A new species of prehistoric penguin has been found in New
Zealand, and it's so big that the researcher who found its bones initially
couldn't figure out what kind of animal it was. Dating back to the late
Paleocene 60-56 million years ago, the newly named Kumimanu biceae was so big
it stood 1.65 metres tall (5'5") and measured 1.77 metres in length
(5'10") when swimming. It weighed up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds). It's
one of the biggest penguins that ever existed, coming in at just under the size
of extinct Late Eocene Antarctic penguin Palaeeudyptes klekowskii, which was 2
metres long and weighed 115 kilograms. But although it's not breaking size
records, K. biceae is the earliest giant penguin ever discovered, according to
Te Papa Museum curator Alan Tennyson, who found the first piece of the skeleton
in 2004. Other giant penguin fossils date back to around 42-35 million years
ago, placing them in the Eocene epoch. And the two species of the earlier
Waimanu genus of penguin that emerged not long after the Cretaceous-Paleocene
extinction event are much smaller, and show signs of being closer to losing the
ability to fly.
"That a penguin rivaling the largest previously known
fossil species existed in the Paleocene may indicate that gigantism in penguins
arose shortly after these birds became flightless divers," the researchers
wrote in their paper."Gigantism therefore may be an inherent feature of
Paleogene penguins, which may have evolved soon after aerodynamic constraints
ceased to exist."Tennyson found the fossilised remains encased in a
boulder on a beach in Otago, New Zealand. Initially, he didn't know what the
bones were.
He found a rock that showed bone on the outside surface, so
he took it back to his office - where it would remain on a shelf for a few
years. Extraction on the boulder didn't start until 2015 - but once work began,
the researchers realised they had found the bones of a bird. A really big bird."Painstaking
extraction work slowly revealed that the rock contained a multitude of jumbled
bones of a colossal penguin," Tennyson said. "We found flipper, body
and leg bones and they are truly huge."
The penguin's humerus and a shoulder girdle bone entangled in
clusters. (G Mayr/Senckenberg Research Institute) The new penguin was named
Kumimanu, which means "monster bird" in Māori, and biceae in honour
of Tennyson's mum, Bice Tennyson.It's difficult to know how similar K. biceae
looked to modern day penguins, the tallest of which is the emperor penguin that
stands at 1.1 metres. But it was probably a formidable creature. "it would
have been very impressive, as tall as many people, and a very solid, muscly
animal built to withstand frequent deep dives to catch its prey, It would not
have been the kind of bird that someone could catch alive, it would have been
considerably more powerful than a person." Tennyson said. "
The decline of giant penguins around the world probably has
something to do with the rise of marine mammals, with which it coincides. The
expansion of seals, walruses, whales, and other ocean-faring mammals probably
provided competition for both food resources and breeding grounds - and the
giant penguins lost the battle.
Source : Nature
Communications
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