The fossils of this newfound species, Kumimanu fordycei, were found alongside eight other specimens inside beach boulders in North Otago, on New Zealand's South Island. Five of the remaining specimens belonged to another newfound species, Petradyptes stonehousei, one belonged to another known giant penguin, Kumimanu biceae, and two were unidentified. The rocks dated to between 59.5 million and 55.5 million years ago.
In a study, published Feb. 8 in the Journal of Paleontology, researchers estimated the weight of the two newfound species based on the size and density of their bones compared with those of modern penguins. The team found that P. stonehousei weighed around 110 pounds (50 kilograms), which is slightly above the weight of living emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri). K. fordeycei would have weighed more than three times that, tipping the scales at a whopping 340 pounds. For comparison, the average 20-year-old man in the U.S. weighs 198 pounds (90 kg), according to Healthline. (Without a near-complete skeleton, the researchers weren't able to estimate the body length of the new species.)
"According to our analyses, K. fordycei is the biggest penguin currently known," study first author Daniel Ksepka, a palaeontologist and curator at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, told Live Science in an email.
Previously, the largest penguin on record was Palaeeudyptes klekowskii, which lived around 37 million years ago in Antarctica, weighed 256 pounds (116 kg) and stood at around 6.6 feet (2 meters) tall, earning it the nickname "colossus penguin." The next largest, K. biceae, weighed around 267 pounds (121 kg) and had a body length of around 5.8 feet (1.8 m).
The two new species were likely among some of the first ancient penguins. The new discovery could shed light on how the group evolved over time.
The new species had "relatively primitive flipper bones," Ksepka said. "In many ways [they] resemble those of birds that can both fly through the air and propel themselves underwater with their wings, such as auks and puffins." (But neither of the new species could fly.)
Penguins likely lost the ability to fly in favor of swimming around 60 million years ago, not long before the new species likely emerged. So these early penguins had not yet evolved the super-efficient flippers seen in younger ancient penguins and their living relatives.
The enormous size of K. fordycei shows that gigantism evolved early on in the penguin lineage, Ksepka said. "It goes to show that the advantages of large size, such as more efficient thermoregulation and diving, probably exerted very strong selective pressure on penguins soon after they lost flight."
The unique environmental conditions of ancient New Zealand played a key role in the emergence and success of giant penguins, the researchers speculate.
"New Zealand is (and has been) a great place to be a penguin," Ksepka said. "There are good feeding grounds offshore for marine birds, and there were no land mammals other than bats in New Zealand before humans arrived, which makes for safer nesting areas."
Giant penguins like K. fordcyei disappeared around 27 million years ago, according to Australian Geographic. What caused their extinction is still an "unresolved question," but it is likely that the enormous birds were eventually outcompeted by marine mammals of similar size, Kspeka said.
K. fordcyei may be the largest known penguin so far, but it's possible that even larger birds roamed New Zealand.
"The size of K. fordcyei doesn't necessarily mean there wasn't an even larger species that is yet to be discovered," Ksepka said.
Harry Baker is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science. He studied Marine Biology at the University of Exeter (Penryn campus) and after graduating started his own blog site "Marine Madness," which he continues to run with other ocean enthusiasts. He is also interested in evolution, climate change, robots, space exploration, environmental conservation and anything that's been fossilized.
Reader Comments
Earth was once abundant in HUGE flora and fauna, I question as to what has happened to result in the diminishing size of all remaining living organisms here on Earth today.
Humans had 2 rows of teeth, 6 fingers per hand and once stood up to 30 foot tall, then such giants disappeared and the slow reduction in height began, it happened to Humans as it did to flora and fauna, why?
Ancient stone works clearly suggests that who worked them were not 6 foot tall and the walls that once protected our Ancients suggests that what ever was out there was enormous.
I believe Humans still hold within their DNA the the footprint of gigantism, a remnant of a time when things were of a completely different scale.
Same thing that happened back at around 2400BC is happening today again, thanks to CRISPR and the trans agenda.
There is nothing new under the sun.
Sadly every one of those articles ends with; ".. and the Smithsonian Institution took possession of the finds for further study ..."
Never to see the light of day again.
I let you stew
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of renown.
1 Samuel 17:4 (KJV)
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height [was] six cubits and a span.
2 Samuel 21:20 (KJV)
And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of [great] stature, that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and twenty in number; and he also was born to the giant.
The Smithsonian and MSM/TPTB won’t tell you the truth about the origins of giants and why humans once had a much longer lifespan than what we have now. Much sooner than later those skeletons and so much more will come out of their respective closets. It will be quite the party..
We’ve all been lied to about our origins and earths history, starting with the fact that we live in a digital/programmable reality. With this in mind, there is only one source of information in this world that can be trusted: The Bible, namely the authorized King Janes Version;
Ecclesiastes 8:4 (KJV)
Where the word of a king [is, there is] power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
It’s no secret that TPTB/MSM follow a luciferian agenda.
Isaiah 14:12 (KJV)
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Lucifer and his angels were around before the earth (their original home) and humans were created.
Every civilization and culture on earth learned everything from them, including our scientific understanding of our reality and how our DNA can be modified (hacked) as easily as any software program. In computer terms, they’re a virus that have infected humanity and there is only one vaccine that will protect you from their soon-to-come demise.
2 Peter 2 (KJV)
4 ¶ For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
The next big item on the agenda is the rapture. It could happen at any time, perhaps before or after the nukes start going off from ballons in the sky. You don’t want to miss that point.
Luke 17:26 (KJV)
And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
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It covers mankind's destruction as do many a seer.
The Smithsonian's can hide what they like, it's too late as there's too many sources and evidence that clearly demonstrate that GIANTS were here on Earth.
W ow. This was the biggest revelation to me, though the rest of the article is also interesting.
bartender says " hi what can i get ya ? "
penguin says, " i'm just looking for my brother "
bartender replies, " oh, ok, what does he look like ? "
A Pengun
thanks for that interesting article you linked btw 👍🏻
The bar man says hi why the long face
cheers Graedog !
Spheniscidae - Kumimanu fordycei