Scientists discover fossil of 5ft penguin

Scientists were surprised to discover that the fearsome five-foot-high creatures made their home close to the equator in an era when temperatures were much higher than they are now.

The finding comes from the analysis of the fossilised remains of two new species of penguin unearthed on Peru's southern coast.

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The first, the giant Icadyptes salasi, lived about 36 million years ago.

Towering at least a foot above the Emperor Penguin, the tallest penguin of today, the prehistoric bird was among the biggest penguins to have ever roamed the Earth.

Up to five foot tall, Icadyptes penguins, which are thought to have originated near New Zealand, also boasted strong necks, sharply-pointed seven-inch beaks and stiff, paddle-like wings.

The second fossil was of the smaller Perudyptes devriesi, which lived about 42 million years ago.

At between two-and-a-half and three feet tall, Perudyptes, whose ancestors most likely came from Antarctica, was a similar in height to today's King Penguin.

Both new species would have dwarfed the single species of penguin found in Peru.

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The researchers, from North Carolina State University, said the findings showed that ancient penguins were quite at home in high temperatures.

It had been thought that the cold-loving creatures did not leave their homelands of Antarctica and New Zealand until 10 million years ago, at a time when temperatures had plummeted around the world.

Now, it seems that the flightless birds went on the march tens of millions of years earlier.

Dr Julia Clarke, a paleontologist, said: "We tend to think of penguins as being cold-adapted species but the new fossils date back to one of the warmest periods in the last 65million years of the Earth's history.

"The evidence indicates that penguins reached low latitude regions more than 30 million years prior to our previous estimates."

The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, also challenge the assumption that creatures tend to get smaller after moving to warmer climes, as they do not need to conserve so much heat.

The researchers warned, however, that it would be a mistake to use their findings to assume that present day penguins would find it easy to adapt to the rising temperatures of global warming.

Dr Clarke said: "These Peruvian species are early branches of the penguin family tree that are comparatively distant cousins of living penguins.

"In addition, current global warming is occurring on a significantly shorter timescale.

"The data from these new fossil species cannot be used to argue that warming won't negatively impact living penguins."