Giant penguin

2007/06/25 Roa Zubia, Guillermo - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia
• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

In Peru, fossils of two species of missing penguins have been found. One, Perudyptes devriesi, is the size of the largest penguins of today, and the other, Icadyptes salasi, much larger. In the image the skull of the latter is seen next to a skull of the only penguin currently living in Peru. The penguin peak Icadyptes salasi has a length of 18 centimeters and, according to paleontologists, the animal was approximately one and a half meters. The large sizes have been surprised by the paleontologist, from the Eozeno period, of a temperate climate period. It is believed that temperate animals are not usually very large, since they should not keep the heat, but the discovery of fossilized giant penguins near the equator goes against this hypothesis. Daniel Ksepka.