in the second half of the 18th century, was finished off by spearmen, which were used to make pillows, featherbeds and furniture upholstery. Got and eiders, and many other species. It was not until 1794 that the London Colonial Secretary forbade the destruction of spear-carriers for the pen trade. But this ban came too late, and besides, no one was going to fulfill it. By 1802, the last colony of "penguins" in North America on Funk Island was finally destroyed.
For several decades, the pitiful remnants of the great auk colonies remained in the north Atlantic. They could no longer be of any interest to the fishery. Only two tiny islands off the southwestern coast of Iceland near the Reykjanes Peninsula became the last refuge of flightless auks. Actually, these were not islands, but simply rocks in the middle of the sea. These are the islands of Geirfuglasker and Eldey. Geirfuglasker served as a safe haven for birds. The island was almost inaccessible because of the strong surf. Fishing on these islands was not very profitable, since two nearby monasteries demanded 3/4 of the production as a duty. But in the winter of 1830, Geirfuglasker Island was swallowed up by the sea as a result of an underwater volcanic eruption. Only a tiny colony of wingless auks remained on Eldey Island.
By that time, meat and feather miners had already forgotten about the spear-nosed as an object of fishing. But then collectors entered the arena, putting an end to this tragedy. When everyone began to understand that the days of the "northern penguin" were numbered, the prices of stuffed animals and eggs of auks jumped wildly, and many museums and private collectors wished to get their own copies. It is not even approximately known what the number of spearmen was during the time of their prosperity. The numbers reflect only how many birds were killed in last years existence of the species.
1830 - 13 birds
1831 - 24 birds
1833 - 13 birds
1834 - 9 birds
1840 - 1841 - 3 birds
The last two birds were killed on June 3, 1844. Whether these birds were really the last representatives of their species, it will never be possible to establish. In any case, it was they who went down in history. After that, for more than ten years, there were reports of sightings of great auks in various places, but they could not be verified.”
From the species that once flourished, 78 stuffed and carcasses remained in museums, about 75 eggs and several skeletons. Now they cost crazy money. Now on the island of Elday there is a small memorial in the form of a statue of a great auk, this sculpture has become a symbol of the lost natural heritage.
Great auk (Alca impennis Linnaeus, 1758)
class: Aves
order: Charadriiformes
family: Alcidae
Dimensions: Height - 85 cm, weight - 5 kg
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene-Holocene in the waters of the North Atlantic
The great auk was a flightless bird of the alcid family that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus(unrelated to penguins, although it was the first bird to be called penguin). It bred on rocky, isolated islands with easy access to the ocean and a plentiful food supply, a rarity in nature that provided only a few breeding sites for the auks. When not breeding, the auks spent their time foraging in the waters of the North Atlantic , ranging as far south as northern Spain and also around the coast of Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Ireland, and Great Britain.
The great auk was 75 to 85 centimetres tall and weighed around 5 kilograms, making it the second largest member of the alcid family ( Miomancalla was larger). It had a black back and a white belly. The black beak was heavy and hooked, with grooves on its surface. During summer, the great auk's plumage showed a white patch over each eye. During winter, the auk lost these patches, instead developing a white band stretching between the eyes. The wings were only 15 centimetres long, rendering the bird flightless. Instead , the auk was a powerful swimmer, a trait that it used in hunting. Its favorite prey were fish, including Atlantic menhaden and capelin, and crustaceans. Although agile in the water, it was clumsy on land. Great auk pairs mated for life. They nested in extremely dense and social colonies, laying one egg on bare rock. The egg was white with variable brown marbling. Both parents incubated the egg for about six weeks before the young hatched. The young auk left the nest site after two or three weeks although the parents continued to care for it.
The great auk was an important part of many Native American cultures, both as a food source and as a symbolic item. Many Maritime Archaic people were buried with great auk bones, and one was buried covered in over 200 auk beaks, which are assumed to have been part of a cloak made of their skins. Early European explorers to the Americas used the auk as a convenient food source or as fishing bait, reducing its numbers. The bird "s down was in high demand in Europe, a factor which largely eliminated the European populations by the mid-16th century. Scientists soon began to realize that the great auk was disappearing and it became the beneficiary of many early environmental laws, but On 3 July 1844, the last two confirmed specimens were killed on Eldey, off the coast of Iceland, which also eliminated the last known breeding attempt. There are unconfirmed later reports of roaming individuals being seen or caught. A record of a bird in 1852 is considered by some to be the last sighting of the species. The great auk is mentioned in several novels and the scientific journal of the American Ornithologists" Union is named The Auk in honor of this bird.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The author has already written about the completely exterminated dodo and the moa bird .... In total, from 1600 to the present, more than 95 species of birds have become extinct. A quarter of them died out due to natural causes, and the disappearance of the rest of the species is directly or indirectly related, as direct extermination, destruction of habitats, importation of rats, dogs, cats
Active colonization of new lands, especially remote islands, where the birds had no natural enemies at all, was often accompanied by the complete extinction of the species.
For example, in North and Central America, European settlers exterminated 31 species, and the largest species extinctions occurred in island faunas: 86% of the bird species living there died out on the Mascarene Islands, 39% on Guadeloupe, 60% on Lason and Midway Islands, 60% on Hawaiian Islands - 60% of the species.
For example, in 1681, the last Mauritian dodo was killed, in 1844, wingless auks were exterminated, and in 1899, the passenger pigeon. Today we will tell about their tragic fate ...
Passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) is an extinct bird of the pigeon family.
Until the 19th century, it was one of the most common birds on Earth, total which were estimated at 3-5 billion individuals.
body length passenger pigeon was 35-40 cm, wing length - about 20 cm, body weight 250-340 grams, gray head and loin, brownish back, reddish chest. Scarlet eyes.
Female Passenger Pigeon. 1920 drawing
The passenger pigeon was distributed in the deciduous forests of North America east of the Rocky Mountains, from southern and central Canada to North Carolina, wintered in the southern United States, kept in huge flocks, for example, a nesting colony of pigeons in Wisconsin occupied all the trees in a forest over an area of 2200 km² , and the total number of the colony was estimated at 160 million individuals, there were often up to hundreds of nests on one tree! But a pair of passenger pigeons hatched only one chick per season.
The population decline of the passenger pigeon occurred gradually from 1800 to 1870, and a catastrophic decline in the number of birds occurred from 1870 to 1890.
Martha, the last passenger pigeon.
The extinction of the passenger pigeon was due to the influence of many factors, the main of which was poaching, as well as massive deforestation.
The last mass nesting was observed in 1883, the last time a passenger pigeon was in wild nature was discovered in 1900 in Ohio, USA.
The last dove, Martha ( Martha), died in the Cincinnati Zoological Garden (USA) on September 1, 1914.
great auk (Pinguinus impennis) - large flightless bird a family of auks, which became extinct in the middle of the 19th century.
She was the only living member of the genus Pinguinus, which previously included the Atlantic Razorbill.
Stuffed great auk, Leipzig
The great auk bred mainly on rocky, isolated islands, which were a rarity in nature for large nesting sites.
In search of food, wingless auks spent most of their time in the northern waters of the Atlantic Ocean, covering New England, part of Spain, eastern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Norway, Ireland and the UK. The bird colonies of the great auk stretched across the entire North Atlantic, from the Baffin Sea to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
This area also included Iceland, Norway and the British Isles. The wingless auk created its nesting colonies mainly on rocky islands with gently sloping coastlines that allowed it to easily reach the sea.
The flightless auk reached from 75 to 85 cm in length and weighed about 5 kg. Despite the short wings, the flightless auk swam perfectly in the water and hunted successfully.
The great auk fed on a variety of fish species, including American herring and capelin, as well as crustaceans. Despite the fact that the great auk swam perfectly in the water, on land it looked very clumsy.
The only known illustration of a living Great Razorbill,
painted by Ole Worm in the Faroe Islands
The wingless auk moved with slow steps, using its wings to jump up steep slopes, and while running short distances, waddled clumsily.
Among the natural predators of the great auk were the killer whale, the polar bear and the white-tailed eagle.
The ability to fly, lost in the process of evolution, awkwardness on land and gullibility to people made the wingless auk quite a vulnerable bird, so it was not difficult to get it. People hunted the wingless auk solely for meat and feathers, as well as for making stuffed animals for private collections and museums.
The life expectancy of these birds was, as some researchers believe, from 20 to 25 years.
The great auk has been known to humans for over 100,000 years. She was the most important source of food and a symbol of many Indian cultures that existed with her. The Native Americans who lived near the nesting sites of the great auks valued the birds for their delicious meat and revered them as an important symbol. This veneration is evidenced by images of the great auk found on bone necklaces.
Many people of ancient maritime cultures were buried with the remains of the great auk. A man buried in the Maritime Archaic cave near the city of Port-au-Chois on the island of Newfoundland 2000 BC. BC, was found surrounded by more than two hundred great auk beaks, which, according to archaeologists, were part of a costume made from its skin and head.
Almost half of the bird bones found in the graves at this site belonged to the great auk, which, according to archaeologists, was of great cultural importance for people of the ancient maritime culture.
Due to the hunting of people for a bird for its meat, fluff and use as bait, the number of wingless auks began to decline sharply by the middle of the 16th century. Realizing that the wingless auk was on the verge of extinction, scientists decided to include it in the list of protected birds, but this was not enough to save the species. The growing rarity of the bird increased the already strong interest of European museums and private collectors in obtaining stuffed animals and eggs, thereby ruining the last attempt to save the great auk.
The last sighting of a great auk occurred on July 3, 1844, in the area of the Icelandic island of Eldey, although this date remains controversial, as reports of individual sightings and even the capture of some individuals began to arrive. According to some ornithologists, the last sighting of a great auk occurred in 1852, which resulted in a single individual observed on the Great Bank of Newfoundland.
The great auk was the first of the European and American birds to be completely destroyed by man. In memory of the first loss of their continent, the journal of the American Society of Ornithologists is named " The Auk» ("Gagharka").
The Basques called the great auk " arponaz", which meant "spear-beak".
In Old French, the bird was called the bird " apponatz", and the Spanish and Portuguese sailors called her - " pinguiinos".
The Norwegians called the wingless auk " geirfugle"- "spear-bearing bird". The common English names of the bird come from this name - “ garefowl" or " "gairfowl".
The Eskimos called the wingless auk " isarukitsck" -"little wing"
The Welsh called this species " pingwen"- "white head".
European sailors used the auk as a beacon to navigate the waters of the North Atlantic. The presence of great auks in northern waters indicated that the Great Newfoundland Bank was nearby.
Before the appearance of man in the nesting areas of the great auk, the number of birds was estimated in the millions, but this figure is still disputed.
The flightless auk has been hunted since at least the 8th century for the meat, eggs and down of the bird.
Effigy, skeleton and replica of a great auk egg in the Senckenberg Museum
By the middle of the 16th century, almost all nesting colonies that were located in the European part of the Atlantic Ocean were destroyed.
In 1553, the great auk received its first official protection, and in 1794 Great Britain banned the killing of birds for the sake of down and eggs.
In St. John's, those who broke this law were publicly flogged, but the great auk was still allowed to be used as bait.
In addition, effigies and eggs of great auks were highly valued among wealthy Europeans, who wasted no time in adding to their collection of animals.
The last flightless auks seen in the British Isles were caught and killed on the islands of Stack an Armin and St Kilda in Scotland in July 1840.
The last colony of the great auk was found on the Icelandic island of Geirfuglasker ("From great auk feces» ). This island of volcanic origin, surrounded by impregnable cliffs, was the refuge of the flightless auk until an earthquake in 1830 and the island was completely destroyed. Great Auks migrated to nearby Eldy Island, and when the colony was discovered in 1835, there were only about fifty birds in it. Museums, wishing to obtain stuffed great auks, quickly began to exterminate the birds.
The last pair found near the hatching egg was killed by Jon Brandson and Sigurdur Isleifson on July 3, 1844.
In 1852, a live sighting was reported on the Great Newfoundland Bank, which was officially recognized by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
At present, the museum collections of the world have 78 stuffed animals, 75 eggs and 24 complete skeletons of great auks.
A.A. Kazdym
Bibliography
- Vinokurov A. A. Rare and disappearing animals. Birds / edited by Academician V. E. Sokolov. M.: " graduate School", 1992
- Encyclopedia Smithsonian. Cokinos Christopher Hope is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds. Warner Books, 2000
- Crofford Emily Gone Forever: The Great Auk. Crestwood House, 1989
- Fuller Errol The Great Auk. Privately Published, 1999
- Schmadel, Lutz D. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Fifth Revised and Enlarged Edition. B., Heidelberg, N.Y.: Springer, 2003
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The last pair of flightless auks were destroyed by two poachers in 1844, fortunately there is still a surviving related species of auks that lives on the islands of the North Atlantic Ocean.
The names of these two people are known to everyone, we will indicate them at the end of this short but very informative article.
Appearance
The height of the bird reached from 70 to 82 cm, the beak was very massive and hooked, somewhat reminiscent of the beak of a living pelican bird, its size varied from 77 to 100 millimeters, and there were from 7 to 12 characteristic depressions on the upper and lower jaws.
The weight of this magnificent wingless bird reached more than 5 kilograms due to the huge amount of subcutaneous fat, which served to maintain the desired body temperature.
Outwardly, this bird is very reminiscent of an ordinary penguin. The body color of females and males practically did not differ. The belly was white and the back was black. On her short paws there were three fingers, which were interconnected by a webbed thin skin.
The wings were small and could reach 15 cm, while the flight plumage was no more than 10 cm. A huge white spot was inserted around her eyes, which appeared in the summer and then disappeared. The shell of both eyes was painted chestnut or hazel.
Place and habitat
This bird species preferred to inhabit the uninhabited islands of the North Atlantic. The most common regions where the prehistoric bird lived and multiplied en masse, we will list in this list:
- the Fans Islands;
- Iceland;
- English Isles;
- Scandinavia;
In those days, it could be found a little further south. Anthropologists have found their remains in Florida, Gibraltar, Italy and other areas of the Mediterranean.
Lifestyle
They settled and nested in huge colonies. It is no secret that this species was the largest and weighed an order of magnitude more than a modern animal from the auk family. Her body weight was more than the weight of a domestic goose.
In the process of evolution, the wings of the bird became small, and therefore, it lost the ability to fly.. The limbs of the great auk have been moved far to the end of the body, based on this fact; she became a flawless and fast swimmer. However, on land, she was extremely clumsy and very vulnerable to predators and poachers.
Based on reliable sources, we can say; that the ancient tribes began to consume its meat in 1590, and the systematic extermination of this species began at the end of the eighteenth century and continued until the year 44 of this century.
To the Icelandic islands, caravans from a variety of ships were drawn, which were eager to fill it to capacity with auk meat, and then sell the fishery to the Napoleonic army. Merchants and a wealthy stratum of people of that time appreciated not only the meat of the auk, but also its fluff and feathers.
Habitat
She spent most of her life in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Large individuals of this species tried to live as close to shallow water as possible.
The place of immediate dwelling was rocky uninhabited islands, which were located near Newfoundland near Iceland. The question may naturally arise; Why exactly these places were inhabited by extinct prehistoric birds?
The answer is more than obvious, the fact is that even in our time this territory is oversaturated with a huge amount of fish and is a fishing zone for the states described above.
Despite the fact that she did not know how to fly, however, she led a nomadic lifestyle and could change her habitat - traveling through the water from one island to another.
Food
The diet of these birds was very modest, but at the same time volume. The daily menu included:
- Fish (Pacific herring);
- Crustaceans;
Although the great auk on land was a clumsy, sluggish bird, it was a master in the water. Her skills to dive and swim - one could only envy.
Thanks to special membranes on her limbs, she could develop tremendous speed during spearfishing, and her short limbs also served as a rudder. Short wings helped not only to skillfully maneuver while diving, but also to get out of the water.
reproduction
By nature, they were silent birds, only in the mating season, males made hoarse and whining sounds, calling on their partner to create a pair.
The breeding season fell at the end of May and lasted until mid-July. During nesting, they gathered and nested in huge groups, there is such an opinion; that they could nest near other bird species. For nesting, they preferred to choose the steep and rocky landscapes of the island, probably so that predators could not destroy their clutches.
There was only one greenish-blue egg in the clutch, and both parents incubated it. His parents supported him between their short legs and warmed him with their thick down like a penguin.
It will take 44 days for the baby to hatch, its delicate skin was wrapped in a thick white fluff, it reliably warmed it in the harsh northern climatic conditions. The chicks were fed alternately. When feathers replaced fluff on his body, he could go down to the water and lead an independent lifestyle.
Lifespan
Currently there is no exact data. We assume that they could live in the wild for no more than 22 years.
- The names of the people who killed the last two auks. They were; Sigurd Elefsson and John Bradsson.
- From official sources we learned; that in one day more than a hundred thousand eggs of auks were collected by poachers, and boats left the hunting grounds to the brim with the dead bodies of these now extinct birds.
- Based on archaeological excavations, it can be argued that; ancient people hunted this bird - eight thousand years ago.
- A stuffed auk was sold to the Icelandic Museum in 1971 for 9,000 pounds.
- Starting from the 12th century, ancient tribes buried the deceased along with the bones of these birds.
- Not only meat was valued by the people of that time, but also the feathers and down of this bird were actively bought up by merchants.
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