Artist’s reconstruction of Inkayacu, or Water King, a giant fossil penguin discovered in Peru. Illustration by Katie Browne.
AUSTIN, Texas — Paleontologists have unearthed the first extinct penguin with preserved evidence of scales and feathers. The 36-million-year-old fossil from Peru shows the new giant penguin's feathers were reddish brown and grey, distinct from the black tuxedoed look of living penguins. The new species, Inkayacu paracasensis , or Water King, was nearly five feet tall or about twice the size of an Emperor penguin, the largest living penguin today. "Before this fossil, we had no evidence about the feathers, colors and flipper shapes of ancient penguins. We had questions and this was our first chance to start answering them," said Julia Clarke, paleontologist at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences and lead author of a paper on the discovery in the Sept. 30 online edition of the journal Science . The fossil shows the flipper and feather shapes that make penguins such powerful swimmers evolved early, while the color patterning of living penguins is likely a much more recent innovation.
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