Paleontologists Unearthed 5 Feet Tall Giant Penguins In New Zealand
People might never expect to see penguins eye to eye, but 61 million years ago, seeing 5 Feet Tall Giant Penguins would have been considered as a distinct possibility. Paleontologists believe that penguins have walked the Earth millions of years ago and might have been growing nearly 5 feet tall.
In the oldest penguin fossils which were recently unearthed, it is possible that 5 Feet Tall Giant Penguins might have active years ago. According to Forbes, the oversize waddlers or 5 Feet Tall Giant Penguins have evolved together with dinosaurs.
Like birds, penguins do not have the ability to fly, yet they can swim at the speed of 22mph or 35 kilometers per hour. In this age, the biggest living penguin which is known as the emperor penguin can grow up to 3.9 feet or 1.2 meters tall. However, the recently unearthed fossils revealed that 5 Feet Tall Giant Penguins exist.
Million years ago, penguins could grow as large as 5.4 feet or 1.65 meters tall. The 5 Feet Tall Giant Penguins have been waddling the Earth for so many years. The 5 Feet Tall Giant Penguins which were the oldest known fossil penguins are already around 61 million years old from New Zealand.
The extinct Waimanu penguin was the same size as the living emperor penguin which is 2 feet tall. It was thought to be the oldest example of a penguin in the world. However, research which was led by Gerald Mayr shows that Waimanu had company and these 5 Feet Tall Giant Penguins have diversified and evolved much earlier.
According to Live Science, the ancient 5 Feet Tall Giant Penguins bones are considered as the oldest fossils of modern birds which are known from different parts of the world. Furthermore, Gerald Mayr, an ornithologist from Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt in Germany said that investigating penguin fossils can provide answers to the ongoing debate about the exact date when modern birds appeared.
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