Last female great auk specimen found in Cincinnati
Researchers report that DNA taken from 170‑year‑old organs held at the Natural History Museum of Denmark matches tissue from a mounted skin held at the Cincinnati Museum Center, identifying it as the last known female great auk (Pinguinus impennis); the finding, published 19 September 2025 in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, follows a 2017 match that located the last male in Belgium. The discovery resolves the fate of the pair slaughtered on an Icelandic island in summer 1844 and has cultural and scientific significance for U.S. museum collections.
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🔍 Key Facts
- Researchers published the identification on 19 September 2025 in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
- DNA extracted from organs preserved in whiskey jars at the Natural History Museum of Denmark matched tissue from a mounted skin at the Cincinnati Museum Center, identifying it as the last known female great auk.
- The male of the last pair was previously matched in 2017 to a specimen at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences; the original killing occurred in summer 1844 on a rocky Icelandic island.