Water King

Artist reconstructions of Inkayacu paracasensis. Illustrations by Katie Browne

They don't make penguins like they used to. Thirty-six million years ago, at least one species stood nearly as tall as a man and sported shades of red and gray. The new species, called the water king, sheds light on bird evolution. Penguins' apparently recent switch to black-and-white may have been more about swimming than, say, sex or camouflage.

Palaeontologists have unearthed fossil remains of a giant species of penguin that roamed the Earth 36 million years ago. Excavating a site in Peru, Julia Clarke, of The University of Texas and colleagues, found the first extinct penguin with preserved evidence of scales and feathers. The new species Inkayacu paracasensis, or Water King, stood nearly five feet tall, roughly twice the size of the Emperor penguin, the largest living penguin.

Before this fossil, there were no evidence about the feathers, colours and flipper shapes of ancient penguins. The findings sheds light on the evolution of penguins, revealing that ancient penguins had similar flipper and feather shapes of present-day penguins, but different coloration. The University of Texas statement explains:

Like living penguins and unlike all other birds, Inkayacu's wing feathers were radically modified in shape, densely packed and stacked on top of each other, forming stiff, narrow flippers. Its body feathers had broad shafts that in living penguins’ aid streamlining the body.

The whole article in National Geographic about the giant penguin can be found here.