Four newly described species from New Zealand are giving scientists their clearest look yet at the earliest penguins, which thrived between 62 and 58 million years ago. These birds carried long, spear-like beaks that may have been used to skewer fish, revealing surprising feeding strategies in a world just recovering from the mass extinction of dinosaurs.
The discoveries are based on fossils recovered from the Waipara Greensand formation, a site well known for preserving early seabirds. According to New Scientist, the fossils highlight how quickly penguins diversified in size and shape after the extinction that eliminated all non-avian dinosaurs.
Fossils From Waipara Greensand
The fossils were excavated from the Waipara Greensand formation in Canterbury, a site already renowned for producing early seabird remains. The rock layers here, formed shortly after the end-Cretaceous impact, preserve creatures that diversified in the ecological vacuum left behind by vanished reptiles.
The new discoveries
Provide a stunning glimpse into the earliest evolution of penguins – ays Gerald Mayr of the Senckenberg Research Institute in Germany.
Mayr and his colleagues described four distinct species, each showing unique adaptations. One fossil shows abnormally long hind toes, while another preserves the most remarkably complete skull and beak of any early penguin yet found.
Penguins in a Predator-Free Land
Early ecosystems provided unusual conditions that allowed these seabirds to adapt rapidly in both size and lifestyle.
We think that a key feature of ancient New Zealand was the absence of terrestrial predators, which enabled the loss of flight capabilities in the earliest penguins – says Mayr.
This sheltered environment may also explain why some of these birds grew to the size of humans, an extraordinary evolutionary experiment in body form and scale.
Rare Beaks and Unusual Hunting
The fossil record from this period rarely preserves delicate skull structures, making these finds particularly significant for understanding early feeding behavior.
Fossils containing beaks, which can indicate a bird’s diet, are extremely rare for penguins from periods before 23 million years ago – explains Tatsuro Ando of the Ashoro Museum of Paleontology in Japan,
who was not involved in the study. These new specimens are therefore an unusual treasure.
According to Mayr,
The earliest penguins seem to have speared their prey with the long beaks. After skewering a fish, the penguin might have resurfaced from the water to throw it into the air and catch it.
This behavior, unlike anything seen in today’s penguins, shows how varied their strategies once were.
Changing Beaks Over Time
The elongated, straight bills did not last forever. About 20 million years after these pioneering species lived, penguins began losing their dagger-like beaks. As they adapted to longer underwater dives, their bills evolved into the shorter, sturdier shapes seen in modern forms — better for gripping slippery prey rather than impaling it.
Cradle of Penguin Evolution
The new fossils underline New Zealand’s role as the cradle of penguin evolution, as Mayr puts it. From here, penguins radiated across the Southern Hemisphere, reaching Antarctica, South Africa, and much of South America.
While modern penguins are icons of endurance in icy seas, their ancestors remind us that the path of evolution can be surprising. From spear-wielding hunters the size of humans to the compact divers we know today, the story of these seabirds continues to unfold with every fossil pulled from the rock.