New Orleans Science Meetup

The Great Auk: Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death and Mysterious Afterlife by Tim Birkhead

FROM AMAZON- The great auk was a flightless, goose-sized bird superbly adapted for life at sea. Fat, flush with feathers and easy to capture, the birds were in trouble whenever sailors visited their once-remote breeding colonies. Places like Funk Island, off north-east Newfoundland, became scenes of unimaginable slaughter, with birds killed in their millions. By 1800 the auks of Funk Island were gone. A scramble by private collectors for specimens of the final few birds then began, a bloody, unthinking destruction of one of the world's most extraordinary species.

But their extinction in 1844 wasn't the end of the great auk story, as the bird went on to have a remarkable afterlife; skins, eggs and skeletons became the focus for dozens of collectors in a story of pathological craving and unscrupulous dealings that goes on to this day.

In a book rich with insight and packed with tales of birds and of people, Tim Birkhead reveals previously unimagined aspects of the bird's life before humanity, its death on the killing shores of the North Atlantic, and the unrelenting subsequent quest for its remains.

The great auk remains a symbol of human folly and the necessity of conservation. This book tells its story.

“Tim Birkhead's narrative is a poignant elegy for what has been lost… Over a century after its extinction, the great auk still has a life of its own.” ―Natural History

“Quite simply, one of the best natural history books I have read.” ―Birdwatch

“Tim Birkhead ably recreates the life of the flightless bird, and the far more bizarre after-story of humans fighting over skins, skeletons and egg collections … it's a rallying call for conservation.” ―The Tablet

**It is recommended, but not required that you read the book. All can participate in discussion.**

The Science Book Club meets at Eastbank Regional Library in the Audiovisual Room on the second floor.