What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Last of Its Kind: The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction’

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Updated 31 March 2026
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Last of Its Kind: The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction’

Author: Gisli Palsson

The great auk is one of the most tragic and documented examples of extinction. A flightless bird that bred primarily on the remote islands of the North Atlantic, the last of its kind were killed in Iceland in 1844.

Gisli Palsson draws on firsthand accounts from the Icelanders who hunted the last great auks to bring to life a bygone age of Victorian scientific exploration while offering vital insights into the extinction of species.