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→Extinction: Spelling/Grammar Check, typos fixed: world-wide → worldwide
By 1844, with the auk reduced to a few birds of Iceland, author Robert Silverberg in the 1960s identified science as the main culprit for the species' final demise. According to him, museum curators discovered that the species was about to go extinct, and no specimens were available for display. Collectors began to pay handsome prices to anyone to bring home complete birds or skins; eggs would fetch slightly less. On June 3, 1844, the last two auks were killed on the island of Eldey, off [[Iceland]] and their single egg taken.
By 1844, with the auk reduced to a few birds of Iceland, author Robert Silverberg in the 1960s identified science as the main culprit for the species' final demise. According to him, museum curators discovered that the species was about to go extinct, and no specimens were available for display. Collectors began to pay handsome prices to anyone to bring home complete birds or skins; eggs would fetch slightly less. On June 3, 1844, the last two auks were killed on the island of Eldey, off [[Iceland]] and their single egg taken.
Today, some 80 great auk mounted specimens from the last phase of the extinction, in addition to skeletons and eggs, are in museums world-wide.
Today, some 80 great auk mounted specimens from the last phase of the extinction, in addition to skeletons and eggs, are in museums worldwide.
==References==
==References==