FaunaHub
EXExtinctPartial review

Great Auk

Pinguinus impennis

Great auk (Pinguinus impennis), a mounted museum specimen of the extinct seabird.

Great auk (Pinguinus impennis) — a mounted museum specimen of the extinct bird.

Image: Aiwok, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

At a glance

IUCN category
EX · Extinct
Animal group
Birds
Population trend
Trend unknown
Last verified

Conservation overview

The great auk was a large, flightless North Atlantic seabird that looked and lived much like a penguin. It is assessed as Extinct, with the last birds killed in 1844.

It was hunted relentlessly for its meat, eggs, down, and oil.

Range & habitat

Formerly islands and coasts of the North Atlantic.

Major threats

Threats below are drawn from the authoritative sources listed on this page. For the current, complete assessment, see the IUCN Red List.

  • Hunting for meat, eggs, feathers, and oil
  • Collecting as it became rare
  • Loss of safe island colonies

Why it matters

A flightless seabird hunted to extinction, the great auk is a powerful early lesson in how relentless exploitation can erase even an abundant species.

Gallery

A preserved great auk specimen on display.

Great auk (Pinguinus impennis); a preserved specimen.

Image: Vertebrate Zoology Curator, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources

Sources for Great Auk

Frequently Asked Questions

Was the great auk a penguin?
No, but it strongly resembled one and even shared the name origin: it was a large, flightless, black-and-white North Atlantic seabird, an example of unrelated animals evolving similar forms.
When and why did the great auk go extinct?
Published accounts cite relentless hunting for meat, eggs, down, and oil — and intensified collecting as it grew rare — with the last known birds killed in 1844.

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