Scientists have discovered that the country of New Zealand was once home to giant prehistoric penguins. It was so large that when the fossil was discovered in the soil, scientists thought it was some other dinosaur.
This fossil belongs to the Paleocene - Paleocene epoch, which lasted from about 60 to 56 million years ago. This penguin is 1.65 meters tall, can grow up to 1.77 meters long when swimming, and can weigh up to 100 kg.
This was one of the largest penguins that ever existed on Earth, just smaller than the (now extinct) Palaeeudyptes klekowskii, which grew up to 2 meters in length and weighed up to 115 kg.
While it's not the largest species or has any special biological features (other than being huge), this species of K. bicea is the earliest penguin to appear on the face of the earth, according to the curator of the Te Papa Museum, Alan Tennyson. In 2004, Tennyson was the first to discover the skull fragment of this huge bird.
It is given its scientific name Kumimanu biceae – "Kumimanu" means "monster bird" in Māori (dialect of New Zealand), "bicea" is a tribute to Tennyson's mother, Bice Tennyson.
Emperor Penguin is the largest penguin on Earth, with a height of more than 1 meter.
Previously discovered giant penguins appeared only between 42 and 35 million years ago. In the past, archaeologists have also discovered small penguins, with signs that they have gradually lost the ability to fly.
Researcher Tennyson found the fossil of this penguin on a beach in Otago, New Zealand. At that time, he did not know what kind of bone it was. The bone fossil was in a large stone, so Tennyson took the whole thing back to his office. It sat on a shelf for several years before being brought down for inspection in 2015.
Taking the first bone sample, archaeologists knew immediately that they had found the bones of a giant bird. Specifically, it was a penguin of a rare size.
" This monster is very large, tall like a human and has a body with strong muscles, so it can withstand great pressure when it swims deep to find prey ," said researcher Tennyson. " It's definitely stronger than the average person ."
But so big and strong, it still can't compete for food with the growing number of seals, walruses, whales and other mammals. The great penguin is extinct.
The study was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
