Explore extinction with birds once found in the UK
Tragically, across the country, museum collections help to shed light on the extinction of a number of species of bird. In many cases, human activities have played a part, through behaviours that lead to habitat loss or even more directly through hunting and collecting.
Explore birds that preferred different geographical conditions and discover the differences and similarities between their extinctions and local extinctions.
A Great Bustard preserved through taxidermy, Rotunda Museum, Scarborough
This bird, on display at the Rotunda Museum in Scarborough, was shot on the outskirts of the town in 1819 and then stuffed and mounted for display. A little over a decade later, the Great Bustard became extinct in Britain (an example of ‘local extinction’).
The last native Great Bustard is thought to have been killed on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire in 1832, although another story tells of a final pair shot in 1838, close to Swaffham in Norfolk.
Today, there is still a population of about 50,000 Great Bustards that live mostly in Spain and Portugal, and there have been steps taken to reintroduce the bird to the UK.
What makes the Great Bustard special?
The Great Bustard is the heaviest flying bird in the world. The biggest one ever recorded weighed 21kg and they are known to grow up to a metre tall, with wings stretching up to two and half metres wide. This makes them unusual and eye-catching birds to encounter. They were particularly prized during Georgian times as hunting trophies.
Until the 1830s, these huge birds lived lived in the UK, mostly around the south and south-east of England in Wiltshire, Suffolk and Norfolk, as well as in Lincolnshire and to the east of North Yorkshire. As omnivores, they lived mostly in areas of open farmland, eating a diet of different plants, insects and small vertebrates.
Unfortunately their spectacular size and appearance meant that hunting parties shot them as trophies and to eat. They were often very easy targets. Their scientific name is Otis tarda. Tarda means slow, and if anyone has ever called you ‘tardy’ it means you are running late. In some areas, developments in farming techniques, including the use of the corn-drill in Norfolk destroyed the birds’ nests and made the habitat unsuitable.
Since 1998, conservation efforts have focused on reintroducing the species, with significant success on Salisbury Plain. The Great Bustard Group has established a self-sustaining population of over 50 birds, despite the threats still posed by modern farming methods. Elsewhere in the country, you are still perhaps more likely to encounter them as taxidermy.
What is taxidermy?
Taxidermy is the art of preserving and mounting animals. The animal’s skin is carefully removed, treated and preserved to prevent decay.
It is then stretched over a supporting structure, often made from foam or wire. This helps to create the original shape of the creature. Sometimes, parts like bones, antlers, or teeth are used as well to make the mounted animal look as lifelike as possible.
Taxidermy first began in the 16th and 17th centuries. Naturalists were trying to find ways to preserve animal specimens for study, but the matter became more pressing during a time of global travel, exploration and invasion as different species were encountered aboard.
The popularity of taxidermy rose during the 19th century, with specimens used for education, scientific study, and as a way to showcase exotic wildlife or hunting trophies.
An Osprey, preserved through taxidermy,
Grantown Museum, Grantown-on-Spey
This Osprey reflects the fashion for naturalistic taxidermy. It has been stationed to look as though it has been frozen in a moment, in the wild on a piece of tree. It leans curiously, as though looking at something.
Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) were once widespread in Great Britain. They became extinct in England in the mid 19th century, but the last pair was recorded in Scotland as late as 1916.
Their local extinction was largely due to human activities, including hunting and trapping by landowners who saw them as a threat to fish stocks. Like the Great Auk, their eggs were also prized by egg collectors. Finally, deforestation sometimes affected their nesting sites, which. Ospreys favoured building nests in tall trees close to rivers or freshwater.
After being extinct as a breeding bird for nearly 40 years, however, ospreys naturally recolonised Scotland in 1954, when pair of ospreys was spotted nesting at Loch Garten in the Highlands. This was a significant milestone in their recovery. During the 1990s, young ospreys from Scotland were next relocated to Rutland, and by 2001, ospreys began breeding in England for the first time in over 150 years.
You can find out more about this taxidermy bird on the Museum of the Highlands and discover more about declining animal species in the Highlands of Scotland and the steps being taken.
A Great Auk Egg,
Rotunda Museum, Scarborough
Across the world, there are known to be 75 Great Auk eggs in existence, all unique. Measuring around 12cm long, they are recognisable from a dark marbled-effect pattern on a pale background.
This example is kept cushioned in its own box due to its fragility. Birds eggs are incredibly easy to damage – but they are exceptional natural objects, strong enough for the parent to sit on during the incubation period, and yet able to be cracked open from the inside by the emerging chick.
The Scarborough Egg
At the Rotunda Museum in Scarborough, this single eggs helps to tell the “tragic story of human greed and disregard for nature”. The last known pair of Great Auk birds was killed on an Icelandic island in 1844 and the extinct species of birds was to become an obsession for 15-year old Scarborough resident, Robert Champley.
Throughout his lifetime, Champley was to collect a total of nine eggs (of the 75 known globally), including this one. Born in 1829, he was the eldest son of Scarborough druggist, ship-owner and baths proprietor, Robert Champley and his wife Ann Thornton. With an interest in natural history, Robert Champley (junior) amassed a huge collection.
Understanding their extinction
The extinction of the Great Auk has been largely attributed to human activity. Once abundant in the North Atlantic, these flightless birds were hunted extensively for their feathers for fashion, meat for food, and fat for oil.
By the early 19th century, their population was critically low. Tragically, as the birds and their eggs became rarer, they were also sought by museums and collectors.
In the UK, Great Auks lived along the coasts of Scotland, including St. Kilda and Orkney, as well as some areas in Northern Ireland. They nested on rocky islands and cliffs in the North Atlantic, preferring isolated spots to protect their eggs and young from predators. As flightless birds, they were incredibly easy targets for hunters.
Unlike Great Bustards, which were hunted to extinction in the UK, Great Auks are now extinct globally. Great Bustards were an example of local extinction.
Exploring taxidermy birds
Look carefully at the taxidermy birds. What features do they have which show that they are types of bird?
What features do you think made them especially attractive to collectors?
How does it make you feel to know that these birds were once alive and are not just models?
Taxidermy is sometimes called an ‘artform’ – do you think that’s the right word for it?
Under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, all wild birds are protected. It is now illegal to shoot these birds. Why do you think this legislation is important?
How might a gene bank be important in protecting against the total extinction of a species like the Great Bustard or Osprey?
Explore the Great Bustard
Bustards are very heavy. Do you think the taxidermist would have found it challenging to make it stand up without toppling over?
Why do you think Great Bustards haven’t flown from Spain to come and live in Britain again?
Great Bustards eat a wide range of plants and animals. The birds are in turn eaten by wolves and lynxes. Their eggs are eaten by other birds and rodents. What effect would introducing Great Bustards to your area have on other local living things? (You might want to draw a food chain or food web to include the Great Bustard.)
Explore the Osprey
Why do you think Osprey were hunted to the point of local extinction by humans?
If you were trying to educate people about why birds of prey are incredible birds, what would you say?
Do you think it’s important that museums like Grantown Museum keep taxidermy specimens like this in their collection? Why might it be useful for people to be able to look at them closely?
What adjectives would you use to describe the Osprey?
The Osprey was captured in a naturalistic taxidermy pose, resting on a tree stump. What’s your reaction to this decision by the taxidermist?
The Great Auk Egg
Look carefully at the egg. Why do you think Great Auk eggs were desired by collectors?
What emotions do you think people experience when they look at egg collections from extinct birds in museums?
Robert Champley, who collected this egg, was 15 years old when the last pair of Great Auks was killed. Why do you think he became obsessed with collecting their eggs?
Why do you think this egg is in its own special case?
What do you think we can learn from the extinction of the Great Auk?
Vocabulary
Species: a group of organisms that can reproduce and make fertile offspring
Population: the members of a species that live in a particular place
Omnivorous: eating a mixture of plants and animals
Extinct: there are no members of this species left. Sometimes this can be a local extinction where there are none left in a particular area
Gene bank: seeds, plants and animals collected together as a repository of genetic material – a well-known example is the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew
In the Classroom
Explore further
Measure yourself and compare your height to that of a Great Bustard. They grow to around a metre tall. Where would it come up to on you?
Measure out the width of its wingspan (up to 2.5m). Would it take up a lot of space in your room?
Compare
What factors did the extinction of the Osprey, the Great Bustard and the Great Auk share?
Find out more about other animal species in danger in the Highlands of Scotland and pledge to take action on the Museum of the Highlands.
Discuss
Discuss – Great Bustards were thought of as game birds like grouse. In parts of the UK, game shooting is still an important part of the economy. Discuss in your group what are the advantages and disadvantages of shooting game. Do you know anyone who shoots or works in the industry? What are the ethical considerations?
Discuss – Shooting these birds was once seen as sport. Can students think of any sports that take place today that are similar?
Hold a Debate
Some restaurants today serve game that has been shot. You can read about an example from a Michelin-starred (award-winning) restaurant.
Hold a quick debate about this with your class. Introduce a debate motion, for example, you could suggest: restaurants should be banned from serving animals that have not been humanely killed. Alternatively, you may wish to debate: Restaurants should be encouraged to serve local game to support the rural economy and save food miles.
What do students think? You can read tips for formalising your quick debates.
Hands on History
Click on the pins on the maps to find out more about the museums with these objects in their collections – Grantown Museum and Scarborough Museums and Galleries.
Discover more Highland collections or can see the Great Bustard on display at the Rotunda Museum.
Scarborough Museums and Galleries has a self-led activity for schools to support your students to Draw from Nature. Book access to natural history specimens including birds from the area.
Find more objects to explore extinction and biodiversity