Did You Know?

by Angie Ziobro, Environmental Education Intern

I have heard numerous jokes before about penguins and the north pole. For example: what do you call fifty penguins at the North Pole? (Really lost because they only live in the southern hemisphere). Fun jokes to keep kids thinking, yes, but did you know that this was not always true?

The Great Auk was a very interesting bird that lived off the Atlantic Coast until it was hunted to extinction in the mid nineteenth century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus. It was the similar appearance that what we call penguins today shared with the great auk which earned them the name “Penguin”. Modern day “penguins” are not related to the great auk however. Black and white like what people call penguins today, the great auk was flightless and a powerful swimmer.  Their song was not nearly as musical as that of our northern bird the loon, but like them their plumage was different as juveniles and in winter and summer.