Fossil bones from two newly described penguin species, one in every of them regarded as the biggest penguin to ever stay — weighing greater than 150 kilograms (330 kilos), greater than 3 times the scale of the biggest residing penguins — have been unearthed in New Zealand.
A world staff, together with researchers from the College of Cambridge, reported the invention within the Journal of Paleontology. The paper’s senior writer, Alan Tennyson from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, found the fossils in 57-million-year-old seaside boulders in North Otago, on New Zealand’s South Island, between 2016 and 2017.
The fossils have been then uncovered from throughout the boulders by Al Manning. They’ve been recognized as being between 59.5 and 55.5 million years previous, marking their existence as roughly 5 to 10 million years after the end-Cretaceous extinction which led to the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs.
The staff used laser scanners to create digital fashions of the bones and examine them to different fossil species, flying diving birds like auks, and fashionable penguins. To estimate the scale of the brand new species, the staff measured tons of of recent penguin bones and calculated a regression utilizing flipper bone dimensions to foretell weight.
They concluded that the biggest flipper bones belong to a penguin that tipped the scales at an astounding 154 kg (340 lbs.). Compared, Emperor Penguins, the tallest and heaviest of all residing penguins, sometimes weigh between 22 and 45 kg (48.5-99 lbs.).
Would have weighed greater than Shaq
“Fossils present us with proof of the historical past of life, and generally that proof is actually stunning,” stated co-author Daniel Discipline from Cambridge’s Division of Earth Sciences. “Many early fossil penguins attained huge sizes, simply dwarfing the biggest penguins alive right this moment. Our new species, Kumimanu fordycei, is the biggest fossil penguin ever found — at roughly 350 kilos, it might have weighed greater than [basketball player] Shaquille O’Neal on the peak of his dominance!”
The staff named the brand new species Kumimanu fordycei in honor of Dr. R. Ewan Fordyce, Professor Emeritus on the College of Otago. “Ewan Fordyce is a legend in our area, but in addition one of the beneficiant mentors I’ve ever identified,” stated first writer Daniel Ksepka from the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut. “With out Ewan’s area program, we wouldn’t even know that many iconic fossil species existed, so it is just proper he have his personal penguin namesake.”
A number of specimens of a second penguin species have been additionally discovered, offering an in depth view of the skeleton. Dubbed Petradyptes stonehousei, it weighed in at 50kg (110 lbs.), smaller than Kumimanu fordycei however nonetheless nicely above the load of an Emperor Penguin. The title combines the Greek “petra” for rock and “dyptes” for diver, a play on the diving hen being preserved in a boulder. “Stonehousei” honors the late Dr. Bernard Stonehouse (1926–2014), the primary particular person to watch the complete breeding cycle of the Emperor Penguin, a serious milestone in penguin biology.
Titanic early penguins
These two newly described species present that penguins acquired very giant early of their evolutionary historical past, hundreds of thousands of years earlier than they fine-tuned their flipper equipment. The staff noticed that the 2 species retained primitive options equivalent to extra slender flipper bones and muscle attachment factors that resemble these of flying birds.
When requested why early penguins grew to titanic proportions, Ksepka speculated it made them extra environment friendly within the water. “Dimension conveys many benefits,” he stated. “A much bigger penguin may seize bigger prey, and extra importantly it might have been higher at conserving physique temperature in chilly waters. It’s attainable breaking the 100-pound dimension barrier allowed the earliest penguins to unfold from New Zealand to different elements of the world.”
“After we begin pondering of those finds not as remoted bones however as elements of a complete residing animal, then an image begins to type,” stated co-author Daniel Thomas from Massey College in Auckland. “Massive, warm-blooded marine animals residing right this moment can dive to nice depths. This raises questions on whether or not Kumimanu fordycei had an ecology that penguins right this moment don’t have, by having the ability to attain deeper waters and discover meals that isn’t accessible to residing penguins.”
“Kumimanu fordycei would have been an totally astonishing sight on the seashores of New Zealand 57 million years in the past, and the mixture of its sheer dimension and the unfinished nature of its fossil stays makes it one of the intriguing fossil birds ever discovered,” stated Discipline, who can be the Curator of Ornithology at Cambridge’s Museum of Zoology. “Hopefully future fossil discoveries will shed extra gentle on the biology of this superb early penguin.”
Extra info: Daniel T. Ksepka et al, Largest-known fossil penguin offers perception into the early evolution of sphenisciform physique dimension and flipper anatomy, Journal of Paleontology (2023). Learn the summary.
Due to the College of Cambridge for offering this information.
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