Giant prehistoric penguins!

[n2doc]

BY JESS ZIMMERMAN
27 FEB 2012 2:00 PM


Scientists have spent the past 35 years reconstructing a giant penguin fossil from New Zealand, and here's the first look at their results. Kairuku (Maori for "diver who returns with food&quot lived about 25 million years ago, and it looks a little different from modern penguins. For starters, it's more than 4 feet tall.
Actually, the height is a bit of a disappointment -- based on flipper length, scientists were initially theorizing that the birds were as much as 6 feet tall, which would have been awesome. I'm still going to imagine they were.

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http://grist.org/list/#item-giant-prehistoric-penguins

[Drale]

1. Penguin's are the best animals EVER!! /nt

[Fumesucker]

8. Yep, penguins are cool..

[OnyxCollie]

12. Oooh, rub that belly!

I've watched that over and over...

[BlancheSplanchnik]

16. OMG!!! Cuteness!

[Little Star]

2. You science people sure have piqued my interest since DU3, Thanks!!! k&r

[xchrom]

3. Penguins!11 nt

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Giant electric penguins -- with tentacles ! nt

[jimlup]

5. Wow! Hard to imagine how they would have meet their dietary needs...

but I guess that is why they've evolved to be smaller now.

[kurt_cagle]

6. Emperor's aren't that much smaller

A male emperor penguin can be 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall, so these paleo-penguins weren't really significantly bigger. It's also worth remembering that 25 million years ago, ambient global temperature was warmer by about 4 degrees Celcius, and it's also likely that food stocks off both Antarctica, Australia and South America (which were likely habitats for penguins) were huge. Such penguins would have had no problem finding food.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. Tuxedos!!

yeah!

[Crunchy Frog]

9. Science meets Monty Python.

[bluedigger]

10. Pretty cool.

A friend posted this version earlier on FB - she is a friend of one of the researchers quoted.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/02/120227-new-giant-penguins-species-science-ksepka-new-zealand/?source=link_fb20120227news-giantpenguins

[AlbertCat]

11. Giant prehistoric penguins!

Attack of the Happy Feet!!!

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. A different one in Peru:

Ancient giant penguin unearthed in Peru

The fossil of a giant penguin that lived 36 million years ago has been discovered in Peru.
...
The team told Science magazine that the animal's feathers were brown and grey, distinct from the black "tuxedo" look of modern penguins.

It was about 1.5m (5ft) tall and nearly twice as heavy as an Emperor Penguin, the largest living species.

The bird, named Inkayacu paracasensis, or Water King, waddled the Earth during the late Eocene period.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11420635

There was also Anthropornis.

[The Wizard]

14. Are these the penguins

Moses had on the Ark?

[Orsino]

15. Tekeli-li! n/t

[Bruce Wayne]

17. I don't like 'em. I don't trust 'em.

I suspect they'd be used for nefarious purposes if they were around today. My God, imagine the size of laser certain criminals could mount on those! Nowhere in Gotham would be safe!

[font face="Agency FB" size="1"]if only we had a champion![/font]

[TupperHappy]

18. sabre tooth penguins? (nt)

[aikoaiko]

19. My six yr old and I had the opportunity to pet and interact with some penguins

It was a wonderful experience at the Tampa aquarium. It cost extra, but it was worthy it.

[dipsydoodle]

20. Seeing that lot sing and dance must've been excting