Fossil hunters find man-sized penguin on New Zealand beach
Source: The Guardian
Fossil hunters find man-sized penguin on New Zealand beach
Bones of a 1.77m tall penguin who walked on earth 55 to 60 million years ago have been found on a beach to the south of Christchurch
Ian Sample Science editor
Tuesday 12 December 2017 16.48 GMT
The remnants of an ancient penguin that stood as tall as a grown man have been found encased in rock on a beach in New Zealand.
Fossil hunters chanced upon the prehistoric bones in sedimentary rock that formed 55 to 60 million years ago on what is now Hampden beach in Otago on the country’s south island.
Measurements of the partial skeleton show that the flightless bird weighed about 100 kilograms and had a body length of 1.77m (5ft 10in), equal to the average height of an American man. Emperor penguins, the tallest penguin species alive today, reach only 1.2m when fully grown.
Penguins evolved from flying birds tens of millions of years ago, but lost the ability to get airborne and became accomplished swimmers instead. Once grounded, some penguin species became much larger, growing from about 80cm tall to twice the size.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/dec/12/fossil-hunters-find-man-sized-penguin-on-new-zealand-beach
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Note: The species is Kumimanu biceae.
Related: A Paleocene penguin from New Zealand substantiates multiple origins of gigantism in fossil Sphenisciformes (Nature Communications)
The comparative size of an ancient giant penguin Kumimanu biceae and a human being
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By ALAN TENNYSON
THE CONVERSATION
December 12, 2017, 5:10 PM
The emperor penguin is an impressive bird – but it would have been relatively small in comparison with some of the giant penguins that lived in the distant past.
In a paper published today we reveal an ancient giant penguin which might have been the largest to ever live.
We have named the new species Kumimanu biceae. Kumimanu means "monster bird" in Māori, and biceae honours my mother, Bice Tennyson, who fostered my interest in natural history.
Jumbled bones reveal ancient giant
Our team of researchers from New Zealand and Germany discovered the fossil in a boulder in Otago, in southern New Zealand. Painstaking extraction work slowly revealed that the rock contained a multitude of jumbled bones of a colossal penguin.
These fossilized remains of the extinct penguin help us understand the early evolution of penguins.
More:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ancient-giant-penguin-discovered-new-zealand/
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