Okay, at 34 million years old, it’s a bit past its prime to still have the hops, but the Antarctic penguin fossil unearthed by paleontologists with the Natural Sciences Museum of La Plata, in Buenos Aires, would’ve stood a whopping 6.5 feet tall. “This is the largest penguin known to date in terms of height and body mass,” said researcher Carolina Acosta, who noted that the record had been held by emperor penguins, which reach heights of 1.2 meters (4 feet) tall. Exactly how modern emperor penguins evolved from something so much larger is still unknown, but scientists will return to Antarctica in the coming months to see if they can find any more fossil records. One other thing they’d like to know is how, given the ungainly movements of modern penguins, such a huge, birdlike species could get around on land. Or it could well be that’s why penguins evolved to be slightly more agile, if smaller creatures. Via AFP.

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Tags: environmentsetc

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