National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: World's Oldest Penguin Fossils Suggest Birds Outlived Dinos


Email to a Friend	<< Back to Full Story

King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) walk across the beach of Possession Bay on South Georgia Island, part of the Falkland Islands (see map).

Fossils of an ancient penguin genus called Waimanu—the oldest penguin remains in the world—suggest the animal looked similar to today's king or yellow-eyed penguins.

Photograph by Maria Stenzel/NGS