DesertFox
06-25-2007, 05:26 PM
Penguins were waddling and swimming in warm locales tens of millions of years earlier than previously thought, according to scientists who described on Monday fossils of two previously unknown types found in Peru.
One of the two, named Icadyptes salasi, lived about 36 million years ago, possessed a long, spear-like beak, and stood 5 feet tall.
http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20070625&t=2&i=1011151&w=350
On the right is Icadyptes salasi, which lived about 36 million years ago and stood five feet (1.5 meters) tall. It was bigger than any penguin alive today and the third largest penguin known to have lived. On the left is Perudyptes devriesi, which lived about 42 million years ago, was about 2-1/2 to 3 feet tall (0.76 to 0.91 meters). In the middle is the only penguin inhabiting Peru today, Spheniscus humbolti.
"This one had a beak you had to reckon with," North Carolina State University paleontologist Julia Clarke, who led the research, said in a telephone interview.
It was bigger than any penguin alive today and the third-largest penguin known to have lived, Clarke said.
More (http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN2532095320070625)
One of the two, named Icadyptes salasi, lived about 36 million years ago, possessed a long, spear-like beak, and stood 5 feet tall.
http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20070625&t=2&i=1011151&w=350
On the right is Icadyptes salasi, which lived about 36 million years ago and stood five feet (1.5 meters) tall. It was bigger than any penguin alive today and the third largest penguin known to have lived. On the left is Perudyptes devriesi, which lived about 42 million years ago, was about 2-1/2 to 3 feet tall (0.76 to 0.91 meters). In the middle is the only penguin inhabiting Peru today, Spheniscus humbolti.
"This one had a beak you had to reckon with," North Carolina State University paleontologist Julia Clarke, who led the research, said in a telephone interview.
It was bigger than any penguin alive today and the third-largest penguin known to have lived, Clarke said.
More (http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN2532095320070625)