Pachydyptes
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(Redirected from New Zealand Giant Penguin)
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Extinct (fossil)
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| Pachydyptes ponderosus Oliver, 1930 | ||||||||||||||||
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Pachydyptes is an extinct genus of penguin. It contains the single species Pachydyptes ponderosus, the New Zealand Giant Penguin. This taxon is known from a few bones from Late Eocene (34-37 MYA) rocks in the area of Otago, and a fine specimen found near Kawhia, New Zealand, in January 2006.
With a height of 140-160 cm (c. 5 ft) and weighing around 80, maybe over 100 kg, it was the second-tallest penguin ever, surpassed only by Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi in size, but probably not in weight. As George Gaylord Simpson famously quipped, "[Pachydyptes'] height would not suffice for basketball but their weight was about right for American football."
[edit] References
- Oliver, Walter R. B. (1930). [Genus Pachydyptes]. In: New Zealand birds, 85-86. Wellington: Fine Arts.
[edit] External links
