Ancient Penguins Were Giant Waddling Predators

Ancient Penguins Were Giant Waddling Predators
“They’re so unbirdlike that many people would not know they are birds,” Dr. Mayr said.
Realizing that it was almost as old as Waimanu, Dr. Mayr and his colleagues eagerly studied Kumimanu for a better picture of early penguin evolution.
“What would be cool would be to have a flying ancestor of penguins,” Dr. Mayr said.
The early Cenozoic oceans didn’t just open up the way for the evolution of flightless aquatic birds, Dr. Mayr speculated.
“We already knew penguins were around, and flightless, just a few million years after the extinction,” said Daniel
T. Ksepka, a paleontologist at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Conn., who was not involved in the new study.
“The new fossil shows they achieved immense sizes very rapidly as well, which is cool.”
Dr. Mayr speculates that the dramatic origin of penguins was sparked by the mass extinctions that marked the dawn of the Cenozoic.
Kumimanu wasn’t just exceptionally big; it also ranks among the oldest penguin fossils yet found.