This artist’s impression shows what slender Kairuku grebneffi probably looked like, pictured here passing a stranded Waipatia dolphin (Image: Chris Gaskin/Geology Museum, University of Otago)
An extinct penguin that lived in New Zealand 27 million years ago may have been the tallest ever.
At 1.3 metres in height, Kairuku grebneffi would have looked down on today’s 1-metre-tall emperor penguin. It has a rival for the tallest penguin crown, though, as a few fossil bones of a penguin that may have been slightly taller were found in Peru in 2007.
The new find is so complete that “we could put the whole animal back together”, says of North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Consequently its height is known more accurately than the ancient Peruvian penguin.
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The reconstruction shows that K. grebneffi had a surprisingly slender body with a spear-like beak and long, graceful flippers, Ksepka says. “Modern penguins are chubby little dudes.”
of the University of Texas at Austin, a member of the team that described the Peruvian fossil penguin, says the new find is an important one.
Journal reference: , in press
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