For a kid, going on a fossil-finding field trip to the local harbor with your conservation-minded friends is already a pretty great day. But do you know how to make it an unforgettable day? Discover the giant fossilized bones of an entirely new penguin species.
While that could be the plot of a cute movie or young adult novel, it’s exactly what happened to a group of New Zealand school children in 2006.
The kids, aged 10 to 18, were part of the Hamilton Junior Naturalist Club, a volunteer organization for those interested in all aspects of natural history and preservation in New Zealand. On this day in 2006, the club organizers had arranged for a “fossil hunting” trip in Kawhia Harbour, one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. Here, the club’s fossil expert Chris Templer—a seasoned archeologist—expected the students to find fossils of shellfish and other crustaceans.
But what they ultimately recovered was much, much more.
Initially, the students thought the “thing” poking out of the sand at high tide was a piece of an old boat, an anchor or propeller maybe. As they got closer, Templer and the group were surprised to find that was not the case.
A month after their discovery, Templer and his newfound team returned to the site to carefully extract the nearly complete fossilized skeleton. Working with researchers at Massey University and Bruce Museum, the fossil was eventually identified as a giant penguin species never before recorded.
The scientists took 3D scans of the fossil to compare with others found all over the world. But, while some comparisons were possible, not all matched previously reported species, as described in a new paper published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
For example, while the giant fossil is similar to that of Kairuku giant penguins, it boasts much longer legs. These longer legs, the researchers say, would have made the penguin much taller than other Kairuku while it was walking on land—around 1.4 meters—and may have influenced how fast it could swim or how deep it could dive.
Additionally, the fossil is between 27.3 and 34.6 million-years-old, a time when much of the Waikato was under water, according to Daniel Thomas, a senior lecturer in zoology at Massey University.
Thomas and his team named the penguin species Kairuku waewaeroa, after its long legs.
“Kairuku waewaeroa is emblematic for so many reasons,” the zoologist said. “The fossil penguin reminds us that we share Zealandia with incredible animal lineages that reach deep into time, and this sharing gives us an important guardianship role. The way the fossil penguin was discovered, by children out discovering nature, reminds us of the importance of encouraging future generations to become kaitiaki [guardians].”
Even 15 years later, those “guardians” are impacted by that unforgettable field trip.
"It's sort of surreal to know that a discovery we made as kids so many years ago is contributing to academia today,” said Steffan Safey, who was a 13-year-old club member at the time. “It's even a new species. The existence of giant penguins in New Zealand is scarcely known, so it's really great to know that the community is continuing to study and learn more about them. Clearly the day spent cutting it out of the sandstone was well spent.”
Indeed, previous records of the existence of giant penguins in New Zealand have been limited to a few fragmentary specimens. The research team believes adding this new information to the existing penguin fossil record—which is almost as old as dinosaurs—could provide additional insights into how the overall species adapted over millions of years, including why there are no giant penguins in the world today.
Photo: The Kawhia giant penguin Kairuku waewaeroa. Credit: Simone Giovanardi