Scientists reconstruct 'tall, elegant' New Zealand penguin

 Scientists have reconstructed a 'tall and elegant' race of penguins which inhabited New Zealand 25 million years ago, and stood over a metre tall.

With a long beak and an elongate trunk, researchers say it had a body shape different to any other known penguin.

"Kairuku was an elegant bird by penguin standards, with a slender body and long flippers, but short, thick legs and feet," said Dr Dan Ksepka, a scientist from North Carolina State University. At the time Kairuku lived, most of New Zealand was underwater, leaving isolated, rocky land masses that kept the penguins safe from potential predators and provided them with a plentiful food supply.

The penguin was dubbed Kairuku, a Maori word which Ksepka says loosely translates to "diver who returns with food". "If we had done a reconstruction by extrapolating from the length of its flippers, it would have stood over 6 feet tall (1.8 metres). "A standing Kairuku penguin would have reached about 4 feet 2 inches (1.25 metres), more than a foot taller than an Emperor Penguin."

The penguin is now being formally entered into the scientific catalogue, with the research appearing in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Chris Gaskin, from the Geology Museum, University of Otago, has drawn a recreation of two of the animals, coming ashore beside a stranded Waipatia dolphin.

"Artist Chris Gaskin created a meticulous reconstruction of the new species that really drives these features home. You can practically feel the wind whipping sand and ocean spray into the air as the two penguins come ashore," said Ksepka in a blog posting.
 
'A history of producing exceptional fossils'

Ksepka said New Zealand has a history of producing exceptional fossils that give important insights into the history of penguins and other marine creatures. A highly complete skeleton of the Kairuku was discovered in 1977 by Dr Ewan Fordyce, a paleontologist from the University of Otago. Other fossilised skeletons have also been discovered.

In 2009 and 2011 Ksepka and another American scientist, Dr Paul Brinkman, travelled to the University of Otago to aid in the reconstruction of the giant penguin fossil, working with Fordyce and former Otago students Dr Tatsuro Ando and Dr Craig Jones. Kairuku was one of at least five different species of penguin that lived in New Zealand during the same period.

Ksepka hopes that the reconstruction of Kairuku will give other paleontologists more information about some the other fossils found in that area as well as add to the knowledge about giant penguin species.
"This species gives us a more complete picture of these giant penguins generally, and may help us to determine how great their range was during the Oligocene period," he said. - TVNZ

Note: I wonder what other giant birds exist besides these? Plenty I would say
throughtout history even now (just google Thunderbirds which I will cover on my
blog here sometime. -Rob