An ‛Aukward' Tale: A Genetic Approach to Discover the Whereabouts of the Last Great Auks

Jessica E Thomas; Gary R Carvalho; James Haile; Michael D Martin; Jose A Samaniego Castruita; Jonas Niemann; Mikkel-Holger S Sinding; Marcela Sandoval-Velasco; Nicolas J Rawlence; Errol Fuller; Jon Fjeldså; Michael Hofreiter; John R Stewart; M Thomas P Gilbert; Michael Knapp

doi:10.3390/genes8060164

An ‛Aukward' Tale: A Genetic Approach to Discover the Whereabouts of the Last Great Auks

Genes (Basel). 2017 Jun 15;8(6):164. doi: 10.3390/genes8060164.

Authors

Jessica E Thomas^{1

2}, Gary R Carvalho³, James Haile⁴, Michael D Martin⁵, Jose A Samaniego Castruita⁶, Jonas Niemann⁷, Mikkel-Holger S Sinding^{8

9}, Marcela Sandoval-Velasco¹⁰, Nicolas J Rawlence¹¹, Errol Fuller¹², Jon Fjeldså¹³, Michael Hofreiter¹⁴, John R Stewart¹⁵, M Thomas P Gilbert^{10

16}, Michael Knapp¹⁷

Affiliations

¹ Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK. [email protected].
² Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. [email protected].
³ Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK. [email protected].
⁴ Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. [email protected].
⁵ Department of Natural History, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University Museum, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway. [email protected].
⁶ Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. [email protected].
⁷ Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. [email protected].
⁸ Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. [email protected].
⁹ Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1172 Blindern, N-0318 Oslo, Norway. [email protected].
¹⁰ Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark. [email protected].
¹¹ Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. [email protected].
¹² 65 Springfield Road, Southborough, Tunbridge Wells TN4 0RD, Kent, UK. [email protected].
¹³ Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark. [email protected].
¹⁴ Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Evolutionary Adaptive Genomics, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany. [email protected].
¹⁵ Faculty of Science and Technology, Bournemouth University, Dorset BH12 5BB, UK. [email protected].
¹⁶ Department of Natural History, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University Museum, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway. [email protected].
¹⁷ Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, 270 Great King Street, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. [email protected].

Abstract

One hundred and seventy-three years ago, the last two Great Auks, Pinguinusimpennis, 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.

Keywords: ancient DNA; extinct birds; mitochondrial genome; museum specimens; palaeogenomics.