Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi

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Nordenskjoeld's Giant Penguin Fossil range: Late Eocene – Early Oligocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Sphenisciformes Family: Spheniscidae Genus: Anthropornis Species: A. nordenskjoeldi
Binomial name
Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi Wiman, 1905

Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi, or Nordenskjoeld's Giant Penguin, was a penguin species that lived 45–37 million years ago, during the Late Eocene and the earliest part of the Oligocene. It reached 1.7 meters (5 ft 6.9 in) in height and 90 kilograms (198 lb) in weight. Fossils of it have been found on Seymour Island off the coast of Antarctica and in New Zealand. By comparison, the largest modern penguin species, the Emperor Penguin, is just 1.2 meters (3 ft 11.2 in) tall.

Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi had a bent joint in the wing; this indicates a carryover from its flying ancestors. Penguins were descended from grebe or loon-like ancestors, and became flightless as they became full-time swimmers.

[edit] Trivia

The giant blind albino penguins in H.P.Lovecraft's 1931 novel At the Mountains of Madness were fictional cave-dwelling descendants of this bird.

[edit] References

The Annotated H.P.Lovecraft, edited by S.T.Joshi