Close relatives of emperor penguins lived in NZ some 3 million years ago. What caused their extinction?
- Written by Daniel Thomas, Honorary Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Getty ImagesThree million years ago, an extinct relative of todays’s great penguins – emperors and kings – lived in Aotearoa New Zealand.
We know this because our new study describes a spectacular fossilised skull of a great penguin found on the Taranaki coast.
The fossil skull (top) of the extinct great penguin in its estimated...



