The Last of Its Kind: The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction

by Gísli Pálsson

Overview

Shortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize
How an iconic bird’s final days exposed the reality of human-caused extinction

The great auk is one of the most tragic and documented examples of extinction. A flightless bird that bred primarily on the remote islands of the North Atlantic, the last of its kind were killed in Iceland in 1844. Gísli Pálsson draws on firsthand accounts from the Icelanders who hunted the last great auks to bring to life a bygone age of Victorian scientific exploration while offering vital insights into the extinction of species.

Pálsson vividly recounts how British ornithologists John Wolley and Alfred Newton set out for Iceland to collect specimens only to discover that the great auks were already gone. At the time, the Victorian world viewed extinction as an impossibility or trivialized it as a natural phenomenon. Pálsson chronicles how Wolley and Newton documented the fate of the last birds through interviews with the men who killed them, and how the naturalists’ Icelandic journey opened their eyes to the disappearance of species as a subject of scientific concern—and as something that could be caused by humans.

Blending a richly evocative narrative with rare, unpublished material as well as insights from ornithology, anthropology, and Pálsson’s own North Atlantic travels, The Last of Its Kind reveals how the saga of the great auk opens a window onto the human causes of mass extinction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691230986
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	02/06/2024
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Gísli Pálsson is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Iceland. His books include The Human Age, Down to Earth, and The Man Who Stole Himself.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“The Last of Its Kind recounts the final chapter of the great auk’s tragic story. Gísli Pálsson’s meditation on the meaning of extinction is thoughtful, clarifying, and deeply moving.”—Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

“A richly detailed, insightful, and valuable account of the little-known expedition that finally awakened Victorians to the reality of human-caused extinction.”—Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction

“The extinction of the great auk took place in real time and under the watchful eyes of European naturalists even as the fate of the famous dodo still puzzled them. Gísli Pálsson brilliantly explores the cultural climate in which the idea of human-induced extinction became accepted as scientific fact. Pálsson’s elegantly written historical ethnography tells a story that unites the settled ecological past, the ambivalent present, and the probable future.”—Jonathan Marks, author of Is Science Racist?

“Iceland was where, in 1844, the last great auks were seen and killed—an event documented a few years later by British ornithologists John Wolley and Alfred Newton. Using Wolley’s long-forgotten notebooks, Icelandic anthropologist Gísli Pálsson has created a marvelous and penetrating biography of a bird whose extinction is a powerful reminder of our own culpability and vulnerability.”—Tim Birkhead, author of Birds and Us

“This book puts the story of the great auk and its sad disappearance in the much wider context of recent extinctions.”—Errol Fuller, author of The Great Auk: The Extinction of the Original Penguin

Editorial Reviews

11/27/2023

This bland history by Pálsson (Down to Earth), an anthropology professor emeritus at the University of Iceland, traces how British naturalists John Wolley and Alfred Newton’s 1858 expedition to Iceland to study the great auk, a flightless aquatic bird that once thrived in the North Atlantic, revolutionized the scientific understanding of extinction. Drawing on Wolley’s notebooks, Pálsson recounts the ornithologists’ journey in excessive detail, covering their ride on a 20-passenger steamer from Scotland to Reykjavík, their lodging at a “two-story timber-framed” hotel called the Club, and the life story of the boat foreman whose crew rowed tumultuous waters searching for the bird on the naturalists’ behalf. After Wolley and Newton’s conversations with locals revealed that no great auks had been seen or caught in years, the scientists concluded the last of the great auks had likely been killed by hunters in 1844. This revelation led Newton to conclude that humans had caused the bird’s extinction, a possibility previously thought impossible, and he became an outspoken environmentalist. Pálsson makes a persuasive case that Newton made a “vital contribution to the framing of our modern concept of extinction,” but unfortunately, the dry, protracted telling of the largely uneventful 1858 expedition is more tedious than enlightening. This feels like a missed opportunity. Photos. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"Shortlisted for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize"

Finalist for the PROSE Award in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Association of American Publishers

"A fascinating, important, and timely book about a major icon of extinction."—-Mark V. Barrow Jr., Science

"An engaging book."—-Tom Tierney, New Scientist

"What makes The Last of Its Kind special is that it was written by an Icelander, and Icelanders were the last people to live with, and hunt, great auks. Pálsson’s deep knowledge of the Icelandic language and culture allows us to see afresh the last eyewitness accounts of this extinct bird, as well as the consequences of its extinction."—-Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books

"The Last of its Kind is a slow-moving thriller, a murder-mystery where we know from the outset who did it."—-Surekha Davies, Times Literary Supplement

"[A] moving and well thought out tale. . . . This book is an important part of an innocent species' life."—-Deb Hirt, Muskogee Phoenix

"[An] engaging story."—-Andrew Robinson, Nature

"Through a combination of scientific analysis, personal narratives, and ecological insights, Pálsson crafts a gripping story that underscores the urgent need for conservation efforts to protect endangered species."—-John Hague, The Grebe

"[A] thoughtful and melancholy account."—-Liam Shaw, London Review of Books

"Remarkable."—-Rob Hume, BirdGuides

"Wonderful."—-John Miles, Birdwatching

"Much has been written about the demise of the Great Auk . . . and this work by Gísli Pálsson is an important addition to the body of work on this iconic and enigmatic species. It is scholarly and well-presented."—-David Gascoigne, Travels with Birds

"Pálsson affectionately profiles Wolley and Newton and thereby gives readers a colorful view of what ornithology and natural history was like in the decades immediately before the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species."—-Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review

"An atmospheric blend of history, travelogue and science."—-Anjana Ahuja, The Guardian

"Pálsson includes thoughtful discussions of evolutionary theory and speciation."—-J. Burger, Choice

"Beautifully written . . . Pálsson brings an intimate and authentic touch to this tragic exploration of one bird’s extinction. In his very characteristic narrative voice that weaves facts, history and science with his own personal knowledge of the land and its bio-cultural geography, this book is somewhat of a mystery thriller that knocks on the Icelandic door of memory, melancholia, remorse and reparation. . . . He should be applauded for this raw, yet at times elegiac handling of the story of the last Great Auk."—-Shé Mackenzie Hawke, Visions for Sustainability

"The Last of its Kind is a must-read for any seabird enthusiast, for those interested in extinction and the history of conservation science, and for anyone who wishes that Great Auks still roamed our oceans."—-Alex Bond, Ibis

"The great innovation and the great value of this book (wonderfully translated from the Icelandic by Anna Yates) is not the new historical details it adduces, though, but rather in its exploitation of a 'new old' source for those details, the unpublished report compiled 175 years ago by John Walley and held now in the manuscript collection of Cambridge University."—-Rick Wright, ABA

From the Publisher

2023-10-05
An examination of the extinction of an iconic bird during the 19th century.

Pálsson, emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland and author of The Man Who Stole Himself, examines the human-caused extinction of the great auk. The author focuses largely on the 1858 expedition of ornithologists John Wolley and Alfred Newton, who traveled from Britain to Iceland with the goal of gathering specimens of the great auk, which was “reported to be in serious decline.” As Pálsson notes, during the Victorian age, egg collecting was a popular hobby, and “obsessed collectors and scientists abroad” sought to fill their “cabinets of curiosities.” At the time, no name existed for the loss of a species, as most people believed that “existing organisms could not vanish, and that new species could not appear.” During the course of their expedition, Wolley kept detailed notebooks, known as the Gare-Fowl Books, which include interviews with locals and provide a real-time account of the extinction of the great auk. According to interviews and records, the “last successful trip” related to the great auk had been the infamous 1844 hunt. When Newton returned from the 1858 expedition, he concluded, “As to the extinction of the Great Auk, if it is extinct, I think it has been mainly accomplished by human means.” Pálsson demonstrates that Newton’s greatest achievement was establishing a clear distinction between unavoidable natural extinction, as theorized by Darwin, and “avertible extinction due to human agency,” which paved the way for animal protection measures. For his contributions, Pálsson contends that Newton deserves a place alongside other pioneering environmentalists. Despite its disturbing revelations, this well-written and researched narrative will appeal to scholars and armchair naturalists alike.

Both haunting and disheartening, this is an accessible look at a signal species in the history of human-caused extinctions.

Kirkus Reviews