Fossils in New Zealand have led to the discovery of a new species of giant penguin that could grow up to 1.6 meters tall. The penguin's closest relative is another giant penguin that was found in Antarctica.
Image: Canterbury Museum
Advertisement
Scientists on Wednesday said the fossilized remains of a giant human-sized penguin have been found on New Zealand's South Island.
The huge seabird was up to 1.6 meters (63 inches) tall and weighed up to 80 kilograms, some four times heavier and 40 centimeters taller than the modern-day Emperor penguin, researchers said.
After the remains were discovered by an amateur paleontologist in 2018, a team from the Canterbury Museum and the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, analyzed the bones and found they belonged to the previously unknown penguin species Crossvallia waiparensis.
The penguin hunted off New Zealand's coast in the Paleocene era, 66-56 million years ago.
The research identifying the new species was published this week in Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology.
The closest known relative of the new species is the Crossvallia unienwillia, which lived around the same time and was identified from a fossilized partial skeleton found in the Cross Valley in Antarctica in 2000.
The shy, waddling addition to the Gdansk Zoo is only three months old. It's also the only bird of its kind in captivity.
Image: Reuters/M. Ryniak
Extremely rare
Gdansk Zoo allowed its new albino penguin out for a stroll in front of the public for the first time on Friday. Zookeepers are still unsure whether the 3-month-old is male or female. Until they find out, the chick will go without a name. What they do know is the bird is the only penguin of its kind in captivity.
Image: Reuters/M. Ryniak
Left out in the cold
"It's shy and a little bit scared... We didn't want to put it through the stress of a thorough medical examination," spokesperson Emilia Salach said. Staff are nervous the other birds will reject it because of its unusual appearance; so far, they have kept it separated from most of the rest of the flock.
Image: Reuters/M. Ryniak
Placid penguin parents
"Every misfit in a flock is more exposed to rejection and harm... We can see already it hasn't been accepted yet by most of our little penguin family," Salach said. For the moment the bird lives with its parents and two of the zoo's most placid penguins.
Image: Reuters/M. Ryniak
3 images1 | 3
'Antarctica was covered in forest'
Canterbury Museum curator Paul Scofield said finding closely related birds in New Zealand and Antarctica showed the country's close connection to the icy continent.
"When the Crossvallia species were alive, New Zealand and Antarctica were very different from today — Antarctica was covered in forest and both had much warmer climates," Scofield said.
A researcher at the museum, Vanesa De Pietri, said it was the second giant penguin from the Paleocene era found in the area.
"It further reinforces our theory that penguins attained great size early in their evolution," she said.
Scientists have raised the possibility that the mega-penguins died out due to the emergence of other large marine predators such as seals and toothed whales.
New Zealand is known for having once been home to other large extinct birds, including the flightless moa, which was up to 3.6 meters tall, and Haast's eagle, which had a wingspan of 3 meters.
Last week, the Canterbury Museum announced the discovery of a prodigious parrot that was 1 meter tall and lived about 19 million years ago.
Fascinating Antarctica: Icy facts about the most southern region in the world
Antarctica is more than just snow and ice. The most southern point of our earth breaks a lot of records. Cosy up for an expedition to the South Pole.
Image: Tim Heitland
99 percent ice
Antarctica is the largest desert in the world, covering an area of 13,829,430 square kilometres (533, 957 square miles) — about 1.3 times the size of Europe. Even in the Antarctic summer, from December to February, 99 percent of Antarctica is covered with ice, some of it up to 5000 meters thick.
Image: NASA/Dave Pape
Continent of extremes
Antarctica is the coldest continent on Earth, with the lowest temperature measured reading -98.6 degrees Celsius (-145,48 degrees Fahrenheit). But that's not all: as it never rains or snows, the continent is also the driest and windiest in the world, with wind speeds reaching in excess of 250 kmph (155 mph).
No sense of time
Antarctica comprises the continent and the southern polar sea. The Antarctic Polar Front forms the boundary, where the northern extension of the Southern Ocean separates the cold surface water in the south from the warmer water in the north. Antarctica is located on all longitudes and extends over all time zones. Most research stations operate on the time in their home country.
Image: Tim Heitland
Temporary residents
The Antarctic population is made up of the international research teams. In summer about 4000 scientists live on the continent, and during the harsh Antarctic winter only about 1000. There are 80 research stations that they can stay in, which are currently operated by almost 30 countries. Pictured is the German Neumayer Station III of the Alfred Wegener Institute.
Image: Tim Heitland
Real locals
With a length of just seven millimetres, these little guys are considered to be the largest land animals permanently living in Antarctica: the Antartic midge (Belgica antarctica). The development of the larva into an adult takes about two years. Most of the time, the larvae are frozen in the ice – real survivors!
Image: Reuters
Oh, hi!
Finally: no, contrary to some fictional depictions, there are no polar bears in the Antarctic – they live in the Arctic Circle at the other end of the Earth. But there are penguins in Antarctica. However, only four of the 17 known penguin species are native to Antarctica. This small emperor penguin is just one of them.
