Story: Penguins

First penguin fossil discovery

First penguin fossil discovery

British palaeontologist Thomas Huxley made this drawing of a fused ankle bone (tarsometatarsal) from the first finding of a penguin fossil. It was discovered in New Zealand at Kakanui, North Otago, in 1848. It belonged to a penguin that lived about 30 million years ago. The bone is dense, unlike a flying bird’s bones, which suggests that penguins had already long given up flight by that stage of their evolutionary history. Huxley gave it the name Paleeudyptes antarcticus.

Using this item

Private collection, R. Ewan Fordyce
Reference: T. H. Huxley, 'On a fossil bird and a fossil cetacean from New Zealand.' Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 15 (1859): 672

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How to cite this page:

Lloyd Spencer Davis, 'Penguins - The penguin history of New Zealand', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/6395/first-penguin-fossil-discovery (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Lloyd Spencer Davis, published 12 Jun 2006, reviewed & revised 11 Jul 2016