Ancient Species of Penguin Was a Big As Man, Claims New Study (Study)

 

Scientists have made an alarmingly adorable discovery in New Zealand, where fossils of an ancient species of penguin as big as man have been uncovered.

This Giant and Ancient Species of Penguin

A study report recently released in the journal Nature Communications details the findings. This also showcases the various fossils found at the dig site. Based on the uncovered bones, the scientists have estimated that a live specimen of the Kumimanu biceae would have been at least 1.77 meters or 5’8” feet tall and have weighed nearly 223 pounds.

K. biceae is believed to have lived in that area around 56 million to 60 million years ago. It probably swam in the sea near the island.

According to Gerald Mayr, the lead author of the report and a paleontologist at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, these fossils give us an important insight into the evolutionary history of penguins.  He also points out that these are some of the oldest remains found to date.

In particular, these seem to confirm the prevalence of gigantism in the penguin’s familial line. In doing so, they strengthen the results of other discoveries of large (some even bigger than K. biceae) ancient species of penguin fossils from Antarctica, Australia, and elsewhere in New Zealand.

Based on these finds, the research team has concluded that this ancient species first began exhibiting gigantism and larger growth around the same time they became unable to fly.

Based on these findings, today’s zoologists might have an easier time understanding the biology of modern penguins and how they reached their current form.

What specialists might uncover with additional fossils remains to be seen. As it is, it could eventually lead to the discovery of why penguins lost the ability of flight altogether, among many other significant revelations about the nature of these large birds.