The Giant Penguin fossils found in South America, more specifically in Peru, have been a monumental discovery. The research of the two new penguin species found in Peru was conducted by Julia Clarke and funded by the Expeditions Council of the National Geographic Society. Finding giant penguin fossils in South America casts a shadow on the previous belief that penguins can only survive in the cold. Unearthing penguin fossils in a tropical region sheds a whole new light on penguins from the past.

Researchers that have been studying the giant penguin fossils found in South America, have stressed that even though these fossils have shown these penguins were able to adapt to climate change, this does not apply to the penguins that roam the earth today. The find has sparked an interest in researching climate change effects, but it is known that the penguins that are alive today are adapted to life in colder temperatures and will more than likely not survive in warm regions.

The discovery included the first complete skull of a giant penguin, which has been dated to back to approximately 36 million years ago. This new giant penguin has been named Icadyptes salasi and would have dwarfed the Emperor Penguins that stand at a height of 1.2 meters. It has been calculated that the Icadyptes salasi, would have stood 1.5 meters tall and would have weighed the same as the average human. This makes the giant penguin fossils in South America the third largest penguin found to date. The largest penguin fossils ever found belong to the Anthropirnis nordenskjoeldi, that is believed to have weighed approximately a hundred kilograms and stood at a height of two meters. From the skeletal remains of the flippers of the Icadyptes salasi, it has been suggested that their swimming capabilities and walking styles varied from the penguins we know today. It also has a very long beak and the points in the neck show large muscle attachment areas, meaning that this penguin had an extremely powerful neck. Researchers therefore believe that its hunting and feeding habits were also very different and it has been speculated that they might have speared their prey with their beaks. The second skeleton that was recovered is of a smaller species and its height estimated to be approximately one meter, slightly shorter than the King Penguin.

Even though the giant penguin fossils found in South America are a significant find, and a window into the species that once roamed this planet, it is important to remember that they cannot be compared to the living species. There are similarities, no doubt, but climate, land, terrain and food sources are different, and so are their survival limitations. If anything, the fossils should remind us to appreciate and respect the species that are alive today, to protect them and support conservation. If not, future generations might only have fossils to look at, and a list of speculations.

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Despite their name, no antbird would actually eat an ant (ants have formic acid in their bodies that makes them unpalatable to most birds and mammals). Antbirds get their name from the 30 species that spend their lives following ants- especially army ants. Army ants march through the rainforest in huge swarms, eating every insect or small animal in their path. Many insects flush up in front of the swarm, trying to flee the hungry ants. The antbirds snap these fleeing insects up.

Antbirds, including the many species that don’t associate with army-ants, often travel in mixed-species flocks. This works well- each species hunts for a slightly different kind of insect. Thus, the flock’s birds don’t compete with each other, and everyone gets enough to eat.

Antbirds are excellent at hopping and gripping onto branches, but they’re not strong fliers. They almost never cross waterways or even roads. This is one reason humans can negatively affect antbirds- more roads and clearings in the rainforest may restrict antbirds’ ability to travel in search of food.

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Hoatzins live in South American tropical rain forests. These chicken-sized birds spend their time clambering through the trees that hang over slow-moving rivers.

The hoatzin chicks use the nearby water as an escape route. When faced with danger, the chicks readily drop down into the water. They are adept at swimming and diving. When danger passes, they are able to climb back up out of the water, using the primitive claws on their wings.

These claws drop off as the hoatzin chick grows up. But hoatzins continue to be strange, as adults. They have an unusual appearance, with a long neck, tiny head, ragged crest, and featherless face. They only eat leaves- an unusual diet among birds, since leaves are not easily digested. One quarter of the hoatzin’s weight consists of its oversized stomach, needed to digest the leaves. This extra weight makes hoatzins poor fliers.

The hoatzin’s baby-claws make it superficially similar to the prehistoric bird-dinosaur Archeopteryx. Archeopteryx, which also had wing-claws, is known only from fossils, and is considered to be a possible evolutionary link between birds and dinosaurs. But the hoatzin is not directly related, and evolved its strange wing-claws separately.

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