Penguins diversified earlier than
previously assumed
Date: February 23, 2017
Source: Senckenberg Research
Institute and Natural History Museum
Together with colleagues from New
Zealand, Senckenberg scientist Dr. Gerald Mayr described a recently discovered
fossil of a giant penguin with a body length of around 150 centimeters. The new
find dates back to the Paleocene era and, with an age of approx. 61 million
years, counts among the oldest penguin fossils in the world. The bones differ
significantly from those of other discoveries of the same age and indicate that
the diversity of Paleocene penguins was higher than previously assumed. In
their study, published in the Springer scientific journal The Science of Nature,
the team of scientists therefore postulates that the evolution of penguins
started much earlier than previously thought, probably already during the age
of dinosaurs.
The fossil sites along the
Waipara River in New Zealand's Canterbury region are well known for their avian
fossils, which were embedded in marine sand a mere 4 million years after the
dinosaurs became extinct. "Among the finds from these sites, the skeletons
of Waimanu, the oldest known penguin to date, are of particular
importance," explains Dr. Gerald Mayr of the Senckenberg Research Institute
in Frankfurt.
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