Great auks (Pinguinus impennis) were large flightless birds that thrived on rocky islands in the North Atlantic for thousands of years. However, humans hunted them to extinction within just a few ...

The term Penguin was first published in the 16th century as a synonym for Great Auk. There is a debate about the etymology of the name “Penguin”. The source of the word is English or Dutch.

Pictured below is the last remaining specimen of a British great auk, a flightless seabird driven to extinction in the nineteenth century. It is a lesson in what can happen to an ocean-dwelling ...