Fossil Bones from the Largest Penguin Unearthed in NZ

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https://phys.org/news/2023-02-fossil-bones-largest-penguin-unearthed.html

I for one welcome our old penguin overlords.

This is how it died:

Penquins compete with seals for the same ecological niche. So its not surprising that penquins got as big as modern seals (and big or bigger than humans). The only mystery is why these megapenquins arent still around. Except that that probably IS why.

This megapenquin evolved only a fortnight after the dinosaurs got wiped out by the asteroid, and probably predates the evolution of pinniped mammals (seals and walruses) so the big ones probably got dethroned by the competition with the later sea mammals invading their marine turf. But the mid to small penguins were able to survive the competitiion and thrive alongside seals still.