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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Photo: Giant Penguins Once Roamed Peru Desert, Fossils Show


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An artist's illustration shows the approximate sizes of two recently discovered Peruvian giant penguin species.

The fearsome five-foot (1.5-meter) Icadyptes salasi (right) lived about 36 million years ago, while Perudyptes devriesi (left) lived about 42 million years ago. The two extinct animals are shown to scale with Peru's only living penguin species, Spheniscus humbolti (center).

The new finds reveal an unexpected evolutionary response to a long period of global warming, scientists say.

Illustration by Kristin Lamm/courtesy PNAS