Our treasure of the month: A penguin from the north?

The giant auk, also known as the Garefowl, is not related to the penguins we know - even if a certain resemblance is unmistakable. As the scientific name Pinguinus impennis shows, people officially called it a penguin until the name was later transferred to the birds of the southern hemisphere that are not related to the giant auk.

However, there are not many first-hand accounts of the giant auk in its natural environment, the sea. But it has been reported that they could swim in the water as quickly and skilfully as other birds flew in the air. No one knows how they spent most of their lives, but for six to eight weeks a year the birds were safely on land to breed and raise their offspring. They did this in large colonies on remote islands in the North Atlantic.

Their passage on land proved to be the birds' undoing: when seafarers crossed the vast ocean from the "Old" to the "New World", they realised that the birds and their eggs were the perfect source of food to replenish their supplies along their long route. On land, the clumsiness of the birds made them easy prey for hungry sailors. Sometimes they were simply herded onto boats in groups using ramps. Giant eels were prized not only for their tasty meat, but also for their oil, fat reserves and feathers. Thousands were killed, their numbers dwindled and eventually they became so rare that each bird caught was sold to collectors at a high price.

There is extensive documentation suggesting that, sadly, the last two giant falcons were hunted and killed on the remote Icelandic island of Eldey on 3 June 1844. After this, the hunt for taxidermied specimens and eggs began by collectors who wanted to add prestige to their stock. In 1895, the sale of a giant auk specimen for 350 pounds sterling was recorded. The last sale of a specimen was in 1974 for 25,000 US dollars. There are around 80 known taxidermied specimens and 75 eggs. Each of them is named and well documented.

The museum founder Alexander Koenig bought the "Floors Castle" giant auklet together with three eggs: "Mechlenburg's Egg", "Alexander Koenig's Egg" and the "Clungunford Egg". The number of assembled skeletons is countless. This is because most of the skeletons were assembled from various bones from Funk Island, a tiny island off Newfoundland where the fat from thousands of slaughtered birds was used to fuel fires and easily de-feather even more birds. The result was a complete disaster for the populations there and shows us today how important our laws are to protect endangered species.