Great auk
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| phylum | Chordata | The Great Auk was a flightless bird of the alcid family that became extinct in 1852. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus, a group of birds that formerly included one other species of flightless giant auk from the Atlantic Ocean region. It bred on rocky, isolated islands with easy access to the ocean and a plentiful food supply, a rarity in nature that provided only a few breeding sites for the auks. When not breeding, the auks spent their time foraging in the waters of the North Atlantic, ranging as far south as northern Spain and also around the coast of Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Ireland, and Great Britain.
For more information, visit the Wikipedia entry. Get back to Charadriiformes |
| clade | Diapsida | |
| Class | Aves | |
| order | Charadriiformes | |
| family | Alcidae | |
| genus | Pinguinus | |
| species | †P. impennis |
