Great auk Pinguinus impennis

Personal research in cooperation with Bram Langeveld.

Approximately 70 cm.

2015

4 weeks.

The making of this model was instigated by the question how big was the great Auk? We have requested to see and study the material in Naturalis, but this was refused every time. We did have a skull cast and pictures of complete skeletons. These were used to reconstruct the pose and size of the animals. We concluded that, the 70-75 cm that is used for the description of the animal, probably was a measurement taken of the animal on its back with the head and neck straight. The size of the skull does not justify an animal that is 70 cm standing up straight.

Extinct Birds, Erol Fuller,
The great Auk, Eroll Fuller,
The unfeathered bird, Katarina van Grouw,
Het leven der dieren, Grzimek,
Holocene extinctions, Samuel T. Turvey.
Grosse tieranatomie, Gottfried Bammes,
Animal anatomy for artists, E. Goldfinger.