Giant Penguins Lived Alongside Dinosaurs Millions Of Years Ago?

The evolution of penguins probably dates back to the dinosaur times, implying that the fluffy and cute birds are much older than previously thought, according to a new study. Scientists discovered a giant penguin fossil, with the body length measuring 150 centimeters, dating back to about 61 million years from the Paleocene era. The discovery reportedly shows that giant penguins shared Earth with dinosaurs millions of years ago.

DNA reported that the new find unearthed at a fossil site along the Waipara River in New Zealand's Canterbury region is among the world’s oldest penguin fossils. However, the bones of the giant penguin are significantly different from other penguin fossils of the same age. This implies that the diversity of Paleocene penguins was higher than scientists had previously assumed.

"Among the finds from these sites, the skeletons of Waimanu, the oldest known penguin to date, are of particular importance," said Gerald Mayr of Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt. "What sets this fossil apart are the obvious differences compared to the previously known penguin remains from this period of geological history.”

The leg bones of the newly discovered fossil indicated that the penguin was distinctly larger than those found in other fossilized remains. Furthermore, the giant penguin belongs to a species that is in closer relation to penguins from later time periods.

According to Mayr, the discovery also shows that the flightless birds reached an enormous size quite early in their evolutionary history about 60 million years ago. Moreover, the new fossil find indicates the existence of a penguin species that were different from their more primitive relatives in the genus Waimanu, in the way they walked. The scientists presume that the giant penguins had already started to move with the upright and waddling gait that today’s penguins are known for.

The Hindu reported that the new penguin fossil does not itself prove that the flightless birds and dinosaurs shared space in the same period, because dinosaurs were already gone from the scene 61 million years ago. However, the existence of another giant penguin fossil discovered near the new find suggests that a shared ancestor lived millions of years earlier during the time of the dinosaurs.