Here, on Planet Earth, we used to have a bird, called the Great Auk. Yes, we did. It looked an awful lot like a penguin. In fact, if I saw one today, I might even say, “Wow Karen. That has to be some sort of penguin.” But I can’t say that today. The Great Auk is forever gone from our planet.
Once, free. And now. Forever. Gone.
They used to be here in abundance. Happy little birds, cold weather type birds. Their main predators were Polar Bears, but even though they were outranked in size, those little creatures still managed to flourish.
That was until a massive exploitation for their down occurred, drastically reducing their population. They had all sorts of nesting colonies along the European side of the Atlantic. By the mid-16th century, those were nearly all eliminated by humans. Yes, I’ve called us this before, but we dumb humans killed this bird for its down, which was used to make pillows, for those big dumb heads.
However, and surprisingly, someone was thinking back then. In 1553, the auk received its first official protection, and in 1794 Great Britain banned the killing of this species for its feathers. And, in St. John’s (Ireland) it was illegal to hunt the Great Auk for its feathers or eggs. In fact, a public flogging was coming your way if you did. Conversely, you could still hunt an Auk if you used it as fish bait. Go figure.
Across the pond, as they say, people preferred eider down. An eider is a duck. The males are stark black and white, and they have a little helmet on their heads. Very cool ducks, apparently with very warm down, as they were nearly driven to extinction in the 1770s here. So once the eiders were nearly all gone, people switched over to killing the auks. And. At the same time, the Great Auk and its eggs became collectible and highly prized by rich Europeans. Double whammy.
The “collectors” contributed to massive losses. They were called Eggers. Those individuals who visited the nesting sites of the Great Auk to collect their eggs. They quickly realized that the birds did not all lay their eggs on the same day, so they could make return visits to the same breeding colony. Eggers only collected eggs without embryos growing inside of them and typically discarded the eggs with embryos.
The last colony of Great Auks lived on Geirfuglasker (the “Great Auk Rock”) off Iceland. The thing about this “Great Auk Rock” was that it was surrounded by big steep cliffs. Humans couldn’t get there, not easily anyhow. But, as fate would have it, in 1830, the whole place submerged after a volcanic eruption. Those birds had to get up and move. To the nearby island of Eldey, which was accessible from a single side.
When the colony was initially discovered in 1835, nearly fifty birds were present. Museums, desiring the skins of the auk for preservation and display, quickly began collecting birds from the colony. Again, stupid humans.
176 Years Ago Today:
“The last pair, found incubating an egg, was killed there on 3 July 1844, on request from a merchant who wanted specimens, with Jón Brandsson and Sigurður Ísleifsson strangling the adults and Ketill Ketilsson smashing the egg with his boot.” (National Geographic)
This kind of story upends me. It shakes me to the core, to think that humans have such little regard for this precious place. This planet doesn’t “belong” to us. We are merely borrowing. We’ll be gone someday, the planet will remain, I hope. All of us species, all of us born here, with the right to live our little lives here. Freedom. And yet we humans continue to destroy entire species. Unforgivable.
I don’t know how the “whole big picture” works, but let us pray we don’t have to pay for the sins of our fathers. And remember today, that we should be good to this planet, NOT because we were handed down the lands of our ancestors, but to protect this place, and all its creatures, the future for our children.
I really miss those Great Auks.
Today, may we remember the meaning of freedom.
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We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
— Native American proverb
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Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.
— Lao Tzu
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Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.
— Henry David Thoreau
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