The Great Auk: Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death and Mysterious Afterlife - A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR

The life, death and afterlife of one of the true icons of extinction, the Great Auk

The great auk was a flightless, goose-sized bird superbly adapted for life at sea. Fat, flush with feathers and easy to capture, the birds were in trouble whenever sailors visited their once-remote breeding colonies. Places like Funk Island, off north-east Newfoundland, became scenes of unimaginable slaughter, with birds killed in their millions. By 1800 the auks of Funk Island were gone. A scramble by privat...