A RARE BONE OF THE EXTINCT GREAT AUK BIRD (PINGUINUS IMPENNIS)

A RARE BONE OF THE EXTINCT GREAT AUK BIRD (PINGUINUS IMPENNIS)of Natural History interest, a rib bone, in a cardboard dipslay box, together with a certificate of authenticity recently prepared by Errol Fuller, with a photograph of the bone on the reverse, extinct since 1852,the bone 8.5cm in lengthProvenance: The Philip Crowley Exhibition.Great auks were killed by rapacious hunters for food and bait, particularly during the early 1800s. Enormous numbers were captured, the birds often being driven up a plank and slaughtered on their way into the hold of a vessel. The last known specimens were killed in June 1844 at Eldey island, Iceland. About 80 great auks and a like number of their eggs are preserved in museums.Errol Fuller is the author of the following:Extinct Birds, Oxford University Press, 2000The Great Auk, Abrams, New York, 1999,Dodo, Harper Collins, 2002,The Passenger Pigeon, Princeton University Press, 2014,Lost Animals, Princeton University Press, 2013.