New extinct species of ‘ridiculously cute’ tiny penguins discovered in New Zealand

About three million years ago, little penguins roamed New Zealand, according to a new study. Eventually, these little creatures went extinct, but their relatives known as little penguins, or korors, still live today in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.

Scientists recently discovered the tiny extinct penguin species, which they named Wilson’s little penguin (Eudyptula wilsonae), and described it in an article published last month in the Paleontology Journal. They identified the species after studying two fossilized skulls, one that belonged to a juvenile and another that belonged to an adult found on New Zealand’s North Island.

The newly described species is now the oldest known extinct little penguin, reports Bob Yirka for Phys.org. The find suggests that little penguins have been constant residents of New Zealand’s shores for millions of years.

Since the researchers only have the skulls of the extinct animals and not their complete skeletons, they aren’t entirely sure how big Wilson’s little penguins would have been. But they suspect the birds could have been similar in size to today’s little penguins, which weigh about two pounds and stand about 13.5 inches tall. The extinct birds, however, had slightly narrower skulls than those alive today, according to the researchers.

The new findings shed more light on the lineage and evolution of existing little penguins, suggesting they originated in New Zealand, also known as Aotearoa. The scientists were also surprised to see how little this ridiculously cute penguin lineage has changed over time, despite major environmental changes over the course of their evolution, according to a blog post written by paleontologist Daniel Ksepka, co-author of the study.

This matters when you think about the origins of these penguins, the evolution of Aotearoa’s seabird diversity and the dynamic environment they live in, says study co-author Daniel Thomas, a zoologist at Massey University in New Zealand, in a declaration. For one thing, the climate has changed a lot during this time and this lineage has been robust to those changes.

In fact, little penguins are still mostly thriving. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists them as a species of least concern and estimates that around 470,000 creatures are on the move today.

However, some recent cases suggest that human-caused climate change may be taking a toll on the hardy animals. Last summer, for example, beachgoers found the bodies of hundreds of little penguins on the shores of northern New Zealand.

After some analysis, wildlife officials determined that the birds were severely underweight and had starved to death or succumbed to hypothermia after failing to find enough food. Ocean surface temperatures are rising, prompting fish to swim deeper in search of cooler waters, and although little penguins are strong swimmers, they can only dive to depths of up to 100 feet.

Right now, researchers are evaluating how continued global warming might affect Zealandia’s flora and fauna by looking back. The skulls of the little Wilson penguins will now be examined by a team of researchers led by study co-author Alan Tennyson, the curator of vertebrates at the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, in an effort to study the fossils of animals that lived in the region for a long time. ago, during the last time temperatures were much warmer than they are today.

Eventually, they hope to use the prehistoric data to create a biodiversity prediction of what might happen to the ecosystem in the future, Thomas tells al New Zealand heraldit’s Jamie Morton.

With millions of years of environmental change now compressed into just a few human lives, rising temperatures are allowing tropical animals to expand their ranges, leading to potentially irrevocable changes to wildlife communities in Aotearoa and other places at higher latitudes he tells the publication.

The same team also recently discovered the largest penguin species known on Earth, weighing 340 pounds and roaming New Zealand about 50 million years ago.