Great Auks

[pete9012S]

Most interesting Nigel, thank you.
I just realised that I have no idea what a Great Auk looks/looked like.
Research revealed this image. Without offending our dear Brother Pickup, it looks to me a little like a penguin??

[John Pickup]

I agree, Pete. Why should that offend me?

[pete9012S]

Well, before I just looked, in my mind I somehow thought they were relatives of the puffin family!!

[Courtenay]

How Great Auks raised their chicks was a mystery that went unsolved for 300 years – because people kept eating their eggs, a study has found.

The now-extinct flightless seabird actually took about 20 days to fledge, 10 times longer than first thought, according to a study published in the journal British Birds. Sheffield University’s Prof Tim Birkhead, the lead author, said: “The main reason no one saw a Great Auk chick fledge is that anyone who visited a breeding colony [on St Kilda, 100 miles west of the Scottish mainland] took the eggs to eat.”

That's very interesting, thanks, Nigel!

Without offending our dear Brother Pickup, it looks to me a little like a penguin??

And in fact, the Great Auk was the first bird to be called a "penguin"! It's thought that the name is actually Welsh or Cornish — "pen-gwyn" means "white head", probably because of the big white patches on its head that can be seen from a distance. So when similar-looking black and white swimming birds were discovered in the southern hemisphere, they got called "penguins" too and the name stuck (although they're not closely related to the Great Auk).

[Moonraker]

Well, before I just looked, in my mind I somehow thought they were relatives of the puffin family!!

And some of us know how sensitive our friend is to the protection of his puffins!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Puffins are members of the Auk family, though penguins aren't.

[John Pickup]

That's good enough for me. I hope Jack was consoled meeting Huffin and Puffin in Sea after having his hopes dashed in Island when he failed to find the Great Auk.