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Description

A selection of recently extinct fauna from the North Atlantic islands/coast and Bermuda, to scale.

The northernmost part of the Atlantic is subarctic in climate and bordered by the continental masses of North America to the west, Greenland and Europe in the east. Smaller islands include Iceland, the Shetland and Faroes islands. Due to the harsh and often inhospitable conditions humans have only settled larger land masses (sticking to the coast) and rarely done more than visit the most remote locations. The earliest people in the Arctic arrived around 4500 years ago with migrations occuring during seasonally warm periods. Viking sailors were the first Europeans to regularly voyage and occupy lands west of Scandinavia, finally reaching Newfoundland in Canada by around 1000 AD. A combination of hunting and introduced species have eliminated several species.

* In the summer of 1844 three sailors landed on Eldey, a small island off the coast of Iceland, inhabited only by sea-birds. A pair of flightless birds were easy victims for the sailors, who strangled both and smashed the egg they were incubating. Unknowingly the sailors had just eliminated the last known individuals of an entire species. Great auks were the largest of the modern auks (see Penguins of the North - Alcids ) and the biological equivalent of the Southern Hemisphere penguins. They were once found throughout the cold North Atlantic Ocean from the North-east of the USA to North-west Europe, including Greenland, the Faroes and Iceland. An expansion of shipping during the early 16th century saw regular harvesting of adults, chicks and eggs by sailors for food and feathers. Despite early environmental laws brought in to protect the birds, collection for museums ramped up the bird's demise. Unconfirmed sightings after 1844 suggests that the species may have still existed for another decade before completely disappearing.

* The pied raven is a extinct form of the living Icelandic subspecies of common raven native to the Faroe Islands. As it's name suggests it was an aberrant colour morph. Hunting for skins (16 museum skins are known) and as pests resulted in the last bird being seen in 1948.

* Despite the Labrador duck and sea mink not being technically island species, they were both restricted to coastal environments along the north-east of North America and died out during the late 19th century. Their habitat restrictions mirror the problems faced by island species. A sea duck related to scoters and eiders, Labrador ducks were never a common species throughout coastal North-eastern USA and Canada. They favoured sheltered sandy bays concentrating on small molluscs. Although they were hunted for eggs and feathers, the reason for extinction is not well understood. Sea mink were an even more localised being known specifically from around the coastal area of New England (USA). They are known mostly from Native American shell middens and anecdotal evidence via the fur trade.

Around 1000 kms off the eastern coast of USA lie the volcanic islands of Bermuda, a part of the world infamous for the 'triangle' where aircraft and boats are prone to getting lost. This is largely due to the regular hurricanes and sitting along the Gulf Stream. Prior to the early 1500s there was no human occupation of the islands which were discovered by the Spanish. A century later it became a British settlement. Subtropical in climate, the islands have been largely colonised by birds with few mammals (bats) and reptiles (one endemic skink and a terrapin) being native. A Hesperotestudo tortoise disappeared around 300,000 y BP, while a number of bird species died out after the Last Glacial Maximum (~20,000 ya) when the islands shrank due to flooding. Later extinctions during the Holocene were due to a combination of hunting from early settlers and introduced species. The woodpecker, night-heron, towhee, owl and rail all have close relatives on mainland North America. An endemic species of hawk is similar to the living buteonines, but is currently placed in it's own genus, Bermuteo.

Description

A selection of recently extinct fauna from the North Atlantic islands/coast and Bermuda, to scale.

The northernmost part of the Atlantic is subarctic in climate and bordered by the continental masses of North America to the west, Greenland and Europe in the east. Smaller islands include Iceland, the Shetland and Faroes islands. Due to the harsh and often inhospitable conditions humans have only settled larger land masses (sticking to the coast) and rarely done more than visit the most remote locations. The earliest people in the Arctic arrived around 4500 years ago with migrations occuring during seasonally warm periods. Viking sailors were the first Europeans to regularly voyage and occupy lands west of Scandinavia, finally reaching Newfoundland in Canada by around 1000 AD. A combination of hunting and introduced species have eliminated several species.

* In the summer of 1844 three sailors landed on Eldey, a small island off the coast of Iceland, inhabited only by sea-birds. A pair of flightless birds were easy victims for the sailors, who strangled both and smashed the egg they were incubating. Unknowingly the sailors had just eliminated the last known individuals of an entire species. Great auks were the largest of the modern auks (see Penguins of the North - Alcids ) and the biological equivalent of the Southern Hemisphere penguins. They were once found throughout the cold North Atlantic Ocean from the North-east of the USA to North-west Europe, including Greenland, the Faroes and Iceland. An expansion of shipping during the early 16th century saw regular harvesting of adults, chicks and eggs by sailors for food and feathers. Despite early environmental laws brought in to protect the birds, collection for museums ramped up the bird's demise. Unconfirmed sightings after 1844 suggests that the species may have still existed for another decade before completely disappearing.

* The pied raven is a extinct form of the living Icelandic subspecies of common raven native to the Faroe Islands. As it's name suggests it was an aberrant colour morph. Hunting for skins (16 museum skins are known) and as pests resulted in the last bird being seen in 1948.

* Despite the Labrador duck and sea mink not being technically island species, they were both restricted to coastal environments along the north-east of North America and died out during the late 19th century. Their habitat restrictions mirror the problems faced by island species. A sea duck related to scoters and eiders, Labrador ducks were never a common species throughout coastal North-eastern USA and Canada. They favoured sheltered sandy bays concentrating on small molluscs. Although they were hunted for eggs and feathers, the reason for extinction is not well understood. Sea mink were an even more localised being known specifically from around the coastal area of New England (USA). They are known mostly from Native American shell middens and anecdotal evidence via the fur trade.

Around 1000 kms off the eastern coast of USA lie the volcanic islands of Bermuda, a part of the world infamous for the 'triangle' where aircraft and boats are prone to getting lost. This is largely due to the regular hurricanes and sitting along the Gulf Stream. Prior to the early 1500s there was no human occupation of the islands which were discovered by the Spanish. A century later it became a British settlement. Subtropical in climate, the islands have been largely colonised by birds with few mammals (bats) and reptiles (one endemic skink and a terrapin) being native. A Hesperotestudo tortoise disappeared around 300,000 y BP, while a number of bird species died out after the Last Glacial Maximum (~20,000 ya) when the islands shrank due to flooding. Later extinctions during the Holocene were due to a combination of hunting from early settlers and introduced species. The woodpecker, night-heron, towhee, owl and rail all have close relatives on mainland North America. An endemic species of hawk is similar to the living buteonines, but is currently placed in it's own genus, Bermuteo.