Scientists in Peru have discovered the fossilised remains of an enormous, red-feathered penguin!
Nicknamed “Pedro”, the penguin’s scientific name is Inkayacu paracasensis – meaning the Water King. Pedro was discovered in the Paracas National Reserve of Peru’s south- western coast.
The penguin is larger than any other living or fossilized penguin, standing about one and a half metres tall – a bit taller than the average 10 year old!
This means the Water King was 30 cm taller than our largest living penguin, the Emperor Penguin, and it was almost twice as heavy.
One of the reasons that Pedro is such a big deal to science right now is because of a patch of Pedro’s fossilized feathers.
We don’t have a lot of information about ancient penguin feathers, and it turns out Pedro’s are noteworthy: they were red and gray.
Another interesting feature is Pedro’s beak: super long and pointed, it is several times longer than that of the only living penguin species in Peru, the Humboldt Penguin (Spheniscus humboldti). Can you see the beak bones in the photo below?
(Photo of fossilised Inkayacu paracasensis bones: University of Texas, Austin)
As you’re aware, most penguins today sport that well-known tuxedo look. Apparently that black-and-white pelage is a relatively “recent” development in penguin history (if anything can be called ‘recent’ when we’re talking millions of years)!
Pedro’s fossil will also tell scientists more about the evolution of penguin flippers, and why some species – like the Water King – didn’t make it.
Imagine this: It is 35 million years ago, and these giant, red-and-grey penguins are cruising around the ancient oceans, eating tons of ancient fish, and standing around raising giant penguin babies.
If we could walk amongst them, we wouldn't be looking down at their heads - some of us would be eye-to-eye with them, and some KCC members would be a lot shorter than the adult Inkayacu paracasensis! It would be very different to standing beside one of our tiny Little Blue penguins, that's for sure!
