What Is a Mega Penguin?
The largest of today’s penguins reach only about chest height on an adult human, so the thought of one looking a grown person in the eye seems unlikely. Millions of years ago, though, penguins this size were real. The term mega penguin works on two levels. Used loosely, it describes a whole group: the many giant, now-extinct penguins that dwarfed every penguin species alive today. Among these giants, it is popularly used as a nickname for one species in particular: the colossus penguin (Palaeeudyptes klekowskii), the tallest ever found.
Size and proportions
No single penguin holds every record, because height and weight tell different stories.
The tallest known species, Palaeeudyptes klekowskii, lived during the Late Eocene Epoch (about 38 million to 33.9 million years ago), along the Antarctic coast of Seymour Island. It may have stood approximately 2 meters (6.6 feet) tall and weighed about 115 kg (254 pounds). Notably, however, such measurements are estimates extrapolated from a wing bone and a foot bone.
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The heaviest penguin yet identified is Kumimanu fordycei, known from fossils discovered in New Zealand and dated to the Late Paleocene Epoch (about 59 million to 56 million years ago). Estimated to have weighed about 148–160 kg (326–353 pounds), it was more than three times heavier than the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), the largest living penguin species. Kumimanu, fittingly, means “monster bird” in Māori, an Indigenous language of New Zealand.
Age and habitat
Mega penguins belong mainly to the Paleogene Period, between 66 million and 23 million years ago. Most fossils come from New Zealand, once part of the largely submerged continent Zealandia, whose marine sediments preserved them especially well; others have surfaced in Antarctica and South America.
Advantages of their size
Being so large carried some benefits for the birds. Penguins are thought to descend from a flying ancestor. Once their relatives evolved to be expert swimmers, their wings came to work as flippers, and they were no longer limited by the demands of getting airborne. A bigger body may have helped in cold seas: Larger animals lose heat more slowly because they have less surface area relative to their volume, which would have let a giant penguin stay underwater longer before the cold set in. Greater size and stronger flippers might also have allowed deeper dives and larger prey, as well as possibly helped these birds spread across oceans to new coasts.
Their extinction
Giant penguins became extinct about 20 million years ago, and the cause remains uncertain. A leading idea points to new rivals in the sea. Seals began moving into the Southern Hemisphere while toothed whales were appearing about the same time. These newcomers may have competed for the same food and territory and could have preyed on penguin chicks.
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