Toe in the Water

Penguins

Penguins

All this fuss about penguins. Everyone knows that penguins live in the southern hemisphere but there once was a bird that filled that niche in the northern hemisphere. It wasn’t a penguin or even related, although it looked very similar and was sometimes given that name.

It was called the great auk, a flightless seabird with similar habits to the penguin. Hunted to extinction by 1844, there are no great auks left. Other auks exist, however, the most closely related being the razorbill. The puffin is also related to the auks. Only the great auk mimicked the penguin to the extent of being flightless.

Not surprising they went extinct therefore. But they are high on the list of possible de-extinctions, apparently. Visions of Arctic Park…

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