TY - JOUR

T1 - An ‛aukward’ tale

T2 - a genetic approach to discover the whereabouts of the last Great Auks

AU - Thomas, Jessica Emma

AU - Carvalho, Gary R.

AU - Haile, James Seymour

AU - Martin, Michael D.

AU - Samaniego Castruita, Jose Alfredo

AU - Niemann, Jonas

AU - Sinding, Mikkel Holger Strander

AU - Sandoval Velasco, Marcela

AU - Rawlence, Nicolas J.

AU - Fuller, Errol

AU - Fjeldså, Jon

AU - Hofreiter, Michael

AU - Stewart, John R.

AU - Gilbert, Tom

AU - Knapp, Michael

PY - 2017/6/15

Y1 - 2017/6/15

N2 - One hundred and seventy-three years ago, the last two Great Auks, Pinguinus impennis, ever reliably seen were killed. Their internal organs can be found in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, but the location of their skins has remained a mystery. In 1999, Great Auk expert Errol Fuller proposed a list of five potential candidate skins in museums around the world. Here we take a palaeogenomic approach to test which—if any—of Fuller’s candidate skins likely belong to either of the two birds. Using mitochondrial genomes from the five candidate birds (housed in museums in Bremen, Brussels, Kiel, Los Angeles, and Oldenburg) and the organs of the last two known individuals, we partially solve the mystery that has been on Great Auk scholars’ minds for generations and make new suggestions as to the whereabouts of the still-missing skin from these two birds.

AB - One hundred and seventy-three years ago, the last two Great Auks, Pinguinus impennis, ever reliably seen were killed. Their internal organs can be found in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, but the location of their skins has remained a mystery. In 1999, Great Auk expert Errol Fuller proposed a list of five potential candidate skins in museums around the world. Here we take a palaeogenomic approach to test which—if any—of Fuller’s candidate skins likely belong to either of the two birds. Using mitochondrial genomes from the five candidate birds (housed in museums in Bremen, Brussels, Kiel, Los Angeles, and Oldenburg) and the organs of the last two known individuals, we partially solve the mystery that has been on Great Auk scholars’ minds for generations and make new suggestions as to the whereabouts of the still-missing skin from these two birds.

KW - Ancient DNA

KW - Extinct birds

KW - Mitochondrial genome

KW - Museum specimens

KW - Palaeogenomics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85021165844&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/genes8060164

DO - 10.3390/genes8060164

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28617333

AN - SCOPUS:85021165844

VL - 8

JO - Genes

JF - Genes

SN - 2073-4425

IS - 6

M1 - 164

ER -