#icadyptes salasi

[252mya]

Icadyptes salasi

Artwork by Vitor Silva

Unlike most penguins we’re familiar with, this 1.5 m (4.9 ft) tall bird lived in the warmer coasts of Peru over 30 million years ago. Today, only the Galapagos and African penguins live in a comparable habitat.

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252MYA creates custom-made artwork for private collections and editorial, scientific, or educational project.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Icadyptes

By José Carlos Cortés on @quetzalcuetzpalin

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Name: Icadyptes

Status: Extinct

First Described: 2007

Described By: Clarke et al.

Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Aequorlitornithes, Ardeae, Aequornithes, Austrodyptornithes, Sphenisciformes, Spheniscidae, Palaeëudyptinae

Referred Species: I. salasi

My Fifth Favorite Extinct Avialan

Alright guys, I’m going to come clean: my favorite group of modern dinosaurs are penguins. They are adorable, wonderful, and were cruelly robbed in Dinosaur March Madness by not having a single member in the competition. Icadyptes, or Ica Diver, is an extinct penguin, about 1.5 meters tall - much larger than any modern penguin, though it’s still only the third largest penguin known. It had a remarkably long, spear like beak, much like that of a heron; this might be the ancestral character of beaks for penguins, though research still needs to be done on that front. It lived in a fairly warm and balmy climate on the coast of Peru, dating back to about 36 million years ago, in the Priabonian age of the Late Eocene. Icadyptes shows, thus, that penguins adapted for warmer climate 30 million years before they were previously thought to. 

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icadyptes_salasi

Shout out goes to @zoology-bro!