During the Paleocene, between 66 and 56 million years ago, the species Crossvallia waiparensis , a giant penguin that reached 1.60 meters in height and weighed 80 kilos , lived in present-day New Zealand. Known as the “monster penguin”, it is one of the oldest species of penguins and, until now, the largest.
a new species
Waipara Greensand is a small town in the north of the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Near this population, a good number of fossil remains of archaic penguins have been found, which makes this area a fundamental enclave to study the evolution of penguins.
In 2019, a group of researchers discovered a surprising new species. Crossvallia waiparensis is the scientific name with which the remains found have been described. Specifically, paleontologists have been able to study some of the leg bones of this extinct penguin. These fossils have made it possible to recreate what this animal would be like, above all, what size it would be.
He swam better but couldn’t walk
The results of the research were published in the scientific journal “Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology”. The article highlights several unique characteristics of this species. First of all, its size stands out. Capable of equaling the height and weight of a person, its size has earned this Spheniscidae bird to be known as the “monster penguin”. At 1.60 meters tall and weighing 80 kilos, it significantly exceeds the largest penguin species that exists today: the emperor penguin ( Aptenodytes forsteri ), which can measure 1.20 meters and weigh between 25 and 45 kilos. . In addition to their size, the study of the fossils determines a curious aspect: these penguins would be better swimmers than the current ones, however, it is possible that they were not capable of walking upright .
The discovery of this new species corresponds to the existence of megafauna in New Zealand millions of years ago. Parrots, eagles, burrowing bats and the giant moas, ostrich-like birds represented by the Dinornis novaezealandiae and Dinornis robustus species, which grew to 3.7 meters tall and weighed 230 kilos.
Why did they grow so much?
The time in which the existence of this penguin is chronologically framed coincides with the end of the dinosaurs. Along with them, the large marine reptiles that dominated the oceans also disappeared , which could have allowed this species to grow in size thanks to the lack of predators. This is how Paul Scofield, from the Canterbury Museum and one of the members of the team in charge of investigating the remains of Crossvallia waiparensis , sees it:
“Then [after the extinction of the dinosaurs] , for 30 million years, it was the age of the giant penguins.”
60 million years ago, when this giant penguin roamed the coast of New Zealand, the geography and climate of this region of the planet were very different from today. New Zealand was linked to Australia, which in turn may have been connected to Antarctica. As for Antarctica, what we see today as an entire frozen continent, back then it was covered in forests and the climate was warmer.
“Water temperatures around New Zealand were ideal back then, around 25C, compared to 8C now.”
This relationship is also verified through the relatives of the “monster penguin” itself. One of the closest seems to have been Crossvallia unienwillia , which lived in Antarctica around the same time. In the year 2000 part of a fossilized skeleton of this species was discovered.
Why was it extinct?
The scientific debate is totally open on this matter. One of the most supported theories speaks of the growing competition that it had to face with the arrival of marine mammals millions of years after the end of the great marine reptiles. According to Gerald Mayr of the Senckenberg Natural History Museum, who spearheaded the study on Crossvallia waiparensis:
“In Antarctica and New Zealand, there were no major marine competitors until the arrival of toothed whales and pinnipeds (seals) many millions of years later.”
In any case, each new piece found helps to complete the puzzle of evolution and allows us to understand a little more about the past of life on our planet.
References:
Mayr, G. et al. 2020. Leg bones of a new penguin species from the Waipara Greensand add to the diversity of very large-sized Sphenisciformes in the Paleocene of New Zealand. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 44, 1, 194-201. DOI: 10.1080/03115518.2019.1641619.
Teknauts. 2019. The “monster penguin” existed: they find fossils of a specimen the size of a human. elconfidencial.com.
