Flightless Birds We Now Call ‘Penguins’ Are Just Doppelgangers. Real Penguins Were Hunted to Extinction
The human world is immensely fascinated by doppelgangers but scientists have found a similar occurrence amongst penguins. There are the "real" penguins and then the ones we know of today. Great auks, Pinguinus impennis, became extinct in the 19th century and are known to have greatly resembled today's penguins, per the University of Cambridge. Both creatures share similar characteristics, from their stubby flippers to being flightless and their black-and-white appearances. However, an extensive study of the anatomical characteristics of the flightless birds revealed that great auks and penguins are only distantly related.
Great auks and penguins are not the same
The discussion on the similarities and differences between the extinct great auks and penguins is a brilliant example of convergent evolution. It is when living organisms that are not closely related evolve and adapt similar traits or characteristics. Scientists are baffled about the minor differences in the wing structure of both flightless birds and theorize that it relates to their separate ancestry or lineages. Researchers at the University of Cambridge examined the wing muscles of the two species and recorded the observations in a new study published in the journal Integrative Organismal Biology. The researchers reconstructed the wings of auks and explained how penguins used different ligaments that enhanced their elbows.
Auks had an evolved unique ligament, passed on from their flying ancestors, to enhance the rigidity of their elbows. Whereas, penguins lack this ligament and instead, have other muscles around the elbow, per the source. “We show that ancestral starting points have a strong impact on the minor differences we see in convergently similar species like penguins and auks,” Dr. Watanabe said. He noted that this intervention is exciting for biologists trying to study the differences in similar animals. The report states that the understanding of flightless auks and their physiology has been limited given they are now extinct, and scientists only had to work with the skeletal remains.
What happened to the Great Auks?
The Great Auks inhabited the northern hemisphere, unlike penguins who belong to the southern side, and were usually found on the North Atlantic shores. They belonged to the Alcidae family of birds, which includes puffins, guillemots, and 24 other species. Originally, the species could fly but were mostly found in water. The great auks were the real penguins, a name which was later given to the present-day penguins by sailors after the Latin name for great auks. The birds once existed in millions in the North Atlantic but their species was threatened by overhunting by the 1770s.
Unfortunately, the last pair of great auks were killed by fishermen at Eldey Island, Iceland in July 1844, per a report by National Geographic. The reason why the fishermen killed the last breeding pair is still unknown but, museums and collectors decided to preserve and display the mounted skins of the then-endangered bird species. Since then, the species has been extinct and scientists have struggled to find out about their anatomy. Great auks had great commercial significance at the time, with their eggs, fats, and feathers in demand for several purposes.