How did the great auk become extinct?
1 Answer
There were a number of factors that seemed to be involved in the lost of the Great Auk.
Firstly, the Great Auk 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. So not many were hatched.
They nested in extremely dense and social colonies, laying one egg on bare rock. The one egg idea probably did not help.
The great auk was an important part of many Native American cultures, both as a food source and as a symbolic item. Many Maritime Archaic people were buried with great auk bones.
Early European explorers to the Americas used the auk as a convenient food source or as fishing bait, reducing its numbers further.
The bird's down was in high demand in Europe, a factor which largely eliminated the European populations by the mid-16th century.
Scientists soon began to realize that the great auk was disappearing and it became the beneficiary of many early environmental laws, but this proved not to be enough.
Lastly, its growing rarity increased interest from European museums and private collectors in obtaining skins and eggs of the bird. Why didn't they leave things alone? As usual, no one can give a good answer.
