MUSEUM OF NATURE FOSSIL PENGUINS

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31653, 13 April 1968, Page 5

MUSEUM OF NATURE FOSSIL PENGUINS

(Contributed by the Canterbury Museum)

Penguins are birds which most people recognise. They are confined to the Southern Hemisphere (South America, Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand) and have a long geological history.

They have been described by Professor F. Amehino, Dr Gaylord Simpson and by Dr B. J. Harpies, of New Zealand. Most of the fossil finds of penguins have been of odd bones, but a few years ago almost the whole of the upper part of the body of one was found in a concretion at Motunau, given to the Canterbury Museum, and described by Dr Marples, of Otago. He called it Palaeospheniscus novaezealandiae, which means "Old Little Wedge of New Zealand.” This seems a curious name

to apply to a penguin, but many years ago penguins were called speniscus, which comes from the Greek for "Little Wedge." The upper photograph shows part of the body of this bird after Dr Marples had cleaned away the stone matrix.

In December, 1967, Peter Tyree, a Christchurch schoolboy, who, with his family, is a keen collector of rock specimens, found another part skeleton of a penguin at Motunau. The lower photograph shows it in the rock matrix, as found. Until the bones are cleaned from the rock it is not possible to say if this new find is of the same species as the one described by Professor Marples. It is evident that it contains leg bones and pelvis not contained in the former specimen. Both these specimens come from the Upper Pliocene, probably from the Waitotaran stage of five or six million years ago. Probably more penguin, and possibly other bird, remains will still be found at Motunau, and the co-operation of anyone finding such bones by bringing them to our attension would be greatly appreciated by the Canterbury Museum. Members of the general public can be, and often are, of great assistance to scientists, who are deeply grateful for their help.

Penguin Evolution In the past there has been great argument about how penguins reached their present flightless, swimming and walking state. To quote Dr Simpson: “The penguins form so sharply defined a group, so distinct from any other birds in structure and habits, and so interesting from the functional and

other points of view, that the problem of their origin and relationships early became, and still remains, one of great fascination and difficulty.” All students of penguin evolution are agreed that their separation from other bird stocks took place very early in bird history. There are three main theories as to their origin. The first is that the penguins and petrels (and possibly the pelicans, shags, grebes and loons) had a very remote, common ancestor, a flying bird, but penguins early became separated, and lost the power of flight, becoming adapted for a life spent largely in the water. Penguin wings consist of flattened bones, as seen in the photograph, and are more like paddles than like the wings of flying birds. Some petrels today lose the power of flight during the moult and behave much like penguins in the water. This is the view held by the writer. The second theory is that penguins never flew, but that their wings are directly adopted from the fore-limbs of a reptilian ancestor. The third opinion also believes that penguins, had a flying ancestor, but at such an early date that it is futile to search for any connection with the ancestors of the other kinds of living birds. Whatever theory one holds it is evident that the various species of these fascinating and endearing birds, which one watches today, have a long and fascinating history, and that members of the general public have the opportunity, with the scientists, of adding the missing pages to the “book of life" of the penguins. We hope they will help us.—R.J.S.