Extinct ‘giant penguin’ species reconstructed from fossils

dlofnep · 29-02-2012 03:32PM #1

IT WAS A SLENDER bird, with long wings and a spear-like bill to catch swift ocean prey. And scientists say the first glimpse of the extinct giant penguin species was worth the 26 million-year wait.

Experts from New Zealand and the United States reconstructed a fossil skeleton of one of the giant sea birds to reveal a body shape unique from known penguin species with features that have them describing it as one elegant bird.

The bird they dubbed Kairuku — Maori for “diver who returns with food” — stood about 4 feet 2 inches (1.3 metres) tall and lived in the Oligocene period, about 26 million years ago. The research on Kairuku was published this week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

http://thedailyedge.thejournal.ie/extinct-giant-penguin-species-reconstructed-from-fossils-369376-Feb2012/